KCRW's DnA: Design & Architecture

On June 23, the Metro Board is expected to approve a ballot initiative that's being called Measure R2, for a half-cent sales tax to be placed on the November ballot.

Will designers and manufacturers trading with Europe be affected by Brexit? As Metro Board prepares a new transportation sales tax measure, we’ll debate how the money should be spent. And The Smell, a much-loved all-ages music venue, has been threatened with closure, sparking anxiety that not all of the changes in downtown LA are for the better.

Recent shootings in Orlando and before that Paris, San Bernardino and Colorado have added to growing jitters about random attacks in regular gathering places. On the other hand, designers and architects are very optimistic about the growth of public space, from transit to parks. Will the fear of violence win out over our desire for openness?

Gay bars and nightclubs have long served as sanctuaries for LGBT people. But many of these venues are disappearing. Mia Lehrer + Associates has been picked to design FAB Park in downtown. Why was the latest redesign for LACMA unveiled at the Venice Architecture Biennale? And a tiny "ecocapsule" made in Slovakia is catnip to Californians.

The Looff Hippodrome, home to the iconic carousel on the Santa Monica Pier, will commemorate its centennial this Sunday, June 12. Meanwhile, across Ocean Avenue, the Colorado Esplanade was recently developed to connect the Downtown Expo Light Rail station, the new Tongva Park and the Santa Monica Pier.

Developers and city leaders billed the more than $2 billion Grand Avenue project as a perfect complement to a changing downtown Los Angeles when it was first proposed in 2004. But since its inception, it’s been wrought with delays and financial shortfalls.

What becomes of the relics of a broken romance? Facebook's compassion research team is designing tools to relieve its users' break-up pain. Then, LA's new Museum of Broken Relationships features totems of heartbreak. And a writer talks about loneliness in the big city – and whether designers can alleviate solitude.

We pay tribute to a titan of architecture, Zaha Hadid, who died in Miami last week. Writer Geoff Manaugh argues that burglars have a lot to teach architects about buildings. And we remember a time when men wore corsets, padded stockings and used swords as fashion accessories.

Jobs have left America, but there's growth in new high-tech manufacturing jobs. What are they? How are people being trained for them? First there was the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, now there's the Build Better LA initiative. Why has housing become a ballot box battle? And we visit TOM House in Echo Park, a museum and mecca for LA "leathermen" and admirers of the homoerotic illustrations of Tom of Finland.

Apple's public feud with the FBI over cyber encryption offers a lesson in surveillance -- and branding. MOMA's Paola Antonelli takes us to the violent side of design, and artist Laurie Lipton captures the humor and horror in our dependence on technology.

Will the new NFL stadium in Inglewood be a “monolithic hulk” or an “aesthetic anchor” for a popular entertainment district? Designers, critics and the mayor of Inglewood discuss the design and its urban impact. Plus, a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Brentwood goes on the auction block.

DnA reflects on what mattered in design and architecture in Los Angeles this year; the Chicago Biennial shows that big change can happen at a small scale; Gideon Brower finds that maintaining a city is a challenge, even when it's a model.

DnA reflects on what mattered in design and architecture in Los Angeles this year; the Chicago Biennial shows that big change can happen at a small scale; Gideon Brower finds that maintaining a city is a challenge, even when it's a model.

Recent shootings in Paris, Colorado and San Bernardino have added to growing jitters about public gathering. Will this impact the design of civic space? El Niño is coming but will we save the rain? Maybe not this year. But cities and water agencies across the region are looking at ways to become water self-sufficient in future.

High Speed Rail works when it connects people and businesses. Joe Mathews and Sam Lubell ask, will California?s bullet trains do that? What makes a house a home? A look at how designers create "homes" for absentee owners, and how the home-less create a sense of home.