Luis Ortega Govela

Last year @avventuroso and I spoke on the phone and we talked about how transparency felt like a dead concept. How architecture needs to reinvent itself by bringing back Opacity. Some months and emails later: the third issue of Flash Art Volumes is out. Guest edited by me and with amazing contributions by some of my favorite people and work out there. In the counter spirit of Opacity I have also included a brief email exchange with my hero Keller Easterling. Thank you @avventuroso @michelaisajedi @annalisejune @flashartvolumes And everyone who contributed to the magazine @jack.bool @howebukowski @alejandroricogomez @j_self @studioanneholtrop @m_a_t_o_s @daniel.ayat @gracies__office @shrimpmasterman @marko.myl @danielmerritt @wolfgang_tillmans @kionek @sungtieu @sarahjohanna.t @arorygardiner @diller_scofidio_renfro @ptrkmgrw @liam.denhamer @davidkohnarch @tonychrenka @inouegaku @kohei_kawatani @global_brooklyn @ppruppert @cor.zo @bog1594 @hugobauschbelbachir @rez.one.rez @_ian_e

Last year @avventuroso and I spoke on the phone and we talked about how transparency felt like a dead concept. How architecture needs to reinvent itself by bringing back Opacity. Some months and emails later: the third issue of Flash Art Volumes is out. Guest edited by me and with amazing contributions by some of my favorite people and work out there. In the counter spirit of Opacity I have also included a brief email exchange with my hero Keller Essterling. Thank you @avventuroso @michelaisajedi @annalisejune @flashartvolumes And everyone who contributed to the magazine @jack.bool @howebukowski @alejandroricogomez @j_self @studioanneholtrop @m_a_t_o_s @daniel.ayat @gracies__office @shrimpmasterman @marko.myl @danielmerritt @wolfgang_tillmans @kionek @sungtieu @sarahjohanna.t @arorygardiner @diller_scofidio_renfro @ptrkmgrw @liam.denhamer @davidkohnarch @tonychrenka @inouegaku @kohei_kawatani @global_brooklyn @ppruppert @cor.zo @bog1594 @hugobauschbelbachir @rez.one.rez @_ian_e

Last year @avventuroso and I spoke on the phone and we talked about how transparency felt like a dead concept. How architecture needs to reinvent itself by bringing back Opacity. Some months, calls and emails later: the third issue of Flash Art Volumes is out. Guest edited by me and with amazing contributions by some of my favorite people and work out there. Thank you @avventuroso @michelaisajedi @annalisejune @flashartvolumes And everyone who contributed to the magazine @jack.bool @howebukowski @alejandroricogomez @j_self @studioanneholtrop @m_a_t_o_s @daniel.ayat @gracies__office @shrimpmasterman @marko.myl @danielmerritt @wolfgang_tillmans @kionek @sungtieu @sarahjohanna.t @arorygardiner @diller_scofidio_renfro @ptrkmgrw @liam.denhamer @davidkohnarch @tonychrenka @inouegaku @kohei_kawatani @global_brooklyn @ppruppert @cor.zo @bog1594 @hugobauschbelbachir @rez.one.rez @_ian_e

There is a type of laminated glass that is load bearing. It can perform structurally, supporting massive skyscrapers and contemporary feats of architecture. Although ubiquitous, an innovation found in nearly every major city, there is an unshakeable fragility about this material that’s lauded for its ability to see to the other side. It’s from this notion that the third edition of Flash Art Volumes, guest edited by Luis Ortega Govela departs. The opacity of glass elicits ideas on what should and should not, metaphorically speaking, remain opaque in the discourse on architecture. Transparency itself seems to be endlessly in demand in the quotidian use of technology, the way institutions operate, and in the afterlife of the most mundane products. Yet, as access to information meets the bottleneck of our own capacity for retention, what does a move towards “transparency” really entail? Cover 3/3 Photographer: @jack.bool Words by Guest Editor: @luisortegag Editor-in-Chief: @geapolitik Creative Director: @avventuroso Featuring: #RoseWylie @davidkohnarch #RoniHorn @danielmerritt @howebukowski @alejandroricogomez @wolfgang_tillmans #JunYamaguchi @sungtieu @sarahjohanna.t @m_a_t_o_s @daniel.ayat @arorygardiner @diller_scofidio_renfro #KyongPark @ptrkmgrw @liam.denhamer #RoseWylie @davidkohnarch @gracies__office @equitablevisualsolutions @studioanneholtrop @j_self @marko.myl @tonychrenka @global_brooklyn @inouegaku @kohei_kawatani @ppruppert @cor.zo DanGraham @violainebdm @bog1594 @hugobauschbelbachir @rez.one.rez @_ian_e

