5 design things to do Sept 7 - 13

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This week: check out the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood; attend a launch party for Janna Ireland's new book "Regarding Paul R. Williams;" eyeball the interiors on Dezeen's Awards shortlist; visit Mark Bradford's Quarantine Paintings at Hauser & Wirth; learn about the Latinx Art Alliance. All online, of course.

1) SoFi Stadium open and available on screen

SoFi Stadium, the new Inglewood home of the LA Rams and Chargers, held a virtual ribbon-cutting Tuesday and this Sunday the Rams will host their first home game with the Dallas Cowboys. The stadium is part of a colossal development, financed by Rams owner Stan Kroenke, that includes a performance space, shops, offices, housing and a public lake. 

Since it sits under the flight path for LAX the stadium had to be buried 100 feet into the ground. But Rams COO Kevin Demoff told DnA, “the building had to be one of those great architectural buildings in in Southern California.” I t was designed -- by HKS Architects with landscape by Studio MLA -- to be open, light and porous, with a wave-like, translucent roof and lush plazas and clubs. You can view it during the game on NBC Sports Sunday. Or, get the full construction story on this Discovery and Science Channel ‘NFL Super Stadiums’ documentary, airing Wednesday, September 9, and Sunday, September 12.

When: Tuesday, Sept 8

Where: NBC Sports‘NFL Super Stadiums special on SoFi premieres September 9 at 8pm ET/PT on Science Channel and September 12 at 11am ET/PT on Discovery.

Cost: Subscription to Science/Discovery channels.

Interior of The Webster, 2020, designed by Adjaye Associates. Photo by Laurian Ghinitoiu.

2) What's New, What's Next/Dezeen Interior Design

Get an interiors fix by checking out the shortlist for Dezeen's 2020 Interior Design Awards. Out of 61 global entries, David Adjaye's design for The Webster clothing store at the Beverly Center makes the cut, as does Reigning Champ on La Brea by Peter Cardew Architects; and MuseumLab, the children's museum wrought from the lightening-struck Carnegie Library by LA firm Koning Eizenberg. For the first time Dezeen is offering a people's choice award. Voting starts next week.

For more interiors, go online to What’s New, What’s Next, hosted by The New York Design Center. Join showroom walk-throughs, interactive panel conversations, a “WNWN Book Talk” series and an inaugural brand ambassador program.

When: Both are online now

Where: WNWH; Dezeen Awards Interiors shortlist

Cost: Free

Interior of Guardian Angel Cathedral, Las Vegas, completed in 1963 by Paul R. Williams; photograph by Janna Ireland, 2018.

3) Virtual launch party: "Regarding Paul R. Williams: A Photographer’s View" by Janna Ireland

When Janna Ireland got a call from Barbara Bestor, architect and executive director of the Julius Shulman Institute at Woodbury University, asking her to photograph buildings by Paul Revere Williams, she says she barely knew the late African American architect's work. Driven by a passion to explore and showcase "Black creativity" she threw herself into the project, creating an astonishing collection of black and white photographs of Williams' interiors, churches, housing and institutional buildings. That work is now a book, to be published September 15 by Angel City Press. This Sunday, Bestor and Ireland will discuss "Regarding Paul Williams" at a virtual book launch party.

In an introduction to the book, Ireland writes, "The decision to photograph in black and white was intuitive, almost automatic, and not tied to any sense of nostalgia for bygone eras; I simply wanted to mute distractions like the color of a wall or carpet, and draw attention instead to Williams’s voluptuous curves and tidy lines."

You can catch Ireland on this Greater LA segment about the acquisition of the Williams archive by the Getty Research Institute and USC; and an interview with her will air soon on kcrw.com/dna.

When: Sunday, September 13, 4 pm

Where: Register here to attend the virtual Launch Party via Crowdcast

Cost: Free

Installation view, ‘Mark Bradford. Quarantine Paintings,’ Hauser &Wirth Los Angeles, 2020 © Mark Bradford. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Joshua White / JWPictures

4) Mark Bradford: Quarantine Paintings

Celebrated Los Angeles artist Mark Bradford used his time spent sheltering in place to create a series of "Quarantine Paintings" that explore "the nature of art in isolation and what it means to create in a time of intense societal indetermination." Now you can witness them at his gallery Hauser & Wirth, online. Find some of his pre-quarantine works in an online show called "End Papers" at the Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth, Texas.

When: Ongoing

Where: At Hauser & Wirth online

Cost: Free

Self Help Graphics and Arts artist Dewey Tafoya made this commemorative poster to honor 50 years of fighting for Chicano civil rights. Translation: The fight always goes on. Photo courtesy of Instagram.

5) Latinx Art Alliance Launch Event: The Importance of Inclusion

LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), Self Help Graphics & Art, Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), and the Vincent Price Art Museum have come together to form the Latinx Art Alliance to amplify their collective impact and influence. It kicks off this week with a collaborative virtual launch event entitled, "The Importance of Equitable Inclusion: Amplifying Latinx Art, Artists, and Culture", beginning a month-long series of projects as a part of Hispanic Heritage Month. One of the goals of the Latinx Arts Alliance is to develop strategies for growth in funding for its members. John Echeveste, CEO of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, notes “while 39 percent of the California population is Latinx, less than 1.3 percent of philanthropic dollars are designated for Latinx organizations." This and other topics related to promoting Latinx Arts will be discussed by Los Angeles Latinx cultural and business leaders.

When: Thursday, Sept 10, 11 am

Where: Online.

Cost: Free