Design Strikes a Defensive Posture Roland Halbe
THE ART OF DEFENSE At the Caltrans District 7 Headquarters Replacement Building in Los Angeles, the architect Thom Mayne and his firm, Morphosis, placed sinuous steel bollards and benches in a plaza, as though they were outdoor sculptures.
Not so long ago, architects were obsessed with the notion that globalism, the Internet and sophisticated new building technologies were opening the way for a more fluid, transparent landscape in which walls would simply begin to melt away.