Office LOG is hiring ! We are looking for an architectural designer to join our team in Los Angeles with 5+ years experience. Please email a resume and work samples to [email protected] with the subject line “Designer Application” Software proficiency in: Revit Rhino + Vray

The Winter issue installment of the city focus is dedicated to Mexico City, with Luis Ortega Govela tracing its watery origins, colonial ruptures, and enduring ecological illusions. From Tenochtitlán’s submerged memory to today’s sprawling CDMX, he follows a city built on absence and persistence –– a place where drainage becomes destiny, water returns as myth, and history leaks back through the cracks. Hit the link in bio to read “Mexico City: El Desagüe” by @luisortegag from 353 Winter 2025–26. #MexicoCity #LuisOrtegaGovela #FlashArt353 #FlashArtMagazine

- Alliance - Worked on the exhibition architecture with Shuang Li on her new show at Kim Association in Singapore. We talked a lot about velocity and speed over chopped salads at La Scala in Beverly Hills. What emerged is a suspended ceiling held in tension by cables and compression by screens showing Shuang’s new multi channel film about a storm chaser. We also designed custom benches made from PVC pipes ratchet strapped to each other. Look up ! Thank you @shuangbot and the team @kimassociation . ❤️‍🔥 Architecture by Office LOG @officelog_ @zerbe @rixvernix

Wrote about Mexico City’s inciting incident for the new issue of @flashartmagazine with pictures that I’ve taken in the federal district throughout the years. Get a copy and read about the seven horses that drained the city’s lakes, the failure of the Carcamo de Dolores with Rivera’s underwater mural and how a city 7000 feet above sea level was home to a killer whale that somehow Orozco brought back as a carcass hanging in Kalach’s Vasconcelos library. Thank you @avventuroso @michelaisajedi @flashartmagazine

The 'LOGarithmic Bungalow' is a prototype for a duplex designed with fire resilient measures. From the outside the building's steel frames are buttressed in compressed earthen block, which interact with the interior. The floor plan flips the code enforced relationship of an ADU in the back and proposes the smaller unit in the front of the plot, maximizing privacy for the larger family home. The negotiation between the space happens through a sequence of choreographed walled gardens that allows for sharing and intimacy. The roof structure is made from compressed earth providing further structural stability in the case of fire.

Got a flat tire on the way to replace my car — Herbie knew it, turned on me. I was stranded at Hillhurst & Sunset, about to ask ChatGPT for help but called Nic instead. Two minutes later I’m at a tire shop with good reviews and no wallet. Beatrix saved the day. As a thank you, I brought her with me to the press preview for Zumthor’s new LACMA. We both needed to get out of the studio, to see something beyond the screen. Inside, I cried. The kind of crying that comes when architecture lifts you away from cars. The scratched concrete reminded me of etching my name into fresh sidewalk as a kid. Cities are meant to be marked by us. This museum doesn’t feel pristine, and that’s why it works. It feels alive. Wilshire seen from above feels like a gift. Someone complained about the stairs. Another couple mocked the condos facing the museum and the sound. Sometimes we need to stop looking for what’s wrong. And enjoy this moment when architecture in LA needs to feel some Hope. Hope that the city can build, that its workers and contractors are welcome here, that ice won’t get to any of us because we need each other. That gentrification is collapsing into solidarity. That love and respect can happen within a public building. That concrete ultimately is the material of this city. Beatrix said the building reminded her of the LA River. And I said: Good. The LA River is beautiful.

We are screening three shorts from Garage (2020) at Luhring Agustine on Tuesday April 1st. Come Watch !

This was a year of destruction, removal and demolition. My year end review in Architecture for @artreview_magazine is out now. Thank you @benson_louise & @seagonii