What's so Special about Vienna? What is Hip Hop Architecture? Are you a Maximalist or Minimalist?
Get answers to these questions and more in my twice-monthly newsletter for KCRW public radio station and its audience of design and architecture enthusiasts. It contains news, musings and a round-up of "Design Things To Do."
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Read latest and past issues by clicking on the links, below:
Live Long and Prosper! September 13, 2023
The Nimoy, formerly The Crest Theatre, opens with Musil-designed murals revived; Design Things to Do: Derrick Adams: Come As You Are opens at the Gagosian Beverly Hills; Adaptive Reuse at the California Club; Close to the Edge closes with two fun events (a talk with Prime; a symposium with Sekou Cooke); A Wondrous World of new shows at LACMA; Delightful Houses discussed with FF&P; Gary Leonard talks at Los Feliz Library; What I'm Digging: Shopping lists in the 17th century; Monique Birault's Cromolyn Collection of lamps; a fab Reggio school in Madrid, Spain, that teaches sustainability without being preachy.
Commune with the DNA of Los Angeles August 29, 2023
"Commune with the DNA of Los Angeles," says FORT: LA's Russell Brown as he captures Stilt Houses on Screen; the campaign to stop the Canyon Hills development as attitudes to land-use change; Beverly Hot Springs saved, for now; Design Things to Do: Alfredo Boulton at the Getty Center; Threading the Needle at Angel City Brewery; Solving the Puzzle of Adaptive Re-Use; Prime Time at Helms Bakery District; What I'm Digging: the anniversary of LA buses; a new playground at Nickerson Gardens; Zócalo's California-as-destroyer take on Barbenheimer; Falling Felines (and Sassy Chickens) delight.
What a Load of Hot Air August 9, 2023
The case for more passive cooling, less air conditioning. Trees saved in Beverly Hills. Design Things to Do: Teena Apeles writes about 52 Things to Do, and I reflect on getting around LA on the Metro, while Design Things to Do includes: Bossa Nova and Brazilian Design at Sossego, Printed Matter’s 2023 LA Art Book Fair, Dominique Moody's Sacred Studio, Multifamily Glam Walking Tour with Yours Truly. What I'm Digging: the news about a Renter's Caucus in Sacramento, Homeowners Fighting in The Owners, Rapper's Delight and Feline Figures.
Trouble in Paradise July 26, 2023
Is it Goodbye to Beverly Hot Springs? News: A beloved natural spa (in a delightful fake grotto) may be sacrificed to make way for new homes. Can't we have both? Design Things to Do: An Evening of Urbanism + Unearthing a Black Aesthetic; The Art of Ruth E. Carter; Interstellar Fun at Wende Museum; Black California Dreamin' at CAAM; Tiki Tales on Catalina. What I'm Digging: a "documentary" about NEOM; Swimming in the Seine; eating al fresco on the roof; and mourning the amazing Sinéad O'Connor.
From the Garden of Alla to Barbie's Dreamhouse July 13, 2023
Goodbye William Kelly, beautiful man who co-created a beautiful place; more coverage of Common Ground and why we should care about the second stair; Design Things to Do: A conversation about Vertical Shared Access Reform; An Evening of Urbanism; the remarkable Alla Nazimova, her legendary home and hotel, and a play about her at Theatre West; Museum as Medium for photographer Elizabeth Gill Lui; Fun with cardboard at Rediscover; Barbie, the movie, promises a design fantasia; What I'm Digging: Old Glory, Outlander and anything that supports green canopy; and the Lincoln Lawyer.
A Journey around my Own City June 29, 2023
Exploring the Regional Connector and the new public art; Design Things to Do: At LACMA, Women Defining Women in Contemporary Art of the Middle East and Beyond, Afro-Atlantic Histories, Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952–1982 and Sam Francis and Japan: Emptiness Overflowing; ALL CHILL brings "ice cream with a mission" to Leimert Park; The Flower Show celebrates the artistic view of flowers by Alison Saar, David Hockney, Henri Matisse, the architect Thom Mayne and more. What I'm Digging: Loren & Rose and Dolly Lowe.
