The Infrastructural City

The Studio for Urban Projects and SFMOMA’s Architecture + Design Forum presents
The Infrastructural City
Kazys Varnelis and David Fletcher with Ila Berman

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 6:30pm
SFMOMA’s Koret Center
151 Third Street
San Francisco, CA

Urban infrastructure has long been deployed and managed by city planners to mediate the social, economic, and ecological effects of urban life. In this panel discussion Kazys Varnelis, editor of the book The Infrastructural City: Networked Ecologies in Los Angeles and director of the Network Architecture Lab at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, will speak with landscape architect David Fletcher and CCA professor Ila Berman on the status of infrastructure in American cities today.

Varnelis will discuss his research about the unintended consequences these systems produce and possibilities for engaging them more effectively. A contributing writer to The Infrastructural City, Fletcher will speak about the unusual and adaptive ecosystems that have evolved in the Los Angeles River Watershed, inviting us to rethink conventional concepts of “natural” and “local” conditions. Drawing on her own experience in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Berman will further expand the discussion of how we might rethink the physical systems meant to sustain our cities.

Space is limited. Kindly RSVP to Hayes Firestein: hfirestein@SFMOMA.org

Self-Sufficient Kitchen

Our summer cooking classes finished up with a great day of canning. Students preserved the summer’s bounty of tomatoes, strawberries, blackberries, lemons, grapefruit and cauliflower making marmalade, jam, and other preserves. Thank you to Kirstin Muenster for sending some fantastic photos!

CRITTER presents: An Enormously Microscopic Evening

CRITTER invites people to get small in a big way in an evening celebration of microscopes! Come from 6-9 on Saturday September 12th. to participate in a variety of microscope demonstrations, ranging from simple water lenses and home made scopes to state of the art equipment and futuristic gadgets designed to see invisible worlds. Organisms and live cells will be on display, and participants are encouraged to bring their own samples to view and inspect.  Scientists and artists from the Exploratorium’s Living Systems department will be demonstrating their favorite micro gear and displays, along with professors and students of microscopy from several bay area institutions. Build your own Do-It-Yourself microscopes and magnifying devices from easy-to-find and recycled materials, all in the atmosphere of an enormous microscopic universe.To attend this event, please RSVP to crittersalon AT gmail.com, with “microscope” in the subject line, and include your name and number of guests.

City Bountiful: a dinner focused on urban agriculture

September 11, 2009, 6:30 pm
Studio for Urban Projects 3579 17th Street, San Francisco (between Dolores and Guerrero)
$75 per person

A new groundswell of interest in urban agriculture has gripped San Francisco. To what degree does it make sense for cities to become sites of food production and what are the most compelling models? Please join the Studio for Urban Projects for a special dinner/discussion with environmental design historian Laura Lawson, author of City Bountiful, an illuminating history of community gardening in the U.S. Drawing from her research of contemporary urban gardening practices in Seattle and Chicago, Lawson will present inspiring case studies and help us to imagine new possibilities for urban gardening in San Francisco. As part of this event Studio for Urban Projects collaborators Marina McDougall and architect Richard Johnson of Richard Johnson Design along with Blair Randall, Director of Garden for the Environment will present the Studio’s project to extend the demonstration capacities of the GFE by building a new structure to house its greenhouse, facilitate classes, and interpret the garden for the public. A special meal of seasonal fare will be prepared by Chef Nicole LoBue with ingredients gleaned from local urban farms. Wine has been generously donated by Bi-Rite. Space is limited: please register by visiting the AIA architecture and the City festival web site: www.aiasf.org/archandcity.