FABRIC on Los Angeles St. in the Downtown Los Angeles Fashion District won the 2021 Southern California Development Forum (SCDF) Design Award in Adaptive Reuse.

This project was completed in 2021 in conjunction with developers Urban Offerings, Swinteron as the General Contractor, Lynch Eisinger as the Design Architect, and Omgivning as the Executive Architect and Architect of Record.

The awards were in December 2021 at the California Club.
Pictured above with the Omgivning team Karin Liljegren, Benjamin Ferrarioli, Hana Ogita, Peter Rindelaub, with Dean Nucich of Urban Offerings and the crew at Swinerton.

Omgivning is the 2021 AIA Los Angeles Design Awards recipient of the Next LA Multi Unit Residential Merit Award for both Hidden Gardens and Sub/Merge.

These are the two entries that we submitted and won for the Los Angeles Low Rise Challenge from earlier in the year. Both concepts focus on creating community-based housing using existing lots in the city.

AIA Los Angeles had two events in the Fall of 2021, one live at SoFi Stadium where Karin accepted the award, and a virtual event where lead designer Albert Escobar spoke a bit about the project and the win.

Watch this portion of the acceptance speech (it's only three and a half minutes).

In sync with the relaunch of the AIA Los Angeles Historic Resources Committee and a refocused mission centered on Adaptive Reuse (historic preservation that is future oriented), this inaugural event from AIA Los Angeles brings together four distinguished panelists listed below to bring attention to both “Background Buildings” that define the character of Downtown Los Angeles, as well as the forthcoming Downtown Community Plan Update (DTLA 2040) that will incentivize their preservation.

In addition to learning about “Background Buildings” and DTLA 2040, attendees were also presented case studies of recent projects that exemplify the latest efforts to preserve and celebrate “Background Buildings,” which inlcludes Omgvining projects. Attendees also were invited to engage the panelists during a Q&A.

Watch the full talk.

Omgivning and Studio MLA teamed up to win second place in the Subdivision category of the Low-Rise design competition.

Sub / Merge : Subdivisions that Connect

Consideration for sensitive densification in Los Angeles as a response to the city's ongoing housing shortage should focus on the organic evolution of neighborhoods toward a more sustainable community. The gentrification that so commonly follows densification has potential to be combatted through strategies of retention of existing residents, and more inclusive and affordable models of ownership. Sub/Merge is a model for a versatile framework that seeks to subdivide existing single family residential parcels into smaller lots that afford a greater range of family types with varying income levels the possibility of owning their own home, while retaining the scale and character of the existing neighborhood. This model addresses the fabric of Los Angeles’ single-family residential communities, from Vermont Square to Atwater Village to Van Nuys, while allowing for flexibility that serves the specific needs of each neighborhood.

Omgivning and landscape architects Studio-MLA were announced as winners in a first-ever competition, the Low-Rise: Housing Ideas for Los Angeles design challenge.

Organized by the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Christopher Hawthorne, the Chief Design Officer for the City of Los Angeles, the new design competition asked “architects and landscape architects to imagine appealing and sustainable new models of low-rise, multi-unit housing.” Out of nearly 400 local, national, and international submissions in four design categories, the team of Omgivning and Studio-MLA emerged as the only team to win twice: first place in Fourplex and second place in Subdivision. That's two of the four categories. Details on the categories, jury members, as well as the community-engagement listening sessions required for all entrants, can be found at lowrise.la.

XX|LA Architects Podcast is a show featuring Los Angeles’s leading women in architecture and issues relevant to the profession. Hosted by Audrey Sato, AIA, LEED-AP, this podcast is dedicated to LA's community of feminist architects, highlighting the achievements of female architects, share their stories and insights, and promote equity in the profession.

In Karin's episode, Sato states,"I’m constantly impressed by Karin’s go-getter attitude and entrepreneurial talents, which you’ll hear more about in this episode, as she talks about the way she purposefully designed her collaborative practice, and continues to evolve it beyond architecture, incorporating interiors, product design, and even real estate development into her operations."

Give a listen

The California Historical Building Code and Incentivizing Reuse Historic buildings provide challenges in meeting today's building codes. However, the California Historical Building Code (CHBC) is an alternative code to retain the historic character and features while meeting the accessibility and life safety mandates.

In the Fall of 2020 Karin Liljegren, FAIA and Joel Chappo, AIA of Omgivning presented a webinar on California Historic Building Code (CHBC) hosted by the California Preservation Foundation.

In this informative talk from Los Angeles's premier Adaptive Reuse Architecture and Interiors firm, Liljegren and Chappo discuss:

- Historic Broadway Commercial Reuse Bulletin: How LA City used the CHBC as a tool to incentivize redevelopment of an entire historic district
- Case Studies on applying Sections of the CHBC
- Applying the CHBC with Use & Occupancy, Fire Protection, Means of Egress, and Accessibility

Watch the full talk:

Spectrum News 1 Socal interviewed our founder Karin Liljegren on Reimagining Spaces, our post pandemic urban design report.

“I just love the vitality here. You know, the people are just real,” Liljegren said. “We’ve got to bring downtown Los Angeles back, though, because it's in pretty sad shape right now.”

Spectrum News's Kristopher Gee talks to Karin about how design can change for the better post-COVID in the workplace, multifamily buildings, and reprogramming underutilized commercial buildings.

Watch the full story

Building Design + Construction Magazine's show The Weekly features our Reimagining Spaces design report. BD+C's John Caulfield interviews our very own Karin Liljegren, FAIA on our recently released reports on adaptive reuse for workplaces, multifamily, and urban reprogramming, Reimagining Spaces. Karin explains how empty or excess shopping malls, big boxes, ground-floor retail, and light industrial could be put to better use, and even makes the provocative claim that offices and restaurants have commonalities.

Watch the full interview

Before the pandemic, incorporation of amenity spaces and providing a variety of unit types were common considerations in urban multi-family buildings. Among the many economic impacts of today's pandemic, the residential sector will experience long term shifts in how its spaces are used and examined.