The SF Chapter of the American Institute of Architects has lined up an exhaustive top-notch series of events and exhibits for its fifth annual Architecture and the City festival. Running throughout September, the 2008 theme is Design for Community– which is designed to showcase the way in which buildings impact our streets and neighborhoods, and, more importantly, how they help to shape our communities into better, livable places.
The programs to choose from are endless. There’s something for everyone here. The ones that caught my attention are:
Exhibit: Urban Re:Interventions
August 25 -October 26, 2008
Opening Reception September 5, 6:00 pm
Center for Architecture + Design Gallery, 130 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco
Urban Re:Interventions explores perspectives on the urban environment and re-invisions how awkward spaces can be made beautiful. Participating artists were asked to answer questions such as “What annoys you about San Francisco’s streetscape?” “If you could remake your neighborhood where would you start?” “How could you connect the city to disengaged communities and/or individuals?” and “What are you already doing to improve your local environment?“
Lecture: Building Green in San Francisco: New Incentives and New Requirements
September 30, 6:00 pm
AIA San Francisco, 130 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco
Price: $15 members; $25 nonmembers
San Francisco has the nation’s most comprehensive green building ordinance applying to the private sector. Learn how the requirements will affect your project, why San Francisco is taking this action, and what incentives will be available to help projects succeed–and exceed–the requirements.
Under the Bay Bridge Boat Tour:
Redesigning the Eastern Span of Bay Bridge (2 HSWs)
September 4, 4:00-6:00 PM
Please arrive between 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm for boarding.
$50 members; $60 nonmembers
Tour Start Point: Pier 3, San Francisco
A presentation and discussion about how the Bridge’s new East Span’s was redesigned and built. Guided tour by boat to view the new East Span span under construction will follow. Participants will learn about the process of designing a signature bridge in a highly sensitive environment, focusing on the design competition and how stakeholders in the project affected the design and consturction process.
Movie: The Art & Science of Renzo Piano
September 24, 6:00 pm
Main Library 100 Larkin Street
This film is about Piano’s design of the new California Academy of Sciences, scheduled to reopen this fall. A panel discussion with members of the California Academy of Sciences design team follows.
Family Tours and Art-Making Workshop at Contemporary Jewish Museum
September 7, 11:30-3:00 pm
Drop-in Art-Making Workshop 11:30 am-3:00 pm
Family Architecture Tour, 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm, 2:00 pm
Recommended for children ages 4-10.
Program is free. Regular admission fees apply.
Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission Street (between Third and Fourth Streets), San Francisco
A Drop-in Art-Making workshop, where kids can explore the impact of different shapes and angles as they design an architectural composition of their own. Family Architecture Tours, which take place simultaneously, offer a chance to look up high, down low, and from side to side to discover the shapes and angles of the Contemporary Jewish Museum.
Food: DZINE
128 Utah Street, San Francisco
September 26, 7:00 pm
$125 Limited to 25 people
Celebrate a unique evening at DZINE, one of San Francisco’s top design showrooms, where you’ll get a special menu and evening of delicacies prepared within the showroom’s Boffi/Gaggenau kitchen. (This event seems a little odd, but definitely memorable– and I do love Gaggenau).
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But the centerpiece of the festival (at least for me) is the Living Homes Tour– which offers design enthusiasts an inside look into the world of distinctive Bay Area residences in San Francisco. Projects are showcased with the designer(s) via an open house format, and tour participants get to some of the city’s latest residential projects from the inside out. Saturday’s tour concentrates on homes in the Mission, Noe Valley and Potrero Hill, as well as a tour of the Arterra condominiums. Sunday’s schedule is more focused on Pacific Heights, although a home in Sausalito is included, along with a tour of the new Salvation Army Community Center in the Tenderloin.
You must register for all events. Space is limited. Logon to the AIASF website for more information.
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