Blog designophile
By Michael DiTullo - December 9, 2011
Earlier this year I was asked to join the accessions committee for the Architecture and Design Department of the SFMOMA. It seems it was an opportune time, as the museum is making some exciting changes, most notable of which is a new expansion of the museum itself. The expansion project will double the existing gallery space to 130,000 square feet, and will also heavily modify the existing galleries to differ in scale, materials, and lighting specifically designed to showcase a range of art, from photography to installation, video, painting, and sculpture.
Blog designophile
By Michael DiTullo - December 19, 2010
On one of my daily walks to work through San Francisco I was struck by a particular composition of buildings including SF's iconic Transamerica building. It reminded me so strongly of the futurist architect Antonio Sant'Elia, who I mentioned a few weeks ago in my post "Three Artists Every Designer Should Know" that I had to research him further. I realized that we are largely living in a world that he envisioned in his very short career, 1912 to 1914. Very little of his work was built, but his drawings for various Futurist exhibitions and the Manifesto of Futurist Architecture, which is attributed to him, lived on past his death at age 28 during WWI. Sant'Elia's ability to foresee and celebrate the layered, chaotic effect of what became of the contemporary city is uncanny.
Blog designophile
By Michael DiTullo - November 14, 2010
Kristina and I have always taken design excursions to meccas like the Philip Johnson Glass House , The Walter Gropius House, and Palm Springs. This weekend we took a long overdue trip outside of San Francisco to Marin County. We started our day at Frank Lloyd Wright's Marin County Civic Center. This 1957 masterpiece was almost demolished in the 1970s. It went on to be featured in such classic films as Lucas's THX 1138 and Gattaca. You can still grab lunch in the cafe on week days, and docent tours are offered on Wednesdays.
Next we popped up to Terra Linda Valley to sample some Eichler Homes. Marin County has the largest concentration of Eichler's. None are open to the public, but frequently there are some great examples for sale, and they have open houses on Sunday. Don't worry, they are used to design gawkers. Check out Marin Modern for listings.
