San Francisco: The Latest Architecture and News

The Executive Committee of top international design and architecture firm Perkins Eastman is pleased to announce that the firm is expanding its presence on the West Coast by opening an office in downtown San Francisco, which is rapidly becoming a thriving city for architecture making it an ideal location for an additional office. Located at 23 Geary Street in the One Kearny building, the 8,100 sf office will accommodate a growing staff of 45. Managing Principal Leslie Moldow FAIA is joined by Principals Dan Akol AIA and Rick Drake AIA and Associate Principal John Amanat AIA in leading the office. The office is expected to be complete and ready to occupy on November 1, 2011. More information on the firm’s expansion after the break.

Highlight Gallery recently announced that they will be featuring two artists whose bodies of work are influenced by architecture, Filip Dujardin and Renato Nicolodi. Their work, which will be up from November 3rd to December 12th, reflects the passion and interest which Highlight Gallery founder and curator Amir Mortazavi cultivates for architecture. With these two artists, the answer to the eternal question, ‘Is architecture art?’ is easy to find. More information on the event and their work after the break.

Gensler, architects of SanFrancisco International Airport’s Terminal2(SFO T2) and Virgin America, the terminal’s anchor tenant, announce the release of A Day in the Life of SFO T2, a video by filmmakers Spirit of Space. A Day in the Life of SFO T2 is a key element in Virgin America’s fall promotion “VX Deals on the Fly,” launching today via Loopt, the geo-social network. The promotion will offer travelers mobile check-in rewards at various locations throughout SFO T2. More information after the break.

In 2009, the Uptown Tenderloin Historic District was created in an attempt to preserve the rich history of the buildings, neighborhoods and communities that lay north of San Francisco’s Market Street. It has not only kept developers from modifying or even eradicating key buildings that have shaped the city of San Francisco, but has also helped to prevent the process of gentrification, enabling middle and lower-class inhabitants to continue living in the city at reasonable rates. Although building projects north of Market Street are now heavily restricted, not all of San Francisco is off limits.

The American Institute of Architects, San Francisco chapter (AIA San Francisco) and Center for Architecture + Design present the eighth annual Architecture and the City festival, the nation’s largest architectural festival showcasing tours, films, exhibitions, lectures, family programs and more. Taking place every September 1-30, the month-long celebration offers individuals an unparalleled opportunity to engage with the local architectural community, explore the crossroads of planning and contemporary culture, and experience design in a myraid of ways throughout the city. More information about select events after the jump.

San Francisco-based IwamotoScott Architecture has just shared their latest project with us – a renavoted 1940s warehouse that holds media company Obscura Digital as well as the architects’ new office space. Upgrading from an unorganized and dimly lit timber warehouse, Obscura looked to Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott to outfit the 36,000 sqf building in Dogpatch to suite their needs, while extending the invitation for the firm to set up its practice in the building, as well. “It wasn’t a formalized agreement but a pretty casual thing,” Iwamoto told Lydia Lee for Metropolis. “Obscura by nature is collaborative. The hope is that by sharing space, we’ll have the advantage of seeing their process and what can be done with digital media, and they’ll get an idea of the architectural possibilities.”

In addition to this great refurbishment, we are fascinated by the architects’ dividing wall entitled BookCaseScreenWall, an amazing hybrid of surface projection technologies with a “traditional” bookcase which sits between their office space and Obscura Digital’s.

Be sure to view our comprehensive photo set of construction photos, finished work, and of course, the BookCaseScreenWall after the break.

The Academy of Art University, the nation’s largest private accredited art and design university, continues to grow their Landscape Architecture program. Earlier this year the University announced the addition of the School of Landscape Architecture with an accredited Associate’s (AA) and Bachelor’s (BFA) degree programs as well as continuing art education courses. Now the Academy of Art will additionally launch both a 3-year and 4-year MFA degree program. For more information about the new MFA program click here.

The cocktail is a distinctly American tradition. Once the centerpiece of a thriving “cocktail culture,” it has faded since the 1950s but is now being embraced by a new generation of makers and mixologists who value quality and craft. The Spirits Pavilion, by Min | Day, presents this rejuvenation as part of Slow Food Nation 2008, an event in Fort Mason, San Francisco dedicated to creating a framework for deeper environmental connection to our food aiming to inspire and empower Americans to build a food system that is sustainable, healthy and delicious. More images and architects’ description after the break.