At once vulnerable and inviolate, a disappearing architectural species and the most protected building type in the city, the single-family house continues to play an outsize role in debates over architecture, planning and growth in Los Angeles. Can the suburban house-and-garden model that has helped define Los Angeles for nearly a century — and given architects a place to try out their most innovative design experiments — be updated and improved to make it relevant to a denser region? Or is the single-family neighborhood destined to be preserved in amber, a once-important product of the L.A. growth machine now no more than a relic?

Host Christopher Hawthorne was joined by architect Barbara Bestor, co-founder of East Los Angeles Community Corporation Maria Cabildo, MAK Center Director Kimberli Meyer, architect Mott Smith, and author and art-historian D.J. Waldie.

A unique collaboration among Occidental College, Southern California Public Radio and Christopher Hawthorne, this event was co-presented by Oxy and KPCC; The Third Los Angeles Project was directed by Christopher Hawthorne, professor of practice in the Urban & Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College and architecture critic at the Los Angeles Times.