Skyline Residence by Belzberg Architects in Los Angeles. Learn more about this project here.

Summer blockbusters are here! It’s that time of year when Hollywood puts out the sequels, prequels, action flicks, and star-studded vehicles that it hopes will break box office records. If The Great Gatsby or Iron Man 3 aren’t your speed, there’s always Star Trek Into Darkness or The Hangover III coming up. But whatever your movie taste (we won’t judge), you’re sure to love this collection of unconventional, modern movie theaters. No banal multiplexes here! So grab some popcorn (because we can’t guarantee these venues offer concessions) and enjoy.

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“Bag-ette,” by Steven Ehrlich (above and below). Photo courtesy of Steven Ehrlich

Tomorrow night the A + D Architecture + Design Museum in Los Angeles is holding its annual fund-raising gala. In honor of this year’s theme, “The Journey,” the museum enlisted dozens of architects to tackle the problem of the carry-on bag—specifically, its failure to surprise, delight, or be shaped like a baguette. More after the jump!

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Photo © Mei Le

Dissatisfied English bulldog Frank Gehry has backed out of an architecture exhibition in Los Angeles that prominently featured his work. The show, “A New Sculpturalism: Contemporary Architecture From Southern California,” is supposed to open June 2 at Gehry’s own Geffen Contemporary gallery at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles. But without the participation of its star player, the show might not go on.

As we noted in our preview, the exhibition focuses on the past 25 years of rule-bending architecture in LA. Guest curator Christopher Mount gathered work by Gehry, Thom Mayne, Barbara Bestor, Michael Maltzan, and Lorcan O’Herlihy, as well as younger practices, to celebrate LA’s war on rectilinearity and its architects’ innovation in all that curves, folds, and protrudes. Without Gehry’s participation, Mount must scramble to revamp the exhibition and, potentially, face cancelation or a change of venue. Read more!

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Photo: Tom Andrews, via High Country News

Bodies of water have so much allure—particularly in overpaved cities—that we’re content to put up with the algae-scented funk of the Central Park pond, or even the stench of Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal, just to rest our eyes on something blue (or, er, brown).

In recent years the LA River has enjoyed a renaissance. Though the waterway hasn’t really been a natural habitat since the 1930s  (when the city lined the riverbed with concrete to control flooding), new bike paths, public art, and kayak tours now draw Angelenos to the water’s edge. So far these upgrades have been largely peripheral, due in large part to urban enthusiasts’ determination to start using the giant ditch they inherited as a river. Meanwhile, the city’s more substantial plan to transform the channel into a living habitat is mired in delays at the federal level. Read more. 

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Photo: Slim Aarons, 1970

Something always happens when you see one of the numerous mid-century modern homes dotting the desert landscapes of Palm Springs and the hills of Los Angeles (like in our recent blog post). Almost instantly, you find yourself caught in a daydream of nostalgic California haze, sipping a mai tai on the patio of the Kaufmann House (pictured above) in the golden sun.

While you can’t exactly purchase one of these historic homes, you can now build one of your very own! Through an exciting new partnership between Dion Neutra, the Neutra Office, and the California Architecture Conservancy, you can license the right to build from the plans of mid-century master Richard Neutra. Click through to read more!

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Project: Green Dot Animo Leadership High School

Architect: Brooks + Scarpa Architects

Location: Los Angeles County

Inspired by the environmentally sensitive work of New Orleans architects Curt and Davis in the 1950s, Brooks + Scarpa designed this striking high school with sustainability top of mind. The architects covered the south façade with 650 solar panels that provide 75% of the building’s energy needs. The new facility also features abundant natural light, ventilation, and views. Taking full advantage of the region’s temperate climate, the architects centered the school around a landscaped courtyard, allowing students to catch some rays and fresh air while moving from class to class.

Read more about this project in the Architizer database.

Photos: John Linden

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It’s safe to say that our Groundhog Day prediction was miserably off target. Winter is still clinging on as we pass into March, and it shows little sign of letting up. So what to do? Simple: Go on Spring Break! Which poses another, more pressing question: Where to go for Spring Break?

We took a poll at Architizer HQ, and we came to the near unanimous decision—we’d all like to be sipping some bubbly (or slushy) while staring out onto some spectacular, sunny vista from an infinity pool. We couldn’t think of a more leisurely or luxurious way to escape the Northeast chill. Here are our top infinity pool destinations. Click through to see them all!

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The inspiration behind the Stark Residence in Iron Man

Not every movie, no matter how good, deserves a sequel. The same applies to posts, but we couldn’t help ourselves. Still riding the Oscar highs (and lows…), we spent this past week streaming films to find more of Architecture in Movies (see the original here). Just don’t call it double dipping!

While the last post limited itself to contemporary architecture, this time round we looked back to the classics. From Hollywood villas by Wright and Lautner to mid-century icons by Gropius and Le Corbusier, these are  some of the best buildings to have ever graced the silver screen. Click through to see them all!

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LAX, Theme Building: perspective view, 1961, by Charles Luckman, William Pereira, Welton Becket, and Paul R. Williams. Image: The Luckman Partnership, Inc. | a Salas O’Brien Company

With shows exploring Los Angeles’ experimental architecture and fascinating unbuilt cityscape, Tinsel Town is poised to dominate the architecture conversation this spring. And as part of Pacific Standard Time, the four-month archi-thon that begins in April, the J. Paul Getty Museum will mount an ode to the city’s aptitude for growth, change, and a built environment that finds strength in diversity—freeway and generic tract-house stereotypes be damned.

“The title of the exhibition, ‘Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940–1990,’ refers to the fact that this engine was cranking at an incredible speed and an incredible rate,” says curator Christopher Alexander, who organized the show with Wim de Wit, head of the Getty Research Institute’s architecture and contemporary art department, and Rani Singh. Divided into themes such as urban networks, residential architecture, and car culture, “Overdrive” will track LA’s attempts to keep up with its aggressive growth in the postwar decades, when new technologies and building materials, not to mention an explosion in population, shaped the city we know today. It’s no coincidence that a big marker of LA’s identity is not a civic building or traditional monument, but an airport. If the show has a mascot, it’s definitely the 1961 LAX Theme Building. Read more!

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“Shanghai #1,” 2010, by Iwan Baan, depicts the Shanghai Expo’s British Pavilion, designed by Heatherwick Studio

The groundbreaking architecture photographer — and A+ Awards juror — Iwan Baan has a new exhibition opening in Los Angeles this evening. “The Way We Live,” which runs through April 13 at the Perry Rubenstein Gallery, features a selection of Baan’s rich, large-scale images, which raise questions about urbanism, humanity, and our relationships to the spaces we inhabit. Some highlights include his almost voyeuristic early photo of Toyo Ito’s Mikimoto Building in Tokyo, which depicts a partially obscured woman in traditional dress looking out from one of the slick building’s boulder‐shaped windows, and ”The City and the Storm,” the now-iconic New York magazine cover of a Hurricane Sandy-stricken Manhattan. The exhibition also devotes an entire gallery to Baan’s award-winning series on Venezuela’s Tower of David, the famed abandoned skyscraper that has become a micro city of squatters — and a symbol of both government failure and human ingenuity. Click through to see more photos from the exhibition!

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