Big City Forum #12
LA><ART – Los Angeles, CA
2/23/10

Big City Forum invites you to a conversation about shifting concepts of place, memory, and identity. Featuring: Primitivo Suarez-Wolfe and Ginger Wolfe-Suarez and moderated by Amy Pederson. PRIMITIVO SUAREZ-WOLFE has a practice that includes sculpture, drawing, installation, and experimentations in residential architecture. His work is rooted in a rigorous framework of art and architecture. →

Photo courtesy of John Eng.

T’was December 21st and all through the City of Angels final holiday parties were in full swing.  Yet of them all, the one to be at was definitely the 25th Anniversary holiday party of the Modern Committee of Los Angeles (Modcom), held atop  City Hall in the Tom Bradley room! →

A new online movement, named ‘A Journey to Zero’, launched last week to facilitate and enable conversations around the path to zero emissions. Centered around the website www.journey-to-zero.com, leading visionaries in the environmental, architectural, design and art fields are kick-starting the conversation. Each collaboration brings a unique perspective on the journey to zero, making for a diverse way to start the conversation about a cleaner future.  →

Welcome to my introductory video blog for EM Magazine. I’m thrilled to be here and writing Design in the Blood, and I hope you guys enjoy what’s to come as I share my ideas and my passion for design. To read more about the ideas I’ll be discussing in my weekly columns, visit my introductory post: http://evilmonito.com/2009/11/04/design-in-the-blood/ →

Aaron Britt, one of six editors at Dwell magazine, is a perfect example of the modern-day journalist, putting his hands in as many pots as possible in the hope that one heats up.  It’s the only way to survive in a market where immediacy has become paramount to all else.  Print is suffering across the nation, newspapers are on the endangered list, and more and more people like Aaron are out of work.  However, Aaron is one of a rare few who have carved out a niche for themselves by writing about what they love.  In addition to editing Dwell, he also pens a bi-weekly column on men’s style for the San Francisco Chronicle called The Pocket Square. →

There are objects so iconic, so classic, so brilliant, that their basic design prevails despite the ever-evolving world around them.  The simple elegance of an oxford shoe, the molded comfort of an Eames Lounge, the militaristic utility of a trench coat–there’s something about each that is undeniably right. →

Big City Forum #9
Otis Art Institute – Los Angeles
11/12/09

An event featuring Monica Nouwens, Marcelo Spina, Georgina Huljich, and Ted Kane in a conversation about shaping and mapping the urban landscape. →

We all need to get away from the stresses of our daily lives sometimes and while a weekend getaway to Hawaii or Vegas is always an option, it never hurts to try something new. Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater is an experience in and of itself that has earned its reputation as the most iconic and most popular home in the Pennsylvania area. Located approximately ninety minutes from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, a visit to Fallingwater is one that will not disappoint. A full tour of this one of a kind property costs $18 for regular visitors. However, come in with →

Discarded picture frames form the ceiling of this recycled home
Photo: Michael Stravato (New York Times)

Phoenix Commotion of Huntsville, Texas, constructs low-income housing that looks and functions beautifully out of salvaged materials. Dan Phillips, the company’s founder, has built 14 homes on purchased or donated lots, using mostly recycled parts collected roadside, out of trash heaps and from other construction projects. →

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to stop by in Washington D.C.’s Union Station, one of architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham’s significant works in the early 20th century. The building features decorative Beaux-Arts style inscriptions and sculptures along with classical exteriors and vaulted spaces that create the illusion of walking through turn-of-the-century Parisian arcades. The building is a reminder of the United States’ earlier, more European pretenses, and representing the nation’s capital, the station is certainly one befitting an empire. →