Long Beach Architecture Week (LBAW), a celebration of the city’s built environment, kicks off today, June 8.
Architectural tours covering iconic buildings and prominent architectural styles in Long Beach will continue until Sunday, June 12. This is the first time the volunteer-run nonprofit has celebrated the event in person since 2019.
“Art, architecture, design is all around us in our everyday lives, so much so that we overlook it,” said Brian Trimble, an assistant professor of art at CSULB. “It’s everything from the jewelry we wear to clothing we wear, to the chairs we sit on and the cars we drive, to the buildings that we work in and live in.”
“Literally all of those things are designed by someone that has an education in art design or architecture,” he continued. “For me, it’s all related and has an incredible impact on how we live our lives.”
Participants can pick and choose which areas of Long Beach architecture most interest them, whether it’s an afternoon tea at the historic Victorian Bembridge House ($60) or a look back into the ‘20s with a tour of the East Village ($45).
Lovers of the ‘30s can hop on a double-decker bus for a tour of all things art deco and streamline modern ($70) led by John Thomas, a local art deco expert and preservation consultant for the Queen Mary.
Most cities have a certain amount of art deco and streamline modern buildings from the late ‘20s and early ‘30s, Trimble said, but Long Beach is unique in its abundance of the particular style.
The 1933 earthquake destroyed a number of structures, and federal funds from the New Deal era helped rebuild new art deco buildings across the city.
“There’s just a plethora of that style of art deco in Long Beach,” Trimble said.
On Thursday, June 9, the Pacific Visions Theatre at the Aquarium of the Pacific will host Doris Sung, an architect and USC professor experimenting with “smart materials” that “self-ventilate, self-shade, self-structure, self-assemble and self-propel” in response to changes in temperature.
Much of her work is focused on creating buildings that can be sensitive to the changing environment, and her presentation at the Aquarium ($20) will focus on the development, inspiration and design process for these inventions.
The five-day celebration also includes a number of free events, such as self-guided tours of Downtown Long Beach, CSULB’s recently-reopened Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, and tours of a dozen “bungalow mansions” designed by Miner R. Smith.
LBAW’s mission is to foster an appreciation of architecture by looking at design through the lens of history, contemporary issues and preservation, according to their website.
“It’s not just educational, but it’s fun,” Trimble said. “The people organizing it, the people that are doing the tours, our partners like the American Institute of Architects and Long Beach Heritage, they all love this city. They love what we’re doing and we want to give something back to our community.”
For more information about Long Beach Architecture Week and its upcoming events, visit www.architecture.lbhomeliving.com.
2 comments
Comments are closed.