As is happening all over Los Angeles, a man recently had the idea that he should put a fence around his house to keep out the "bad elements." Since his house is in the midst of a housing community of 600 units, it was not possible to fence in just his house but would require fencing in the entire community. That community is Baldwin Hills Village or the "Village Green."
He set about to raise support for his idea from his neighbors. Some thought this might be a good idea; some thought it was a terrible idea. Some of them got together and started the Fence Committee.
The committee's first step was to figure out how to fence in the community. This proved a difficult task because the community has many pedestrian and automotive access points. So one member decided to sponsor an architectural competition to generate ideas--and revenue--and thus was born "The Fence: An Open Competition." He got some help, made some announcements, designed a flyer and wrote a program. The program included crime reports and a bibliography of recommended readings such as "My Visit to the Barricades," "History of a Crime" and "War and Building."
The competition was recently completed and judged. The favored entry was for a human fence of polyester-clad disco dancers. While there were more conventional fences among the entries, a large number of competitors opted out of the militant/secure paradigm proposed by the sponsor--or for no fence at all. And some architects did not submit entries because they thought a fence was a bad idea.
