California Connection

Just for fun, a few images of classic Los Angeles architecture taken on a recent trip to California.

Kings Road Residence, RM Schindler 1922

Sturges Residence, FLW 1939

Mackey Apartments, RM Schindler 1939

Yew Residence, Richard Neutra 1957

VDL Research House, Richard Neutra 1963

Stahl Residence (Case Study #22), Pierre Koenig 1960

Toderian Out

Brent Toderian has been fired from his position of director of planning with the city.

See Frances Bula's article in the Globe.

There's bound to be much debate over Toderian's termination and legacy but the question now is who will succeed him?

Architecture of Words

Check out Letters: Michael Morris and Concrete Poetry at the Belkin. It's an excellent exhibit and a chance to revisit one facet of Morris' impressive 1960's output.

It's the first time the Letters works have all been exhibited together and they dominate the main gallery space, vibrating with an electric energy.

Morris' concrete poetry work has a bold, graphic clarity and meets at the intersection of typography, design and verse. A rich group of concrete poetry works from the Belkin collection provides context, including pieces by Ugo Carrega, Gerhard Ruhm and Jiri Kolar.

The show runs until April 8, 2012 and includes Artists talks and programs.

Now, if we could get a retrospective on Brian Fisher's work...

Vancouver History

A couple of new blogs that explore the history of Vancouver:

Changing Vancouver shows the city through then and now images and pairs them with in-depth descriptions. The blog has just come online this month but there are dozens of interesting postings. It is authored by local historian and writer John Atkin and city planner Andy Coupland.

Atkin and Coupland are also responsible for Building Vancouver, which focuses on Vancouver's early buildings and architects and features a wealth of historical detail.