The Da Vinci apartment fire has design aficionados reconsidering L.A.'s urban space plans. One reader notes, successful urban design isn't just about architecture. Above, the complex illuminated by street light after the fire. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Federal investigators have concluded that the massive downtown Los Angeles fire that consumed much of the Da Vinci apartment complex was arson, as The Times reported earlier this week. Which means that the Da Vinci and its developer, G.H. Palmer Associates, will continue to generate headlines as the investigation is carried out.

Already, the buildings have kindled all kinds of debate related to their design and general disconnect from the greater urban fabric. Their inhospitable, faux Italianate street-level facades have been critiqued in the pages of Los Angeles Magazine, on the airwaves ofKPCC and by readers of the L.A Times. The week of the fire, I wrote a story about how the attention on the blaze provided an opportunity for Angelenos to rethink the types of projects rubber stamped by our city planners. As so many Times readers made clear, there is a hunger for a newer style of mixed-used design that would take human-scale street life into greater consideration. But it's not a simple issue.....Continue Reading

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