Design contest to help provide temporary shade to LA

Everyone in LA knows one thing is often missing from most bus stations: shade. 

The sun loves to shine upon the city, but sometimes, it shines a little too much while waiting for transportation to arrive. 

As Los Angeles prepares to host a series of major global sporting events, USC Dornsife Public Exchange and the USC School of Architecture are teaming up to launch a student design competition to tackle one of the region's growing threats: extreme heat.

The Shade Zones Design Competition kicks off in the fall and will run annually through 2027, officials said Wednesday. This year's competition is part of ShadeLA, a regional campaign led by USC Dornsife Public Exchange in collaboration with the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, and with participation from LA Metro, the city and county of Los Angeles and LA28, the local organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"This is an opportunity for students to see their ideas come to life - not just in renderings, but in the real world," said Brett Steele, dean of the USC School of Architecture. "Through this collaboration, we're giving young designers a platform to tackle our urban heat challenges with creativity, responsibility and community impact in mind."

The 2025 competition invites undergraduate and graduate students across the Los Angeles region to design innovative, modular, temporary shade systems that can transform everyday public places -- from sidewalks and bus stops to open-air gathering places -- into cooler, safer, more inviting environments.

Shade Zones hopes to support Metro by generating scalable streetscape designs that can cool temporary pedestrian and cyclist pathways that residents, workers and visitors will rely on to navigate their way around Los Angeles during major events.

Hopefully, the shade can be less temporary and LA residents can enjoy the shade in the future as well. 

The challenge asks students to consider the quality of shade, modularity, accessibility, innovation, sustainability and the feasibility of installation. The submissions must also consider the legacy of the structure after the major events are over, and propose how the shade structures could be re-purposed.

Modular design is made of repeatable parts that can be moved around, mixed up, or scaled to fit different places. It’s about flexibility, adaptability and smart simplicity.

"Metro is proud to serve as a partner in ShadeLA and support this innovative design competition," Metro Chief Planning Officer Ray Sosa said. "This design competition aims to inspire creative, scalable solutions that help ensure everyone in Los Angeles County can travel safely and comfortably through our system and across the region."

A jury of architects, Metro leadership and staff, public officials and community leaders will select finalists for public exhibition. Winning designs could be showcased at Metro stations and other public spaces across the city.

The competition will be open for team registration from September 2 to October 15. 

Undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at any school or university in the greater Los Angeles region are eligible. All members of a group must be from the same school. 

Further details and submission guidelines can be found at shade-la.com/design-competition.

With information from CNS.