5 design things to do: Feb 20 - 26

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Coming up: See art take over the Lovell House; celebrate the people and spaces of old Hollywood Park; help save the very un-Soviet styled Melnikov House; hear about "crazy creative" Asian Americans; and see the "lairs" occupied by extremely bad guys. 

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While the Lovell House owners figure out what's next for the Richard Neutra-designed icon, they are opening up the house to initiatives such as a pop-up exhibition by artist Eva Claessens. The Belgian-born, Uruguay-based contemporary artist will display sculpture and unframed painting and prints, exploring the human body, throughout the 4800 square feet house. Photographer Yoshihiro Makino and filmmaker Romain Dussaulx will capture her living gallery.

When: Sunday, February 23; from 1pm to 4pm, by appointment only.

Where: Address supplied when you RSVP. 

Tickets: Free, by appointment only. Email giuliettagarzon@gmail.com or call 323-804-6885

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2) Clubhouse Turn: The Twilight of Hollywood Park Race Track

Before the famed Hollywood Park closed its doors in 2013, photographer Michele Asselin spent every day at Hollywood Park in the last two weeks, photographing the buildings, the patrons and the employees, from the jockeys to the gamblers to the security guards. Her images have been turned into a book, "Clubhouse Turn: The Twilight of Hollywood Park Race Track", published by Santa Monica-based Angel City Press. As the Rams Stadium now takes shape on the site of the 75-year old park, Asselin’s photographs, say the publishers, "depict a world that has been completely erased but not forgotten." Meet the author and see the book Tuesday at Chevalier's Books in Larchmont.

When: Tuesday, February 25; 7 pm.

Where: Chevalier's Books, 126 N Larchmont Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90004

Tickets: Free. Click here for more information.

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Exterior view of Melnikov House, Moscow - an example of 1920's Russian Avant-Garde design. Its aesthetics differ dramatically from traditional Soviet residential architecture.

3) Hollyhock House presents Melnikov House: Saving an Avant-Garde Icon

From one icon to another: the Hollyhock House will host Pavel Kuznetsov, deputy director of the Schusev State Museum of Architecture in Moscow, for a discussion about the history and preservation of the Melnikov House, an icon of the Russian architectural avant-garde, designed by architect Konstantin Melnikov for himself and his family.  Melnikov believed that the essence of his experimental cylindrical structure lay in the balance and equivalence of weight, light, air, and heat. Kuznetsov will share the architectural, engineering, and philosophical ideas behind Melnikov’s ambitious architectural manifesto in 1920s Soviet Russia.

When: Monday, Feb 24, 7 - 8 pm (Note: Hollyhock House will be open for a self-guided tour from 6 - 7 pm)

Where: Hollyhock House at Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles 90027

Tickets: Free; click here for tickets.

Pure Tension by Alvin Huang and his firm Synthesis Design + Architecture is a portable EV charging structure and winner of Time Magazine’s “25 Best Inventions of 2013.” You can read more about Huang and his firm here.

4) Crazy Creative Asians

Celebrating the diverse and dynamic creative energy of the Chinese-American community in Los Angeles, Crazy Creative Asians gathers a wide range of artists and designers working in the fields of architecture, design, fashion, film, jewelry, publishing and photography. Expect cocktails and fast-paced, Pecha Kucha style stories from these makers and the entrepreneurs. Hosted by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce Los Angeles, presenters include: Mina ChowKatherin GaoAlvin Huang, J. Glenn Kay, Nicolas Lam, Jennifer 8 Lee, Daniel Lee Postaer, Jenny Wu, Trina Yin

When: Tuesday, Feb 25, 6 - 9 pm

Where: Sake Dojo, 333 East 1st Street, Los Angeles 90012

Tickets: Free; get more information here

The Chemosphere is a modernist house in Los Angeles, designed by John Lautner. The house was used in the 1984 film “Body Double,” directed by Brian De Palma.

5) Chad Oppenheim, author of LAIR: Radical Homes, Hideouts and Cars of Movie Villains

While Chad Oppenheim probably never wanted to grow up to be a super villain, he sure thought they had the coolest homes and hideouts or, as he calls them, "lairs". Oppenheim became an architect and has edited a book, LAIR: Radical Homes, Hideouts and Cars of Movie Villains, about the sets for very bad guys that inspired him, typically "stunning, sophisticated, envy-inducing expression of the warped drives and desires of its occupant." Think the private island residence of Scaramanga in “The Man with the Golden Gun”; the war room designed by Ken Adam in Dr Strangelove; Ernst Stavro Blofeld's lair in “Diamonds Are Forever” (the Elrod House by John Lautner); and the cool, hyper-minimalist hideaway of Nathan Bateman in "Ex Machina". DnA's Frances Anderton will interview Oppenheim Wednesday at Mass Beverly; and he will join a panel Thursday at Petersen Automotive Museum. Catch Frances talking with him on this DnA.

When: Wednesday, Feb 26, 6 - 8 pm

Where: Mass Beverly, 900 Beverly Blvd, West Hollywood 90048

Tickets: Free; RSVP by emailing andrea@andreaburnett.com or call 650-207-0917