Los Angeles Design Festival June 15-30

The Standard Downtown LA

This week design aficionados and trend-spotters are in for a treat because the Los Angeles Design Festival kicked off on Wednesday the 13th! Beginning with a poolside reception on the rooftop of the oh-so-trendy downtown hotel, The Standard – people were treated to a preview of what has become the West Coast’s answer to New York’s Design Week. The festival is comprised of a series of tours to galleries, studios, and buildings in addition to other design-related events. The best known event is Dwell on Design, held June 22-24 at the LA Convention Center, sponsored by the popular modern design and architecture publication Dwell Magazine. The show producers anticipate that at least 23,000 design professionals and enthusiasts will attend – that’s how popular the show has become. Aside from Dwell on Design, here are some other major design events taking place around this unique and design-forward city that attendees and residents of LA should know about:

2X8 Taut is an exhibition of student design work from all over California that has been on display since June 5th and will continue through June 30th. The exhibition is hosted by the Los Angeles Architecture + Design Museum, just across from LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) in the Miracle Mile district of the city.

The Architect’s Newspaper is hosting a reception and self-guided tour of their headquarters and neighboring offices at the American Cement Building across from MarArthur Park from 7-9pm on June 21st. The building, designed by DMJM in 1960, is noted for its modernist façade and concentration of architecture studios. The tour invites participants to visit the offices of DRDS, Flatform for Architecture + Research, Stayner Architects, Studio Bonner, Synthesis Design + Architecture,WROAD, and VA Design.

courtesy by nichole suzette design / flickr

Architecture and environment research association M&A is celebrating the organizations tenth anniversary with an informative bike tour of the Silverlake neighborhood where they are headquartered. The tour, held Saturday June 23rd, can be joined for $10 and also gets you into their birthday event and a raffle ticket that may win you one of several unique cakes created by architects and designers. The tour will take you around the trendy neighborhood to local landmarks and notable architecture that relates to the development of Los Angeles society.

by Doris Sung in collaboration with Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter and Matthew Melnyk

The 42nd Annual Los Angeles Architecture Awards will be held at the Beverly Hilton on Wednesday the 20th from 11am to 2pm. Projects that have positively transformed communities and those that offer innovative and bold design will be recognized. Also announced at the event will be the winners of a contest between several student teams from local architecture schools, who designed a rework of the Los Angeles Port. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other local officials will be in attendance as will the director of LACMA, Michael Goven who is giving a keynote address about the relationship between art and architecture.

Los Angeles increasingly has aimed to diversify its creative economy beyond the dominant entertainment industry. A growing local fashion sector and booming art scene have ensured a continued interest in design, in a city that was built upon new ideas and forward thinking. We hope that all of you attending Dwell on Design have an eye-opening experience and that you take a moment to check out some of these other exciting events. We will be bringing you more information as we watch Los Angeles Design Week’s exciting itinerary unfold in the next week – and if you spot any trends that you’d like to share – please do!

42nd Annual Los Angeles Architectural Awards

dwell ON DESIGN Information Sheet

M&A Event Sheet

Architect’s Newspaper Studio Tour