Close to the Edge June 15, 2023
Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip Hop Architecture, created by Sekou Cooke, comes to Helms Bakery District. If you are wondering if Hip Hop is a new architectural style, "how Hip-Hop Architecture is produced is more easily described than what it looks like,” says Cooke. Also, CicLAvia comes to South LA for Juneteenth; fabulous Oceanside Architecture is the topic of a conversation presented by FORT: LA at Sossego; LA Design Festival celebrates summer with "design for the people"; What I'm Digging: Donuts, the edible ones, and Doughnut, the economic theory. One Margherita.
What's so Special about Vienna? June 1, 2023
A look at "Red Vienna" and its social housing program that has captivated housing experts from California; Adaptive Reuse 2.0: the City of Los Angeles expands the ordinance allowing the conversion of offices into housing/Design Things to Do: Kellndorfer at Neutra VDL House; Last Remaining Seats; Hammer considers L.A.’s Housing Crisis, with KCRW’s Anna Scott; Pride Week; Male Edition: The Art of Men’s Style; Los Angeles Design Festival/What I'm Digging: Bureau des Legendes; books by Eleanor Catton. And cats.
Gloria
Molina, remembered May 17, 2023
Gloria
Molina, remembered; protective trees both real and sculpted will
memorialize murdered Chinese; Cassina opens supersize showroom; MyGBCE
comes to SoLA Beehive; tarot card readings at the MAK Center and
"collective care" at LA State Historic Park; California Photography Now
at LA County Fair; Fun at Eurovision and Goodbye to Sumiko.
Staying Connected May 3, 2023
A
meditation on loneliness and housing and land-use, prompted by the
Surgeon General's "National Framework" on rebuilding social connection;
MADE in Beverly Hills celebrates old Hollywood glamor; try out
“conceptual scents” at the LA Scent Fair at Craft Contemporary; Legends
2023 comes to LACDQ; ceramics "converse" at LACMA; AIA/LA opens the
doors to (W)rapper (and a talk with Eric Owen Moss) and other buildings
at ArchFest; spring shows open to the public at SCI-Arc and Otis College
of Art and Design; The Diplomat and Birnam Wood are What I'm Digging.
Hot Tips for a Busy Week April 18, 2023
A
tribute to Mary Quant and her belief in the future; a “smog eating”
mural is unveiled in East LA; Earth Day brings Seeding The City, a
Climate Change conference and last sighting of Lauren Bon's Underland;
the LA Times Festival of Book brings hundreds of authors and events to
USC (including Yours Truly at the Angel City Press booth and on a panel
about how to solve the housing crisis); MADE in Beverly Hills pulls lets
people step over the threshhold of Hollywood landmarks including a tour
of the swanky Trousdale Estates.
April Delights April 4, 2023
The
Georgian makes a comeback, with a nod to Santa Monica's "Bay City"
days; rewilded gardens are on show for all to see; more about Seeding
The City as it brings Fairy Gardens, wild animal drawing classes to
Helms Bakery District; AIA/LA invites emerging and established firms to
show their creativity in designing denser housing for Los Angeles; a
preview of the designers who'll turn Coachella into a public art pop-up;
the Battle of the Oranges and more on (W)rapper.
Look at Me March 21, 2023
An
argument for more "eyes on the train" as ridership drops on mass
transit; a defense of Eric Owen Moss's "menacing cyberpunk" (W)rapper; a
welcome to Bowie in the USSR at the Wende Museum; the PDC Spring
Market; Design by Diversity Day, Small Infrastructures, Seeking Zohn,
The Other Art Fair; Flowerboy Project/Sean Knibb's spectacular Digital
Flowers, soon to go on show, up large, at Helms Bakery District.
News Galore March 8, 2023
David Chipperfield wins the Pritzker Prize; in Women's History month, a celebration of Marie Louise Schmidt, creator of the blockbuster -- and block-shaper! -- 1936 California House and Garden Exhibition; lessons from the demolition of Hotel Pennsylvania; Joe Osae-Addo back in LA; Clive Piercy on show; Puss in Boots a furry wonder.
Back in the Mix February 22, 2023
Designers Yves Behar and Sebastian Errazuriz debate A.I. and how much
it will impact their creativity; art, furniture and art-furniture goes on show in
cool spaces at the Cody House and a Marta installation; Samara Joy, M3GAN uncut, and the "scary"
15-minute city.
Hello, I'm Back February 7, 2023
Frieze and Modernism Week come to town; Livable Communities Initiative seeks ideas for the ideal street; designs for a Memorial to massacred Chinese people go in front of the public; in Black History Month, consider the semantics of African-American or Black?
