Looking Good While Doing Good

“Looking Good While Doing Good” is how Mayer Rus, the Design and Culture Editor for the Los Angeles Times Magazine, neatly summed up the architecture section of the California Design Biennial currently on show at the Pasadena Museum of California Art.

I wish I’d thought of the phrase myself because I curated that section and Mayer captured exactly what I was trying to display: work that was both socially beneficial while also beautiful. Of course one has to ask, is what is Beauty in an age when there is no consensus on aesthetic values? In fact the very idea of beauty is anathema in some architecture and art circles. (The topic was recently discussed at a SCI-Arc panel hosted by Yael Reisner, author of “Architecture And Beauty: Conversations About a Troubled Relationship.“)

Anyway, next Sunday afternoon, at the PMCA, I will talk with Mayer Rus and architect Lorcan O’Herlihy about the challenges involved in realizing buildings that “look good while doing good,” as well as how one defines good-looking these days. Lorcan and his firm LOHA designed the very distinctive (and, to my eyes, beautiful) Formosa 1140 condo building that is in the show; they also won this year’s AIA/LA Firm of the Year award.

This will segue nicely into a workshop starting at 3.00PM led by James Rojas, inspired urban planner who created the “Messy and Vital” model of California that I included in the Biennial architecture section with the goal of illustrating that buildings do not exist in isolation, but rather in relation to an urban and human fabric. James gets groups to envision neighborhood designs through creating interactive models and will hold a workshop about envisioning California.

I would be so delighted if you would attend both events. Here are some more details:

October 17, 2010

2:00 — 3:00PM

Looking Good While Doing Good

Guests:

Lorcan O’Herlihy

Architect, Principal, LOHA (Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects)

Mayer Rus

Design and Culture Editor, Los Angeles Times Magazine

3:00PM

Workshop with James Rojas

Designer JamesRojas leads an interactive workshop that touches on issues of urban planning, land management and architecture. Using found objects as buildings, visitors will create their own imaginative cityscape. Fun for the whole family! All ages welcome.

Both events free with admission ($7 adults, $5 Seniors and Students)

Free for children under 12

RSVP to 626-568-3665 x17