To Mia Lehrer, making LA more livable is all about peeling back the concrete Franklin Ivar Park, in the shadow of the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles, is a reminder of what the landscape of the city looked like before it was a city. Planted with tall tufty grasses and low shrubs?all of which are drought tolerant and native to California?the design riffs on a creek that once flowed through the area. Now, you?ll find children climbing on boulders, families picnicking on new tables, and birds flocking to leafy trees. At just three-quarters of an acre, the park occupies a formerly vacant space between a busy road and the highway.
?I built parks that are opportunistic,? says Mia Lehrer, the landscape designer who masterminded the new public space. At Studio-MLA, Lehrer has built a thriving practice on finding creative and often overlooked ways to remake Los Angeles into a healthier, more resilient, and more sustainable city. For the past three decades, she has been peeling back concrete and layering in greenery throughout the city, helping Angelenos achieve a balanced urban ecosystem.
At 65, Lehrer has become Los Angeles?s doyenne of landscape design and a leading advocate for green urbanism through projects like the Natural History Museum?s new interpretive gardens; Destination Crenshaw, which will turn 1.3 miles of the Crenshaw Boulevard corridor into an arts and culture streetscape; and the NFL Entertainment District, a 300-acre mixed-use development and stadium that...