Photo © Elfie Semotan “You can take possession of it by describing it,” says Wolf Prix of Coop Himmelb(l)au’s Central Los Angeles Area High School #9. “If I asked a student, ‘Can you describe your school? Where do you go to school?’ He’d say, ‘The school with the crazy tower and the round windows,’ not, ‘just a building downtown.’” Los Angeles floats its landmarks on a sea of faceless highway, like peanuts in peanut brittle. Downtown, the two-block stretch of Grand Avenue that straddles the 101 is a satisfying bite. In a single chomp, you get Frank Gehry’s Disney concert

Image courtesy Storefront for Art and Architecture “The beauty of a competition that calls for ideas is that they remain ideas,” says Joseph Grima of the Storefront for Art and Architecture’s White House Redux competiton and exhibition. “It’s difficult to remain faithful to ideas in reality.” It was winter in New York, and Joseph Grima was thinking about change. Along with plans to renovate the Storefront for Art and Architecture, the Vito Acconci/Steven Holl-designed sliver of a gallery Gima runs on Kenmare Street, he also announced a contest to redesign the White House. Storefront reopened on October 3, and its