FOOD TOURS

Celebrate San Francisco's diverse design talent and culinary richness as we explore the intersection of design, craft and the local food movement.

Craft top to Bottom: Art, Building and Food (2 LUs)
September 10, 2:00 - 5:00 pm

This field-trip style event examines the SOMA-based restaurant Bar Agricole, the result of a unique artist-designer-client relationship and winner of the coveted James Beard Award for Interiors. The tour begins at the Mission district studio of Nikolas Weinstein, where he will describe the technical challenges of designing the seemingly weightless glass sculpture that floats above restaurant diners. Next stop is the restaurant, where architect Joshua Aidlin will discuss how the design took inspiration from the sustainable agricultural roots of the restaurant's menu. Mark Rogero will then discuss the vast potential of concrete and the many forms explored in the restaurant, from poured in place and precast to the complexities of sensual ductal concrete. Lastly, Thaddeus Vogler, owner of Bar Agricole will speak about the artisanal food and drink menu, his intentions behind the restaurant's concept of farm to table, and how the inclusion of local artists and craftspeople has enhanced the sense of place.

Other Food and Design in the City Tours include:

WALKING TOURS

On these weekly tours, use all your senses to explore San Francisco's pedestrian streets - as well as their evolution and tradition - as only a pedestrian can.

Then and Now - Pier 70 (1 HSW)
September 9, 3:00 - 4:30 pm

Join us for an intimate look at San Francisco's industrial past as we explore Pier 70. This tour will look at the site's history as a shipyard, its importance in the development of steel shipbuilding in the United States, as well as its role in two World Wars. Preservation and future reuse of what one authority called "one of the most intact 19th century industrial complexes west of the Mississippi River" will also be discussed.

Other Walking Tours include:

FILM SERIES
Free, Wednesdays at 5:30 pm at the San Francisco Public Library

This year's film series has been graciously curated by Chris Gee and Lee Schneider and is generously supported by the San Francisco Public Library and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, The American Architectural Foundation, CNA Insurance Companies and Victor O. Schinnerer & Company.

Design for Good: Shelter (2011) and Citizen Architect (2010)
September 7, 5:30 pm

The evening will begin with an informal conversation between the filmmakers Lee Schneider and Richard Neil of Shelter and John Peterson, Founder and Executive Director of Public Architecture. Following, the work-in-progress edit of Shelter will be screened. Focusing on reconstruction in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake, it's an inspiring look at how a world community of architects and designers join relief workers to create design solutions in the context of community building. The night concludes with the screening of Citizen Architect. Revealing the philosophy and heart behind Auburn University's Rural Studio, the documentary is guided by never-before-seen interviews with the late architect Samuel Mockbee and perspectives from other architects and designers. Their dialogue infuses the film with a larger discussion of architecture's role in issues of poverty, class, race, education, social change and citizenship.

Other Films include:

Architecture Is...A Short Film Competition

The Center for Architecture + Design invites you to enter Architecture Is... our first short film competition. Young or old, architect or accountant, architecture means something different to each of us, and we want to hear what it means to you! Is it the beams and columns that hold up your home? Is it the way a skyscraper makes you feel like an ant in the city? Or is it how the built environment makes you move through space? Share your thoughts with us by submitting your three minute film to our YouTube channel! Deadline for entries is September 8.

LECTURES

"Grand Central of the West": The Transbay Transit Center (2 LUs)
September 22, 6:00 pm

Led by Fred Clarke of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, this evening's panel will discuss the visionary Transbay Transit Center project and its potential to reshape both downtown San Francisco and the Bay Area's regional transportation system as a whole. The $4.2 billion project will replace the current Transbay Terminal at First and Mission streets in San Francisco with a modern regional transit hub connecting eight Bay Area counties and the State of California through 11 transit systems. The Transbay Transit Center will also create a neighborhood with new shops, homes, offices and parks, including a 5.4 acre public park on the roof of the bus and rail station.

