Eddy Sykes is a kinetic sculptor and principal of ChersonProm. His new piece Yakuza Lou is the first of its kind auto-articulated tessellation system to incorporate a garden within its geometry. Materials include aluminum, grass, and 22 computer controlled motors. The piece is on view at Materials & Applications in Los Angeles until March 2009. Sykes answered questions explaining kinetic dynamism and the importance of mowing the lawn. Click here to see geometry in motion.

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William Krisel (b. 1924) is a courtly presence in LA architectural circles and a keeper of the mid-century flame. In partnership with developer Bob Alexander, and later with architect Dan Palmer, Krisel designed over 30,000 living units in Southern California, many of which epitomized the breezy new lifestyle of the modern era. Culver City’s Museum of Design Art and Architecture (MODAA) exhibition of Krisel’s drawing, photographs, and floorplans includes the houses of the Royal Desert Palms, Ocotillo Lodge, and the “House of Tomorrow,” where Elvis and Priscilla Presley spent their honeymoon. Here, Krisel answers some questions about his long-spanned career.

An example of Krisel’s modernist legacy in Palm Springs Read more…

With Al Gore as the keynote speaker, West Coast Green is ready to go big in its third year. The three-day conference at the McEnery Center in San Jose will focus on residential green building, bringing together over 380 exhibitors and 100 experts who will present new products and ideas to an expected 14,000 attendees.

But the conference won’t just be run-of-the-mill panels and product showcases. Read more…

Laura Splan, Doilies (SARS), 2004

The craft revolution has been brewing for years-from the late-nineties hipster appropriation of knitting to last year’s standout traveling exhibition Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting, from the dedicated DIY-ers who make apron smocks out of old pillowcases to the popularity of ReadyMade magazine. One of the strongholds of that revolution is the Pacific Northwest, with its vibrant tradition of craft, and of subverting traditional craft. Starting this week Portland’s Museum of Contemporary Craft pushes that one step further with their new show, Manuf®actured: The Conspicuous Transformation of Everyday Objects. Guest curated by Steven Skov Holt, who is a former editor of ID and current head of the CCA’s Industrial Design department, and art historian Mara Holt Skov, this exhibition focuses on artists who are using craft techniques to make art out of mass manufactured objects. Read more…

MAK Center for Art and Architecture officials were giddy on morning champagne this past Wednesday when they announced real estate investor Russ Leland’s donation of Schindler’s Fitzpatrick House. Read more…

Everyone’s favorite avant-garde gallery, SoHo’s Storefront for Art and Architecture, brought out the LA crowds for their first-ever Pop Up Storefront. Setting up on a neon-lit stretch of Sunset Blvd (between an old motel and a strip joint), Storefront showed a set of photographs by Frédéric Chaubin that captured the beautiful architectural monsters of a cloistered Communist era. Dubbed “Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed”, the opening reception on this past Friday drew almost everyone I’ve ever met in LA’s architecture and design world. Read more…

Last weekend in the concrete courtyard outside MOCA’s Pacific Design Center outpost in West Hollywood, there was nary a blade of grass in sight. It was the perfect setting to celebrate the release of architect and provacateur Fritz Haeg’s new book, Edible Estates:Attack on the Front Lawn, documenting his efforts to get us to rethink the traditional front lawn. Read more…

Here are just a few highlights from last week’s Art Center College of Design’s Systems, Cities & Sustainable Mobility Summit: Read more…