The L.A. Times' architecture critic, Christopher Hawthorne, wrote a piece last week criticizing the second phase of L.A.Live--the companion to the Staples Center that was part of the CBA--for being just one more placeless enclave within the city. "When you get right down to it," Hawthorne says, "[the buildings'] architecture is fundamentally not really architecture at all but an extensive series of armatures on which the developer and its tenants can hang logos, video screens and a sophisticated range of lighting effects."