Other Lectures and Workshops include:

EXHIBITIONS

Architecture of Consequence: San Francisco
August 31 - October 21
Opening Reception August 31, 6:00 pm
AIA San Francisco/Center for Architecture + Design Gallery
130 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco

Join AIA San Francisco and the Center for Architecture + Design in welcoming Ole Bouman, Director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute, for opening remarks and a provocative exploration of the changing role of architects and architecture in contemporary society.

At the dawn of the 21st century, the human race faces a number of colossal challenges. The economic crisis, food and energy shortages, decreased leisure time and weakened social cohesion impact our lives in new and astonishing ways. While these challenges are daunting, they represent significant opportunity for new design solutions and value propositions. Broadening the notion of value to include long-term social benefits creates new space, both mentally and physically, for fresh ideas and new perspectives.

In an effort to advance critical dialogue with the international architectural community, we are delighted to announce a unique collaboration with the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI). In 2009, the NAI presented the Architecture of Consequence - Dutch Designs on the Future exhibition. Over the past two years it has been presented in multiple locations around the world. This latest incarnation, in San Francisco, is the first to add content to the exhibition, with the inclusion of new work by four Bay Area architecture firms. In doing so we hope to advance this innovative agenda and reveal how architects can practice in new ways that reinvigorate the field and reposition architects at the vanguard of social change. From modest interventions to utopian visions, the firms participating in this ground-breaking exhibition express an admirable confidence in our shared future. The result is a unique portfolio of progressive design strategies and demonstrable evidence that architects hold the creative vision needed to reshape our future.

Other Exhibitions include:

FAMILY PROGRAMS

Adventures in Architecture at the Contemporary Jewish Museum
September 18, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm

Come and discover new ways of experiencing your relationship with the city and built environment through an interactive tour of the CJM's redesigned historical building. Interactive tours will include scavenger hunts, creative movement exercises, material investigations, and design challenges with recycled materials! Learn how art and architecture can impact your everyday life, and see how you can bring your very own building "to life!"

SPECIAL EVENTS

Mayor's Forum: What is Your Vision for San Francisco's Built Environment?
August 29, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Should the city be denser? Is the city building enough affordable housing? How can the city balance desires for preservation with changing urban needs? Join San Francisco Chronicle Urban Design Critic John King and leading candidates for Mayor of San Francisco in a roundtable discussion of their views of the City's design future.

Other Special Events include:

AIA SAN FRANCISCO
Serving the Bay Area for more than a century, the American Institute of Architects, San Francisco Chapter (AIA San Francisco) is one of the largest of the AIA's 300 chapters. Headquartered in the historic Hallidie Building—one of the world's first glass-curtain-wall-buildings, designed by Willis Polk and completed in 1917—AIA San Francisco is the Bay Area’s premier destination for architecture and design. Representing more than 2,300 members in San Francisco and Marin County, our mission is to improve the quality of life in the Bay Area by promoting architecture and design. We further this goal through community involvement, education, advocacy, public outreach, member service, and professional excellence.

CENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN
As one of the first centers of its kind on the West Coast, the Center for Architecture + Design enhances public appreciation for architecture and design both locally and internationally through exhibitions, lectures, tours, film series and other programs that aim to reveal the richness of the design arts. Founded by the American Institute of Architects, San Francisco chapter in 2005, the Center for Architecture + Design celebrates the larger diverse design community and is a collaborative environment where design organizations and affiliates share not only space, but ideas.

ARCHITECTURE AND THE CITY FESTIVAL
Celebrating San Francisco’s unique built environment and design community, Architecture and the City is the first festival of its kind in the Bay Area to feature architectural tours, film screenings, exhibitions, design lectures and more. Created in 2003, Architecture and the City has now grown into the nation’s largest architecture festival, showcasing San Francisco's diverse architectural talent and presenting a forum to promote new ideas for innovative design and development in the city. Whether festival participants are looking to become involved with the local architecture and design community or simply want to learn more about the city in which they live, Architecture and the City offers an unparalleled opportunity to experience San Francisco.