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Architecture + Urban Design Lab 🏗🌆 @uclaaud
research, design, advocacy, policy & exhibitions for Los Angeles+
partner of @urbanhumanities & coLAB

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Now in its second year, our Middle Housing Intensive returns to UCLA this December. Organized in partnership with UCLA’s MRED program and mddl, this course will teach the next generation of housing champions the ins and outs of how housing actually gets built in their neighborhoods.

The intensive runs in two parts. First, a five-day block week covers the foundations and gives students a clear picture of how small-scale infill projects come together, moving from an introduction to middle housing through design, policy, construction, and finance. Students then put these foundations into practice through a team-based course project, developing a fully fledged middle housing proposal over the first eight weeks of the winter quarter.

The intensive is free and open to UCLA students in architecture, urban planning, real estate, business, public policy, and law. It‘s a four unit winter quarter course and will be listed under RE DEV 299. Spots are limited and competitive. Apply now at the link in bio. by @citylabucla

Cheering on our UHI alumni!

We’re excited to see Lili Flores Aguilar, Associate Director of Markings/Huellas, joining Sylvia Fernández Quintanilla for Tools for the Undercommons, a virtual speaker series co-organized by fellow UHI alum Jacqueline Jean Barrios!

November 4 | 12–1:15 PM PT | Virtual

Join the conversation to explore community-centered knowledge-making and creative practice at the link in our bio. by @citylabucla

Celebrating our community partner Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) and their beautiful new mural in Lafayette Park!

Created by artist Pável Acevedo with Katie Mejia and HOLA students, "Todas las aves son bienvenidas aquí/All birds are welcome here" celebrates indigenous communities of Westlake and Pico-Union. Through mural-making, students explored their own stories and even posed as subjects of the artwork.

The mural is part of “Markings/Huellas,” our broader collaboration with HOLA to record and celebrate the stories, languages, and cultural heritage of the local Indigenous communities. Congratulations to HOLA, the artists, and the young collaborators for bringing these stories to life in public space!

Read the full story in The LA Local (Sept 28, 2026) by @citylabucla

For 20 years, cityLAB at @uclaarts @uclaaud has paired design and policy expertise to tackle some of Los Angeles’ most urgent challenges in housing, urban design and public space. Congratulations on two decades of impact.

🔗: ucla.in/4yNYKDJ by @citylabucla

What a night! ✨

On Monday evening, we gathered to celebrate 20 years of cityLAB-UCLA @citylabucla and the ways it has shaped our cities and communities. Thank you to everyone who joined us, and to everyone who has been part of this work since 2006.

cityLAB’s research on housing, public space, and a better future for LA wouldn’t be possible without our dedicated partners and sponsors. We’re grateful for your support.

Stay tuned as we keep honoring two decades of research, advocacy, and impact. by @citylabucla

ADUs are at the heart of the housing conversation today. You can trace that back to cityLAB-UCLA.

As California’s housing crisis worsened, cityLAB dug into fire codes, setbacks, and parking rules, then partnered with kevin daly Architects @kevindalyarchitects and UCLA AUD students in 2015 to design and build “Backyard BIHOME”: a full-scale, prefabricated backyard home prototype, installed right here on campus.

That prototype drove real change. In 2016, cityLAB Director Dana Cuff and cityLAB Fellow Jane Blumenfeld co-authored AB 2299 for Assemblyman Richard Bloom. AB 2299 opened up millions of lots for ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) development across California and sparked the ADU revolution. Since then, ADUs have accounted for over 40 percent of all residential permits in LA, over 100,000 ADUs have been permitted across California, and the ADU movement has expanded across the country.

That's the cityLAB model: research that becomes policy | models tested physically at 1:1 scale | real, scalable solutions to thorny urban problems – all grounded in collaborating and making things happen

Join us tomorrow for cityLAB's 20th anniversary celebration to hear about projects like this and get a glimpse into what cityLAB does next.

📅 Monday, October 12, 5:30 pm
📍 UCLA AUD Perloff Hall (Decafe and Courtyard) by @citylabucla

For 20 years, cityLAB has grown through the students and alumni who have worked alongside us, activists who have brought new ways of thinking and making, community and civic partners who have trusted us with long-term collaborations, and supporters who have made sustained research possible. This work has always been collective.

See you Monday for cityLAB at 20.
October 12 
5:00–7:30 PM 
UCLA Perloff Hall

#cityLABat20 #cityLABUCLA #UCLAAUD #UCLAArchitecture by @citylabucla

This fall, we honor 20 years of cityLAB-UCLA 💙💛🎉

Since 2006, cityLAB @citylabucla has devoted itself to research and solutions that shape our cities and improve public space. While cityLAB’s impact is global, some of the team’s key projects are found right here on campus.

In 2021, after cityLAB research revealed how many UCLA students were dealing with extreme commutes, the team intervened with “BruinHub”: a 24/7 space in @ucla’s John Wooden Center offering comfortable facilities to nap, stay overnight, study, and store belongings.

“BruinHub” features jellybean-shaped pods, designed by architect Marta Nowak and AN.ONYMOUS @an.onymous_______

The pods are finished with vibrant paint and upholstery, each containing full-length cushions, reading lamps, ambient lighting, power outlets, and curtains for privacy. Housed within the polka-dotted walls of a former squash court, the facility also provides WiFi, lounge areas, cafe-style workstations, and nearby showers.

After BruinHub was launched on September 23, 2021, a second BruinHub in UCLA’s Strathmore Building opened in 2023.

Join us next Monday as we celebrate two decades of cityLAB and reflect on game-changing projects like this.

📅 Monday, October 12, 5:30 pm (doors open 5:00 pm)
📍 UCLA AUD Perloff Hall (Decafe and Courtyard)
RSVP: Eventbrite link in bio by @citylabucla

A closer look at what’s ahead for cityLAB at 20.
We’re looking forward to an evening of reflections, conversations, and ideas about cityLAB’s past, present, and future, followed by a block party in the Perloff Courtyard.

RSVPs close tomorrow, October 6.
If you’re planning to join us, be sure to register by the deadline. Link in bio!

Monday, October 12
 5:00–7:30 PM 
UCLA Perloff Hall + Courtyard

#cityLABat20 #cityLABUCLA #UCLAAUD #UCLAArchitecture by @citylabucla

Last week, United Way Greater LA shared information about the Intergenerational Housing Report from cityLAB. Using community feedback from groups in Altadena and MacArthur Park, the report determined the importance of high-quality intergenerational housing tailored to the Angeleno context. Working in collaboration with Kevin Daly Architects and Adobe Communities, cityLAB created two projects to demonstrate ways in which those at varying life stages can share space meaningfully. Read more at the link in our bio. by @citylabucla

RSVP to join this event honoring cityLAB long-term friend, Dr. Lisa Lowe, whose book Immigrant Acts is a touchstone for humanistic thinking about spatial justice. by @citylabucla

Since 2019, cityLAB has been at the forefront of the Education Workforce Housing movement in California. Working alongside our partners at the Center for Cities + Schools and the California School Boards Association, we’ve published three foundational research reports and a how-to handbook, organized instructional academies to teach over 20 school districts how to deliver housing for their employees, and co-written two state laws that shave years off the development timeline to encourage this important housing type. California’s educators deserve to live in the communities in which they serve, and thanks to our efforts almost 200 California school districts have taken steps to build their own Education Workforce Housing projects. by @citylabucla