Los Angeles Water School documents a radical architectural experiment in downtown Los Angeles guided by Indigenous ecological knowledge of the Los Angeles River. LAWS, a collective formed in 2016 by a group of artists and water protectors returning from Standing Rock, constructed and occupied a 1:1 scale model of Steve and Holly Baer’s innovative Zome House (1972) in an empty lot adjacent to the Los Angeles River. Inspired by the ephemeral experiments of outlaw architecture, LAWS imagines building as a continual practice of inhabitation, resistance, and public engagement. Using the modular Zome building system as a case study, editor Oscar Tuazon demonstrates how the principles of energy efficient active solar design are powered by water. Illustrated with technical drawings, photo documentation, and interviews with the participants, Los Angeles Water School is a practical guidebook to architecture as an activity in community building.

Oscar Tuazon is an artist based in Los Angeles. He is a co-founder of Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), New York in 2000; castillo/corrales, Paris in 2007; and Los Angeles Water School, Los Angeles in 2016. His work has been included in the São Paulo Biennial, Chicago Architectural Biennial, Whitney Biennial, Venice Biennale, and Skulptur  Münster. Solo exhibitions include Le Consortium, Dijon, France; Ludwig Museum, Cologne; Bergen Kunsthall, Norway; Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany; and Kunst Museum Winterthur, Switzerland. He is currently executive director of Cedar Spring Water School, a public art project in the Great Basin region of Nevada.

Since joining Olson Kundig in 2006 and throughout his tenure in Seattle, principal Jerry Garcia has been an active instigator in the dialogue between architecture, art and the community at large. Working across a broad range of project types and scales, from 200 square-foot cabins on wheels to high-rises around the world, Garcia’s work has received numerous design awards and appeared in publications such as Architecture, Architectural Record, and Art+Auction. Garcia has collaborated with world-renowned artists such as Anish Kapoor, Jaume Plensa, and Doug Aitken on installations in both the public and private realms. He has also been an invited speaker at art fairs such as Art Basel, and has served as a guest critic for architectural programs in Chile, Mexico and beyond. A strong advocate for the power of discussion between creative disciplines, Garcia has served on the board of the Seattle Art Museum’s Contemporary Arts Council and as a commissioner for the Seattle Arts Commission.