Skid Row's Socially Conscious Architect: Talk and Tour With Michael Maltzan > Dec 4th > ICA Campus, Downtown*

*UPDATE: We are now at capacity but accepting RSVPs for our wait list. If you'd like to be added please email us at hello[at]designeastoflabrea[dot]org. Thanks!

Yes, we're taking a short break in November for turkey and travel but are pleased to announce our December event: a very special lecture and tour with architect Michael Maltzan on how he is working to transform some of downtown's most distressed areas.  According to the NY Times:

...Mr. Maltzan may be the only American architect of his stature with significant experience in a far less glamorous field: providing shelter and other accommodations for his city’s poor. Over the past 16 years he has worked on several housing projects for the homeless and an arts complex for underprivileged children that are remarkable for their architectural sophistication and their spirit of public service.

On Dec 4th, join us for a talk with Michael about his projects on Skid Row, including the Rainbow and Carver apartments commissioned by Skid Row Housing Trust and the Inner City Arts campus. We'll be meeting at ICA and following Michael's lecture in the library, we'll be going on a tour of campus.

The lecture is free, but in the spirit of the season and event, we ask that attendees bring a donation of art supplies. What to bring? You can check ICA's list of needed items here.

11am Meet in the library
11:30 am Lecture begins promptly
12n Tour of the campus with project architects from Michael Maltzan Architecture


Inner City Arts
720 Kohler St, Los Angeles, CA 90021-1518 () ‎

inner-cityarts.org

We'll likely head over to Yxta Cocina Mexicana afterwards for lunch/drinks.

Given the space constraints of the campus, we have to limit the number of attendees. RSVP's are on a first come, first served basis. You must email us to confirm your spot at hello[at]designeastoflabrea.org. (Sorry, Facebook rsvp's won't count for this one).

Please DO NOT call Inner-City Arts directly.

And don't forget this Thursday's event at the Pasadena Museum of California Art and Intelligentsia. See you there!

October 9-17 > Design Week LA

de LaB is thrilled to be a supporting sponsor of the inaugural Design Week Los Angeles, a week-long, city-wide celebration of design with events being held by organizations across LA from October 9-17. Check out the lineup of over 50 events from a celebration of Julius Shulman's birthday to Forty Years of Sesame Street Illustration: Selections from the Publishing Archive of Sesame Workshop. During that week you can even get free admission to the California Design Biennial at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. (And then you can come back to the exhibition on October 28 for our October de LaB event!)


One event taking place during Design Week LA we'd particularly like to turn your attention to is CicLAvia, which we hosted at our Moving Beyond Cars event and advertised during Park[ing] Day. CicLAvia will turn 7.5 miles of LA roads into car-free routes on Sunday, October 10 (that's 10/10/10). So grab your bike, tell your friends, and hit the streets to prove to local leaders that CicLAvia should be a regular LA event! Then we'll see you at our October event at the California Design Biennial on Thursday, October 28.

October 28 > California Design Biennial Panel: Pro Bono Design > Pasadena

Giving It All Away: The Pros and Cons of Pro Bono Design

Designers want to use their creative skills to help a cause they believe in. But how to know where to donate your time in a way that's meaningful for you and the cause you want to aid? In discussing their work featured in the 2010 California Design Biennial, the designers behind 826's Time Travel Mart and the utilitarian urban living products Abject Object will discuss the importance of choosing a local nonprofit and working closely with its constituents over a long period of time. The designers will show how co-creating with the groups they're serving, whether its elementary kids who need after school tutoring or women living at a downtown shelter, helped them to design intelligent, engaging products that have gained widespread attention, enriched the lives of the nonprofit's stakeholders, and changed the course of their design careers.

Speakers:
Stefan Bucher, 344 Design
Kim Karlsrud & Jenny Liang, Project H Design
Moderated by Alissa Walker, curator of product design for the 2010 California Design Biennial

Thursday, October 28
5:00-5:30pm Viewing of California Design Biennial in main gallery (you can also arrive earlier during museum hours to see the show)
5:30-7:00pm Panel discussion in rooftop gallery

Free with admission to the museum
$7 for Adults
$5 Seniors and Students
Free for PMCA Members
Pay the fee at the museum

RSVP to hello@designeastoflabrea.org

Pasadena Museum of California Art
490 East Union Street
Pasadena, CA 91101
626-568-3665

Afterwards, we'll lead a walk to Intelligentsia Pasadena for refreshments and a tour of the space by its architects, Ana Henton and Gregory Williams, MASS.

7:30pm Gather at Intelligentsia, coffee and snacks
8:00pm Tour and talk by MASS, more coffee and snacks

Intelligentsia Pasadena
55 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91105

No need to RSVP if you're just coming to Intelligentsia. We'll have the space in the back. They close at 10pm.


See you there!

September Recap: Park[ing] Day at LOCAL!

There's nothing quite like lounging along Sunset Boulevard for the day! On this year's Park[ing] Day we once again took over a parking space in front of our favorite neighborhood restaurant LOCAL, converting it into a public park for a day.

Our original plans for a performance space were thwarted by an architect stuck in jury duty but our friends at Ball-Nogues pulled through by supplying tables from their recent Table Cloth installation that just came down at UCLA. Rounded out with some greenery, the space was a perfect place for those who wanted to take their lunch or latte in a temporary park.

Tons of de Labbers stopped by to sample LOCAL's delish (and local) cuisine, bringing their dogs, children and bikes to help us populate the space. Everyone at LOCAL was so gracious and helpful and offered free water to anyone (human or canine) who came by—a godsend for all the bikers out there hopping from park to park. Also, we loved the free wifi!

In fact, our park was so popular, we were also featured in stories about Park[ing] Day on GOOD and LAist. Thanks to Lindsay William-Ross at LAist for coming by and snapping some awesome shots, including this one above!

We also used our park to help raise awareness for CicLAvia, which will convert 7.5 miles of LA streets into car-free routes for biking, skating, walking and strolling on October 10 (10/10/10). CicLAvia is part of LA's Design Week, and de LaB is honored to be a supporting partner for this exciting new event for LA. More on that soon!