MUSEUM OF ECOLOGY, LOS ANGELES
The Museum of Ecology, Los Angeles (MELA) is designed around the significant parts Los Angeles based on the ideals from Reyner Baham. Surftopia, Autotopia, flatlands, and foothills. Each of these parts create the entire ecology of the Los Angeles county. From the beach to the mountains, the MELA is a reflection of the topography that is distinguished from any other city.
Project: Museum
Studio: ARCH 384
Instructor: Gerry Smulevich
Year: Spring 2017
Location: Hyperion Bridge, Atwater, CA
Programs: Hand Model, Sketch, and Photoshop
The museum has four distinct galleries that reflect each of the ecology types. Flatlands is a changing exhibit that demonstrates the development of the urban grid. The adjacent gallery is a permanent exhibit of a three-dimensional map of Los Angeles County. This is home to the autotopia ecology that live streams the traffic conditions of the freeways and roads. The foothills exhibit is another permanent exhibit that hold tall and narrow sectional cuts of the Los Angeles topography. The visitors would be able to walk in between the model to be able to experience the immense scale and change in height between the ocean and the mountains. Finally, Surftopia is where the visitors experience an up close view of the river that runs through the city while enriching them of the history and development of the water.
Rendering of study model 3
