Your week in design events from DnA.
1) Shanshui City
How do architects enable a “return to nature” in a country that has seen urban development on an unprecedented scale and speed?
That is the goal of Chinese architect Ma Yansong, founder of MAD Architects, who will share the stage with USC’s School of Architecture Dean Qingyun Ma at A+D Museum Tuesday night for a discussion about Shanshui City, Ma Yansong’s new book exploring “a new model of urban development based on Chinese Shanshui spirit and an ethos for people to return to nature.” DnA’s Frances Anderton will moderate the conversation. While at A+D you can check out the musem’s Shelter exhibition, which includes MAD’s “Cloud Corridor,” a speculative design for high-rise housing on Wilshire Boulevard.
When: Tuesday, October 13, Reception: 6:30PM; Discussion: 7:00 — 8:30PM
Where: A+D Museum, 900 East 4th St., Los Angeles, 90013.
Tickets: Free to the public. Read more here or email rsvp@aplusd.org
Click here for more information
2) L.A.T.B.D.
What if Los Angeles went the way of Shanshui City, and found new ways to integrate the natural world as it densifies? There are so many possibilities for the future of Los Angeles, and an exhibition and art installation explores some of them at the USC Libraries. Opening Thursday, October 15, L.A.T.B.D. (LA To Be Determined) is the work of USC Libraries Discovery Fellow Geoff Manaugh who, with London-based architects Smout Allen, modeled the futurescape of the city out of milled lime wood and 3D-printed plastic. The installation is informed by Manaugh’s wide-ranging interviews with experts from seismologist Lucy Jones to filmmaker John Carpenter, and draws on principles of game design to allow visitors to navigate diverse narrative possibilities. If you’re going to the annual LA Archives Bazaar at USC on Saturday, October 17, poke your head into the Treasure Room and see some fantastical visions of L.A.’s future.
When: Opens on October 15, 2015 and runs through January 31, 2016
Where: The Treasure Room at the University of Southern California’s Doheny Memorial Library, 3550 Trousdale Pkwy, Los Angeles 90089
Tickets: Free and open to the public.
Click here for more information
3) DABSMYLA Take Modernica
Serious Modern goes psychedelic in an installation at the factory of furniture manufacturer Modernica by DABSMYLA. The eponymous Dabs and Myla are prolific Australian commercial artists, and partners in life and work, who have spent the last few weeks transforming the 4,000 square foot, 1930s Spanish Revival workplace building into a blaze of color and cartoonish imagery. In a month-long installation you can see their new paintings, sculptures, lighting installations as well as limited-edition fiberglass shell chairs and hand painted ceramics.
When: Open to the public October 17 — November 15, 2015, Thursday — Sunday; 12 — 7PM
Where: Modernica Factory, 2901 Saco Street, Los Angeles, CA 90058
Tickets: Free and open to the public.
Click here for more information
4) Ugly Buildings in Van Nuys/Fine Buildings in Silver Lake
Van Nuys: The Ugly, Ordinary and Unappreciated
Many of LA’s buildings are ugly, but they tell a story of Los Angeles that is perhaps more reflective of everyday life and people than the carefully designed and built “beautiful” buildings. That’s the view of LA author and architect Wendy Gilmartin, who has been writing about LA’s “ugly,” even “fugly,” buildings in LA Weekly and in an essay in “LAtitudes: An Angeleno’s Atlas.” She will lead a tour of some of them in the San Fernando Valley this Saturday, as part of L.A. Commons’ 5th annual Found L.A: Festival of Neighborhoods.
When: Saturday, October 17th, 12:00pm-1:00pm
Architecture Tour: Silver Lake
If you’re looking to see some more “beautiful” architectural gems that day, Venice Family Clinic is offering an exclusive tour of Silver Lake homes designed and renovated by architects Escher GuneWardena, Rudolph Schindler, Tom Marble and Marmol Radziner.
When: Saturday, Oct. 17 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: location will be shared on purchase of tickets
Tickets: $175 donation, includes a VIP tour of five homes & refreshments. Proceeds to Venice Family Clinic, which provides health care for more than 22,000 low-income and homeless people. Click here to sign up or call (310) 664-7930.
Click here for more information
5) The Big Draw
Chances are you’re planning on spending this Sunday, Oct. 18 cycling or walking through downtown LA as part of the latest installment of CicLAvia. There’s another big gathering of Angelenos on Sunday, but it’s to draw together. The Big Draw LA is Southern California’s largest public drawing celebration, with a series of drawing activities throughout the month of October, hosted by community-based organizations throughout the region, including parks, museums, and neighborhoods. The flagship event is this Sunday at downtown LA’s Grand Park.
“The concept behind this movement is to encourage community participation, inspire creativity, and improve the vitality and vibrancy of our communities by leveraging the power of art and creative placemaking,” says Diane Brigham, executive director of Ryman Arts, the nonprofit behind The Big Draw.
When: October 18, 2015, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Where: Los Angeles Grand Park between Hill & Broadway
Tickets: Free and open to the public; for more information, click here or call (213) 629-2787.
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