Fortress or Welcoming community: An assessment of Griffith Observatory

Many aspects of good public spaces come from how accessible, comfortable, how many activities, and how sociable a place is. Many qualitative and quantitative aspects can assess how well a public space makes it on a scale.

For example, transit data, crime statistics, street life, and volunteerism are all aspects that fall under the quantitative department.

Furthermore, in comparison to a description of an article written by Mike Davis, Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization of Urban Space, which describes how Los Angeles has turned into a stifling, and horrible environment for low-income families for its lack of support, and urgent attempts to displace the homeless. The article says, “William Whyte points out that the quality of any urban environment can be measured, first of all, by whether there are convenient, comfortable places for pedestrians to sit.”

Well, unlike on some of the streets of LA, Griffith Observatory definitely offers a place for people to relax outdoors and indoors. While it doesn’t offer too much outdoor seating in general, people find areas to sit in the shade and indoors in the AC’d rooms.

However, the observatory can draw some parallels with the descriptions of the fortress – the observatory lies on its own “hill” much like how a castle is elevated off the ground in comparison to its moat. This however, doesn’t really discourage people who want to visit from visiting; it’s still cheaply accessible by a bus, and is free to the public. It, however, is quite clear homeless don’t go there very often, which makes it vaguely exclusive.

To examine the “Art of Public Space,” as defined by Benjamin Barber, we must see how much thought and conscious effort was put into making the place special and livable.

“Public space is not merely the passive residue of a decision to ban cars or a tacit invitation to the public to step into the street. It must be actively created and self-consciously sustained against the grain of an architecture built as much for machines as people, more for commercial than common use. In a word, public spaces are built, not natural; they are the result of constructive intervention rather than laissez-faire disinterest.”

This point is extremely pertinent to the creation of Griffith Observatory. According to its website (seen here), the land the Observatory was built on was originally a Spanish settlement, bought by Griffith J. Griffith, that was converted into a public park. While touring Europe, Griffith decided that Los Angeles needed its own “Great Park” like those he saw abroad. He donated 3,015 acres of the Spanish land he now owned with the objective to create a “place of rest and relaxation for the masses, a resort for the rank and file, for the plain people.” Aside from just Griffith Park that he donated, Griffith visited a new research observatory at Mount Wilson in 1904, he was amazed by the telescopes and potential of astronomy. As quoted by a man at the observatory of Griffith, “Man’s sense of values ought to be revised. If all mankind could look through that telescope, it would change the world!”

From there, in 12/12/1912, Griffith donated 100,000 dollars to build an observatory on top of Mount Hollywood with an astronomical telescope open to the public and free of charge.

This “constructive intervention” by one man who wanted to inspire residents of Los Angeles, visitors, and the public in general by giving them more access to science is what makes this public space such an amazing place for anyone to come to.

The understanding of the art put in a public space is also paramount to how successful a place is. “The role of artists here is not just to install a sculpture, plant a garden or make a mural (although these would be nice). Rather, it is to envision a space where visitors are encouraged (but not constrained) to move in certain ways, inspired (but not forced) to use the space creatively, pulled (but not pushed) to feel they are helping to shape the space even as they enjoy themselves in it.”

Essentially, creating a sense balance is so important – creating a space to encourage and inspire a creative space, while not being overly stifling. Much thought was put into the architecture of the Observatory aside from just the scientific aspects. Due to an earthquake nearby at Long Beach, architects had to abandon their original terra cotta exterior idea in favor of a thicker concrete. A public works program also funded the creation of a public sculpture by six sculptors, called the Astronomers Monument.