5 design things to do: Dec 19-25

Coming up: Check out the holiday lights all over town; follow the creation of a stackable, modular sleeping pod; look at how Stanley Kubrick told stories with photographs before he became a filmmaker; seeEdward and Nancy Kienholz's Merry-go-World; and appreciate the archaic designs of Arno Declercq.

1) Seasonal Lights and More!

'Tis the season for sparkly lights and festive outings. Here's a list of places where the nights will be lit and the after-dark entertainment is for the whole family. Click on each event for more information.

When/Where/Tickets by Event:

Moonlight Forest:A fantasy of lights and lanterns. Now through Jan 12. LA Arboretum,301 N Baldwin Ave, Arcadia 91007. General Admission $25 - you can get ticketshere.

Enchanted Forest: An interactive nighttime experience through the beautiful Descanso Gardens. Now through Jan 5. Descanso Gardens,1418 Descanso Dr, La Cañada Flintridge 91011. General Admission $9 - you can get ticketshere.

LA Zoo Lights: A Wild Wonderland of Lights. Now through Jan 5. LA Zoo,5333 Zoo Dr, Los Angeles 90027. General admission $11 - you can get ticketshere.

Beverly Hills Bold:Holiday Lights, Night Shopping, Street Performances, and Special Engagements.Events run now through Dec 21; Lights remain through the holidays. Throughout Beverly Hills shopping district. Free

Santa’s North Pole Village at Wisdome.LA:LA’s largest immersive holiday experience.Discover the magic of the North Pole in 360-degree geodesic domes, along with ice skating and Santa photo shoots. Wisdome.LA,1147 Palmetto St., Los Angeles 90013. Open Wednesday-Sunday through December 30. General admission starts at $25, get ticketshere.

2) DOME: More Than Shelter

The rising numbers of unhoused on the streets of Los Angeles has prompted soul-searching along with many design efforts aimed at creating solutions.

The architects at Perkins and Will’s Los Angeles studio have developed DOME, a stackable, modular sleeping pod for use in transitional shelters. The patent-pending design emerged from months of research: visits with community members, fabricators and operators (see video here). DOME, estimated to cost less than $5,000 per unit and ranging from 42 to 55 square feet in size, is designed to provide some privacy as well as efficient storage and shipping. In addition to human amenities -- extra-long twin bed with storage underneath, lockable wardrobe, an aisle light and outlet -- the design team recognized the importance of pets, providing an optional kennel area.

The exhibit follows the team of designers as they learned about the interim housing landscape and how they used design to positively address the challenges.

In tandem with the Pod exhibit, A+D is running a Sneaker and Sock Drive to raise money for PATH, a homeless services provider. And you can catch two other shows while at A+D: The Los Angeles Schools and Proof & Prototype.

When: Ongoing through Jan 12, 2020

Where: A + D Museum, 900 E 4th St, Los Angeles 90013

Tickets: Suggested donation $10

3) Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs

It's no surprise that Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999), director of such iconic films as Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey,A Clockwork Orange, and The Shining led a creative life before his big screen success. In 1945, while still a teenager, Kubrick was already scouting human-interest stories for Look magazine. He captured the gritty and the glamorous - ordinary life in the streets, nightclubs, and sporting venues of his native New York. Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs is organized by the Museum of the City of New York, drawn from its Look magazine archive, which explores this early and influential work from Kubrick’s formative years. This display of stills by the precocious talent reveals, the museum says, how Kubrick was an “acute observer of human interactions [who told] stories through images in dynamic sequences.”

When: Ongoing through March 8, 2020

Where: Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles 90049

Tickets: General admission $12; click here for more details.

The Merry-Go-World or Begat By Chance and the Wonder Horse Trigger, 1988 - 92 / mixed media tableau

4) The Merry-Go-World or Begat by Chance and the Wonder Horse Trigger

Inspired by an encounter that left the artists and life partners Edward and Nancy Kienholz thinking about fate and destiny, they constructed a stationary carousel. It came complete with the customary trappings of a carnival attraction -- calliope music, dancing lights, mirrored panels, baroque ornamentations, along with atypical inclusions -- household objects, wooden chairs, various gewgaws and hybrid creatures.

The Merry-Go-World or Begat by Chance and the Wonder HorseTrigger is a monumental multi-media assemblage, created over a four-year period (1988-92) in their Berlin and Hope, Idaho studios. It takes the viewer on a 'ride' through alternative lives -- an impoverished Oglala Sioux couple in South Dakota, a chairmaker in Egypt, a street barber in Bombay -- each presenting different cultural and socioeconomic realities.

When: Ongoing through February 22; Tuesday - Saturday: 10am - 6pm

Where: L.A. Louver, 45 N Venice Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

Tickets: Free; clickhere for more information.

5) Arno Declercq's US Debut Exhibition

Arno Declercq, the Belgian furniture and object designer and art dealer, grew up with parents in the fashion industry, and combined an instinct for style with a worldly education in interior design, materials, history and African art. He opened his own gallery focusing on ethnographic art and design and then in 2017 launched his own brand of dark and monumental functional art pieces influenced by the idea of ancient interiors filled with monumental vases and candlesticks.

When: Ongoing through Jan 20, 2020

Where: Garde, 7410 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles 90036

Tickets: Free; click here for more about the collection.