Little Tokyo Design Week

Little Tokyo Design Week, a four-day architecture and design event taking place July 14-17, 2011, will honor Japanese design and technology and its intersection with trends emerging in Los Angeles. The event will promote sustainability and creativity as it pushes innovators, corporations and members of the artistic community to explore possibilities for a "New Urban Lifestyle."

Programs and symposia will integrate community partners, restaurants and retailers with Little Tokyo's Big Three cultural institutions: the Japanese American National Museum, the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, and the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Several exhibits will showcase student projects from USC, UCLA, the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and the Art Center College of Design as new designs and projects are presented by sponsoring companies like Toyota.

A full schedule of events can be found on the event site.

USC School of Architecture Announces Winner of First Student Charette Competition

First Place winners Cindy Man and Emilio Pulido [image via Bustler]

The University of Southern California’s School of Architecture announced the winners of their First Annual Student Charette Competition, hosted by the program’s Architectural Guild. This group is the primary support system of the USC School of Architecture, and serves as a unique link between the students, faculty, and the professional community.

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FACE of a Nation - Film Teaser - Shanghai's Expo 2010 Closes. Did Your Country Show A Good Face? Did the U.S.?

A film production from USC School of Architecture and USC School of Cinematic Arts gives us this provocative film teaser to FACE of a Nation. The team, composed of USC Professor/Architect Mina Chow, architecture journalist Edward Lifson, USC Cinema's Norman Hollyn, and documentary producer/filmmaker Alessandra Pasquini, probes the concept of "face" in Chinese culture and whether country pavilions successfully represented themselves to the world and China. The final film is slated for completion next year.

KCRW's Frances Anderton provides a good summary of the expo and the U.S. situation at her DnA blog.
Did your country represent well? Did the U.S.?  Give us your opinion and thoughts.

Expo 2010 Panel Discussion August 5th - USC Cinema's Prof. Norm Hollyn, NPR's Edward Lifson, Documentarian Alessandra Pasquino Join Professor Mina Chow

United Kingdom PavilionProfessor Norman Hollyn from USC School of Cinematic Arts, Edward Lifson NPR architecture journalist, and documentary producer/director Alessandra Pasquino join Professor/Filmmaker Mina Chow for the Expo 2010/International Architecture discussion at the Palecek showroom August 5th. This is the production team behind Professor Chow's documentary on emblem architecture and the national pavilions at Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

Professor Norm Hollyn, Head Editor, was also editor/music editor for such memorable films as Sophie's Choice, Cotton Club, and Fame.

Edward Lifson, NPR architecture journalist and Annenberg/Loeb Fellow

Alessandra Pasquino, documentary producer/director - Berkeley in the 60s, Nomadic Museum with Shigiru Ban

The event promises to be informative and entertaining. Join us.
RSVP HERE

More info

The Fourth Annual USC Symposium on BIM Analytics

The USC School of Architecture (Prof. Karen Kensek) is hosting a BIM + SYMPOSIUM on Wednesday, August 4th, 2010. Building on the success of previous years’ symposiums on BIM and Sustainable Design and BIM + Construction and Fabrication, there will be a one-day event with 12 speakers, each with about 30 minutes to speak, who are loosely organized into 4 panels. The topic is BIM Analytics: Performance Based Design.