Past Exhibitions

May
5
2023
May
31
2023
San Francisco

Lignin & Lining

Master of Advanced Architectural Design (MAAD) UC Berkeley- Department of Architecture
Studio Director: Professor Maria Paz Gutierrez;
Sponsors/Collaborators: HOK (lead: Paul Woolford)
Producing construction materials such as timber requires much energy to dry and process them. This raises questions about what and how we should build with wood and whether the wood industry can and should be radically transformed. Plants’ unique material and structural defense strategies are multifold, spanning from resistance to microbial deterioration to harboring pathogens to preventing water permeation. This exhibition by the Master of Advanced Architectural Design (MAAD) studio at the UC Berkeley Department of Architecture inquires if defense strategies and intentional incorporation of bacteria and fungi in plant tissue, including woods, can lead to unprecedented material functionalities in the built environment.
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Dec
8
2022
Feb
28
2023
San Francisco

Small Infrastructures

In March 2021, the Biden Administration released the American Jobs Plan, earmarking $213 billion for “quality” and “affordable” housing, yet the bill lacks specificity on how houses are to be built. Architects can play a unique role in bridging abstract policy ambitions to real construction as these connections are made every day in practice. Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) have been a catalyst for including architects in direct policy development. For the first time, cities are directly contracting with architects to provide designs for private property through pre-approved ADU programs. This exhibition of ADU designs uses the economics of building assembly as the groundwork for experimentation and addresses how cities can work with architects to build quality, affordable housing under the American Jobs Plan. Ten architects teaching at Harvard GSD and Berkeley CED consider the overlaps between academia, where cost is often external to conceptual work, and practice, where budgeting is an integral task. The architectural design of each office will be represented by two boards and a handmade architectural model.
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Aug
23
2022
Nov
30
2022
San Francisco

In the Banlieues/Centering the Margin: Saint-Denis/Oakland

Whatever you call them — suburbs, peripheries, banlieues — cities like Oakland, California, and Saint-Denis, France, are today exerting their influence and inventing solutions to challenges posed by equity and the rapid urban development of metropolitan areas. This exhibition highlights a symbolic pivot as artistic movements, social struggles, and urban innovations have begun to emerge from the peripheries, and not just from metropolitan centers.
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Jan
21
2020
Jun
30
2020
San Francisco

We Are the Bay

As part of the SPUR Regional Strategy, we sent photographer Ryan Young out to meet his neighbors. Over the course of a week, Young traveled 2,000 miles north, south, east and west to capture images of residents in the Bay Area's many and varied communities. The resulting photographs and conversations have been turned into We Are the Bay , a new exhibition at the SPUR…
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Jun
24
2019
Nov
11
2019
San Francisco

Non-Linear: The Mind of Michael Painter

Even among landscape architects, Michael Painter was unique. After all, it’s incredibly rare that the person responsible for a project comes as highly admired as the project itself. His ability to beautifully design landforms was surpassed only by his humility, and his love of collaboration was surpassed only by his willingness to ensure that every idea be heard. Ultimately, Michael’s body of work would span a half-century, hundreds of clients and more…
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Jan
10
2019
Jul
31
2019
San José

Re-Envisioning the Guadalupe River Park

Cities across the country are rethinking linear parks and trails to create community hubs and iconic spaces. From New York’s High Line to Atlanta’s BeltLine, from Miami’s Underline to Chicago’s 606, downtown districts and neighborhoods are turning neglected infrastructure into engaging public spaces. In San Jose, the 2.6-mile Guadalupe River Park can learn from these leading examples, leveraging both its natural and built assets to…
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