Santa Barbara Historical Museum | Artists of the Meridian

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The Santa Barbara Historical Museum is hosting a lecture on Thursday, April 9 at 5:30 pm entitled “Artists of the Meridian.”  The Meridian Studios were originally designed by George Washington Smith and Carleton Monroe Winslow in the 1920’s.  They have been home to a number of artists, creatives and architects over the years including Huguette Clark, Joe De Yonga, Catlin Phelps and Adele Herter.

CJM::LA’s Courtney Miller was lucky enough to work at #4 for her first two years in Santa Barbara, with the Office of Katie O’Reilly Rogers.  This is an incredibly beautiful collection of buildings and is still home to a number of exceptionally talented designers and architects.  For more info, click here.

Design Thinking | Fast Company

Fast Company

Read Full Article:
Design Thinking…What is That?

Retail Renovation | Santa Barbara Landscape Architect | CJMLA

Design thinking describes a repeatable process employing unique and creative techniques which yield guaranteed results — usually results that exceed initial expectations. Extraordinary results that leapfrog the expected.

Celebrating Two Years

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We are celebrating two years in business today!  And looking forward to a successful year.

Native Gardens Tour | SB Botanic Garden

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden will be hosting a tour of local gardens and communities that exemplify sustainable landscape practices.  The bus tour takes place on Sunday, April 9 and will explore the Santa Ynez valley and it’s environs.  For more info or to register, click here.

Kids Draw | Architectural Foundation

KidsDraw
The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is hosting it’s annual Kids Draw event over the next few weeks in April.  This fantastic event provides children with the opportunity to sketch buildings in our community, aided by local artists and architects.  Each year a calendar is produced with their drawings which provide a refreshing perspective on the built environment in Santa Barbara.  For more info, click here.

Ice in Paradise | Under Construction

Lara Cooper / Noozhawk photo
Lara Cooper / Noozhawk photo

Construction has recently begun at our Ice in Paradise project in Goleta, CA.  This ice rink project has been in the works since 1997, and will provide a beneficial amenity to the Goleta community as well as the Central Coast region.  We worked closely with HTG Architects, who specialize in ice rink design, in order to provide outdoor plaza space with opportunities for naming rights as well as a small garden area.  Our local news publication Noozhawk recently published an article with updates on the construction.  To read more, click here.

SANTA BARBARA | STATE OF THE CITY

The Chamber of the Santa Barbara Region will be hosting the annual State of the City Presentation this Friday, March 20, 2015.  Join us in reviewing last year’s milestones as well as plans for 2015.  The Mayor’s presentation is free and open to the public.  For more info, click here.

CLIMBING IN PLAYGROUNDS

Andris Zobs & Ian Glas

Read full Article:
Climbing in Playgrounds
March 3, 2015
THE FIELD

image: IDS
image: IDS

Playground designers and manufacturers have recognized that traditional post and deck structures and climbing events don’t fully satisfy the urge to climb that we all feel. In recent years, the industry has stepped forward to meet the challenge with climbing sculptures that have added a new dimension to playground activity, with more realistic surfaces, more challenging athleticism, and creativity in forms. New technology has enabled complete creative freedom; climbers are no longer limited to walls and boulders. Playground designers can now create expressive sculptures that combine the health benefits of climbing while also providing a venue for imaginative play.

Founded in 2005, Integrated Design Solutions (IDS) designs and fabricates custom sculptural landscapes and play features using a specially formulated polymer concrete shell that provides a durable, realistic surface suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. Driven to increase the play and climbing value of artificial rock, IDS has pioneered new material and sculptural techniques that bring an unprecedented level of realism to the market.

Coastal Housing Coalition | Annual Conference

The Santa Barbara Coastal Housing Coalition is hosting it’s annual conference at the Carrillo Recreation Center on Friday, March 20, 2015.  The theme for this year’s conference is “Housing Needs and Opportunities Revealed.”

The Coastal Housing Coalition is a non-profit dedicated to educating the public about the impacts of the lack of available housing that is within financial reach of our local workforce.  To read more about this organization, click here.

Cultural Landscape Foundation | Garden Dialogues L.A.

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TCLF, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, is hosting their Garden Dialogues tour this May in Los Angeles.  This is a unique opportunity to tour beautiful private gardens designed by contemporary landscape architects and designers.  The Los Angeles tour is on May 30 and May 31.  For more info, click here.

MCA Santa Barbara | Magic Mountain Opening

The Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara is hosting an opening reception for a new show entitled Magic Mountain at their satellite space at Hotel Indigo.  Magic Mountain is a group show including the works of Zachary Cahill, Alyse Emdur, Chris Johanson, Boris Mikhailov, Yunhee Min, Shana Moulton, John Newling, Johan Rosenmunthe, Truong Cong Tung, and Hannah Vainstein.  For more info, click here.

Hannah Vainstein, Urn, 2013, Watercolor on paper, 20 x 14 ⅛ in., Courtesy the Artist
Hannah Vainstein, Urn, 2013, Watercolor on paper, 20 x 14 ⅛ in., Courtesy the Artist

From the museum’s website:
For centuries, travelers to remote mountain villages, seaside escapes, desert oases, and elsewhere, have sought out nature’s curative properties. Whether it’s to find the elixir of life, or to practice sungazing; to harvest mud for beauty masks or to dig for healing rocks, the searches are motivated by a belief in nature’s bewitching attributes that often transcends scientific explanation. This exhibition investigates the inspiration for some of these quests and obsessions, and the truths, mysteries, antidotes, and rabbit holes that arise along the way. The artists’ works bring to light the mythologies and marketplace of natural cures—spiritual, physical, and psychological—at a time when humankind’s relationship to the environment is rapidly changing.

The opening reception is on Saturday, March 7 at 6 pm.
The show is on view from March 8, 2015 to January 31, 2016.

 

HARVARD DESIGN MAGAZINE | WET MATTER

The Harvard Design Magazine is a forward-thinking publication that we have recently come to appreciate and dig into on a quarterly basis.  The content is smart, on-point and continues to push the boundaries of what design is in contemporary society.  The 39th issue was recently released; a summary follows::

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Issue No. 39
Harvard Design Magazine
F/W 2015

Reexamining the ocean’s historic and superficial remoteness, this issue profiles the ocean as contemporary urban space and subject of material, political, and ecologic significance, asking how we are shaping it, and how it is shaping us.