Architect Cedric Price and I collaborated on the idea of a portable museum...a picture frame, about two by three inches, which became the museum's structure...a minuscule museum on the move...
The Teeny Tiny Traveling Exhibition
2018 | 2020
Ten architects, each in
turn, are asked to create a sketch. The
subject matter is broadly defined; it could be the individual architect’s
favorite historic building, or a favorite building of their own design, or an
unrealized project they have a concept for but is unbuilt, or a detail of a
project. The requirements of the sketch are
dimensional: a format of two (2) inches by three (3) inches with a horizontal
orientation. Each sketch was placed in a small frame,
and traveled in the coat pocket of LJHS Executive Director Heath Fox. It was
shown at small group meetings in locations
occasioned by the Director's work schedule. Each architect's sketch traveled in this way and
was shown for a period of two months, after which it transitioned online to this webpage. After the twenty month traveling period needed to
accommodate the ten sketches, the original sketches became part of the
LJHS archival collection, and the digital exhibition resides here,
creating a record of architectural gestures at the end of the 21st
century’s second decade. Curated by Heath Fox.
Laura DuCharme Conboy AIA
Virginia Way from Olivette Lane, La Jolla | September-October 2018
The Anna Vickers House (HRB 1270) is a historically listed property that the architect rehabilitated in 2017. The exterior façade color was modernized to a gray tone, and the interior, courtyard, and pool areas were updated to contemporary designs aligned with the living style of the residents. The sketch view is of the renovated rear entrance area as seen from Olivette Lane.
Hector Perez
Balcón | November-December 2018
This sketch illustrates plans for an unrealized condominium building set to the rear of an extant 1920s Spanish Revival bungalow in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego. The bungalow’s existing location and volume, adjacent to the street, is annotated by dashed lines.
Jennifer Luce FAIA
Egg | January-February 2019
This sketch is a detail of the Nissan Design Studio, Detroit, circa 2005. The architect’s projects emphasize texture, space, and light; and the Egg’s surface space, a double layer of perforated metal, glows and creates a moray pattern effect as the light changes day to day.
James Alcorn AIA
Belvedere
Promenade | March-April 2019
An unrealized project at La Jolla’s Prospect Street and Girard Avenue ‘dip.’ This proposal would relocate two-way vehicular traffic to what is currently the lower elevation, westbound lane of Prospect Street. The upper elevation, eastbound lane would be converted into a pedestrian-friendly promenade. A new viewing point would overlook Scripps Park, the Pacific Ocean, and the shoreline to the north.
Maxine Ward AIA
Thrive Charter School | May-June 2019
Completed in 2017 and located in San Diego’s Linda Vista neighborhood, near the Linda Vista Library and on the edge of Tecolote Canyon, the school serves five hundred K-8 students. The two story design features paired classrooms with adjacent collaboration spaces, supporting Thrive's unique and highly regarded blended learning approach.
Trace Wilson AIA
The Meugniot Residence | July-August 2019
As of the date of this sketch, the Meugniot Residence is under construction in Hermosa Beach, California. Designed in 2017, it is the second contemporary house on the same street built by the architect over the course of fifteen years. The Meugniot home features top-floor living spaces with views of the Pacific Ocean.
Taal Safdie & Ricardo Rabines
Bayview | September-October 2019
Site plan sketch for an unrealized mixed-use, mid-rise project overlooking Mission Bay with 156 apartments and 40,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. Planned for the intersection of Clairemont Drive and Morena Boulevard in Bay Park and located in proximity to the Mid-Coast Trolley Extension, this concept represents the future of transit-adjacent housing in San Diego.
Trip Bennett
House for Luis Barragan | November - December 2019
This sketch is a homage to modernist architect Luis Barragan and his house in Mexico City. There is a purposeful placement of simple wall planes to “create areas of profound shadow to contrasting zones of diffused gentle lighting” (The Architecture of Luis Barragan by Emilio Ambasz, Museum of Modern Art, 1976). The weightlessness of the cantilevered wood stair juxtaposed to an unadorned wall is graceful and light, and the use of natural materials and constructive elements is rooted in Mexican culture. Barragan collaborated with Louis Kahn in the design of the central travertine stone plaza at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences (1964) in La Jolla.
Reena Racki
Schindler 1923 with 2019 Roof Addition | January - February 2020
El Pueblo Ribera, located near La Jolla’s oceanfront, is a grouping of 12 interlinked houses built in 1923 as vacation rental units. Architect Rudolph M. Schindler created the innovative space using abstracted forms and materials. The geometry of the complex encourages indooroutdoor living. Schindler referred to his work "Space Architecture." He wrote, "I propose to treat the whole in true California style." Constructed of cast concrete and redwood, the small units combine interior and exterior volumes to maximize the sense of open space. Materials are left unfinished, lending a richness of color and texture. Each house has a private walled garden and roof terrace. Schindler intended the roof to be used as a porch, either for living or sleeping, with an ocean view. In this case, the owner has enclosed the roof terrace to increase usable interior space.
James B. Guthrie AIA
Horatio West Court, Irving J. Gill, 1919 | March-April 2020
Horatio West Court, located in Santa Monica, California, is an early example of attached residences with shared pedestrian and vehicle access. The Court consists of six small buildings grouped on a narrow lot. The lot is divided symmetrically with two units on either side of a driveway that runs through to a rear parking area, where two apartments top the garages. Each building is a slightly inflected, flat-roofed two-story cube with a small entrance porch and a walled terrace. The Court is an example of Gill’s early Modernism, and was the first property to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Santa Monica (1977).