8/30 - San Francisco's "Architecture and the City Festival"

ARCHITECTURE AND THE CITY FESTIVAL

September 1-30  | San Francisco  | www.aiasf.org/archandcity

The American Institute of Architects, San Francisco chapter (AIA San Francisco) and Center for Architecture + Design present the eighth annual Architecture and the City festival, the nation’s largest architectural festival showcasing tours, films, exhibitions, lectures, workshops and more. With the inclusion of over forty programs and special events, Architecture and the City will provide many opportunities to view and rediscover the city from a different perspective. The San Francisco Living: Home Tours weekend, which returns September 17-18, gives participants an exclusive look into some of the city's latest residential projects from the inside out. Take in films that spotlight the built environment, the architectural profession and cutting-edge design or attend lectures by renowned architects and designers. Behind the scenes tours, including sailing tours along San Francisco's changing waterfront and food and design tours of some of the city's hottest restaurants will also be a part of the program.

“A designer is an emerging synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist and evolutionary strategist. ” --R. Buckminster Fuller

The 2011 festival theme is “Architecture of Consequence.”
By selecting this theme, the festival hopes to demonstrate how progressive design and creative problem solving can address society’s current challenges and lead to a more sustainable future.

CASS CALDER SMITH, AIA

Cass Calder Smith established the architectural firm that bears his name in 1990. Born in 1961, Smith earned his Bachelor and Master of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. A native of New York City, he has lived in California since 1972 and now splits his time between both coasts. As the son of an Academy-Award winning filmmaker and a California landscape painter and designer, his early years were influenced by both Greenwich Village intellectuals and rural California artisans.

Smith is recognized internationally for his architectural and interior design projects. Firmly based in the modernist idiom, Smith draws inspiration from history’s great architects and cities as well as the epic filmmakers of the last century. Bold imagery and intricate detail are characteristic of his designs balanced with experience and common sense.

Smith and his work have won numerous awards and have been recognized in The New York Times, Metropolitan Home, Metropolis, Dwell, Interior Design and Abitare, among others.

BONNIE L. BRIDGES, AIA
Boor Bridges Architecture

Bonnie Bridges is the Founding Principal of Boor Bridges Architecture, an architecture and design firm in San Francisco known for their collaborative design style that they have coined Humanistic Modernism.

Early in her career Bonnie spent time in and around Arizona’s Sonoran desert, imprinting within her a core experience of light and space that continues to ground her work in site-specificity and material simplicity. Her graduate and doctoral research into the relationship between being and building, and her knowledge of contemporary architectural theory, bring an awareness of place and purpose to the design process.

Bonnie is actively involved in the civic realm and the greater architectural community, currently serving on the AIA California Council Board of Directors. She has taught at CCA, UC Berkeley and UT Austin. Prior to partnering with Seth, Bonnie managed her own practice, preceded by work for award-winning firms in California and Arizona. She earned her Doctor of Design from Harvard GSD, her Masters of Architecture with honors from UT Austin, and her BA from the University of Arizona.

When ‘off the clock’, Bonnie can be found gardening, playing music, cooking or exploring the outdoors with her husband and twin daughters.


SETH PARE-MAYER and KELLI FRANZ
atelier KS

atelier KS is a San Francisco based design studio founded by husband-wife team Seth Pare-Mayer and Kelli Franz. 'Atelier' translates to 'workshop' in French, which is how we operate our studio - in a perpetual state of exploration.

Specializing in a range of projects both residential and commercial, we aim to balance practical solutions with innovative modern designs. Continuous collaboration with our clients and project team guides our process, with each project being designed around the unique needs of program, client, site, and budget.

Both Kelli and Seth are Certified Green Building Professionals through the non-profit organization "Build It Green," and aim for environmentally sensitive choices at each stage of the process. Prior to co-founding the studio, Kelli worked as a designer at various architecture firms in San Francisco, San Diego, and Virginia. She earned her Bachelor of Architecture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and studied at the Washington Alexandria Architecture Consortium in Alexandria, Virginia. She has a strong background in art, design, and music which informs her sense of composition and spatial problem solving. She expresses her design intentions through sketches and various digital media, exploring a variety of materials, textures, colors, patterns, and systems.

Seth earned his Bachelor of Architecture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and studied architecture at the Ecole d'Architecture-Val de Seine in Paris, France. Seth developed a love for fabrication processes and tectonic connections early on in life, which he carries into the development of each project's detailing. He is a dedicated presence throughout construction, working collaboratively with builders to create spaces that are beautiful in their finer details. Prior to co-founding the studio, Seth worked in various architecture firms in San Francisco and San Luis Obispo.

E.B. MIN, AIA

Min | Day



E.B.Min and Jeffrey L Day



E.B. Min is the San Francisco based principal of Min | Day. An honors graduate of Brown University with dual concentrations in Art History and Studio Art, she began her architectural studies as a cross-registered student at Rhode Island School of Design. She received her Master of Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley in 1993. E.B.’s experience in the landscape architecture office of Delaney and Cochran nurtured her interest in the integration of landscapes and buildings. E.B. has taught at U.C. Berkeley and is an Adjunct Professor in the Masters of Architecture Program at California College of the Arts in San Francisco and serves on the Board of Directors of the AIA San Francisco.

The practice draws on E.B. Min and Jeffrey Day’s backgrounds in art, landscape, and architecture to provide informed, flexible design for a wide range of clients, sites, and projects – from individuals to art institutions, urban to rural settings, and furniture to large buildings. We explore opportunities for innovation in program, materials, and fabrication, as well as in methods of practice, through a diverse set of project types and scales of intervention, coaxing nuance and specificity from the unique opportunities of the site and project at hand.

Helen Wong, Director of Communications  AIA SAN FRANCISCO
and Cass Calder Smith reflect on the Festival highlights on Slow Living Radio.