Jenny Okun's photographs provide the backdrop for a production of Dulce Rosa at the Broad Stage. Image courtesy the Broad Stage.

By Michael Webb

For visual spectacle it would be hard to top the sets for Dulce Rosa, a new opera that is receiving its first performances at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica through June 9. In fact, there is only one physical set: A broken arch, some flats and a flight of steps, but these serve as projection screens. As the action moves from back streets to a hacienda, a guerrilla outpost in the jungle, and a family chapel, the scenes shift seamlessly as though we were watching a movie. Most opera productions make do with a single versatile set or resort to heavy lifting during long intermissions. That’s another kind of spectacle—prominently featured in the Met Live productions—as troupes of stage hands roll one vast construction into the wings to replace it with another.

By Michael Webb

Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Architecture After Images. Edward Dimendberg. (The University of Chicago Press, $65).

A timely and penetrating study of a firm that has surged to prominence on the strength of two headline projects in New York: its imaginative transformation of Lincoln Center and the High Line (in association with Field Operations). In both, the architects were highly respectful of existing structures and that augers well for an even greater challenge: extending the Museum of Modern Art without destroying the American Museum of Folk Art. MoMA outraged the architectural establishment by threatening to demolish its next-door neighbor. It will require all of DS+R’s skill to integrate Tod Williams & Billie Tsien’s unique building into the new structure, and convince an overbearing institution to reconsider its threatened act of vandalism.

Architects and urban planners agree: TODs—or Transit Oriented Developments—are the future of our cities. As land on the urban fringes is consumed by sprawl, creating hideous commutes and sour economies, a crucial solution is to bring transportation close to jobs and housing. What is also dawning on these experts, however, is that the TOD solution is not the most people-friendly concept. Fairly or not, it tends to connote noisy trains and cramped living.

James C. Auld, AIA, a partner with Altoon Partners LLP, is an architect leading the rethinking of TODs. He co-chairs the annual TOD Summit produced by ULI Los Angeles. (This year’s TOD summit is Thursday, June 6, at Metro Headquarters in downtown Los Angeles. Register here.) He describes how the TOD solution is evolving into “great places to live and play.”

A new monograph explores the compelling work of architect Kengo Kuma.

By Michael Webb

Kengo Kuma: Complete Works.  (Thames & Hudson, $65)

In his erudite introduction, Kenneth Frampton calls Kengo Kuma “quintessentially Japanese” and the 25 projects the architect has selected are deeply rooted in the craft traditions of that country. The title is misleading: Only a quarter of Kuma’s buildings are featured, and the large commercial projects in Beijing that have sustained his practice in recent years are omitted. It’s a wise choice, for Kuma works best on a modest scale with traditional materials. In his foreword, he writes with feeling of his collaboration with traditional craftsmen in rural Shikoku and in Tohuku, a region ravaged by the earthquake and tsunami of 3/11.  “The richness and strength of that culture cannot be understood until one has worked with the people who live there—until one has eaten their food, drunk their sake, talked with the craftsmen and made things with them,” he writes.

An upcoming symposium at the Getty, featuring Richard Rogers, among other leading architects, will explore the role of contemporary architecture in historic urban environments. Image courtesy the Getty Conservation Institute.By Michael Webb

On May 21, the Getty Conservation Institute will present a day-long symposium “Minding the Gap: the Role of Contemporary Architecture in the Historic Environment.” It promises to be a lively debate among five architects who have taken radically different approaches: Thomas Beeby, Juergen Mayer, Rafael Moneo, Richard Rogers and Denise Scott Brown.