Description
Materials (please watch the short video, skim the readings):
Please begin by watching the 1972 BBC documentary entitled “Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles”: https://vimeo.com/22488225
Course readings: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DhxUBS39HcMAsXEWpjSjmalj7aV7idki?usp=sharing
Some questions and themes to consider include in the paper:
How and what ways does Reyner Banham define and describe his love of Los Angeles?
What are the comparisons you can make with the film and his book Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies? How well or badly have these documents aged?
Contrast some of the ways in which Banham’s so-called ecologies are different in approach and content with Mike Davis’ critical evaluations of Los Angeles.
- Are there ecologies that you would describe that are different than the ones we have outlined?
