Helms Design District

Closing Day for the Exhibition In Harmony with Nature: The Architectural Work of James Hubbell
2022-06-18 12:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Helms Design Center
8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City
Exhibition runs April 22 – June 18, 2022
Viewing hours: 12 PM – 5 PM
James Hubbell is a painter, sculptor and architectural designer who has spent 60 years designing and making buildings, artifacts and fine artworks that reflect a deep passion for the ocean and for earth’s gifts. From Ilan Lael, his self-made home, workshops and foundation in Julian near San Diego, Hubbell has created schools in concert with the community in Tijuana, an organic chapel at Sea Ranch, and parks that span the cultures of the Pacific Rim.
Hubbell’s vision is the antithesis of rational and industrial. “Most important is my infatuation with nature,” he says. “There is also my love of the primitive and naive, gothic architecture, the arts and craft movement, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gaudi, and the pleasure of working with the material of stone, wood, cement, clay, metal, glass, and mosaics.”
Now Angelenos can see his architectural work shown for the first time in L.A. at an exhibition opening on Earth Day at Helms Bakery District in Culver City. The installation brings to life Ilan-Lael, his Pacific Rim Park and schools in Tijuana, his chapel at Sea Ranch as well as stunning doors, windows and other decorative building elements including his extraordinary stained glass window for Findhorn, the spiritual retreat in Scotland.
Above: The Sea Ranch Chapel by James Hubbell | Photo © Craig Tooley, Ruffimage.com

Boys' House, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell | Photo ©Don Musial

Boys' House Interior, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell in his studio | Photo ©John Durant

Interior of The Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Craig Tooley

James Hubbell's Firebird | Photo ©Laurel Costa

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Art as Community | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Firebird Window | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

All artwork is copyrighted work of the artists. All rights reserved. Images not to be used without permission.

See what’s blooming at HD Buttercup!
2022-06-18 11:00 - 13:00 | H.D. Buttercup | Coco Republic, 3225 Helms Avenue, Los Angeles,, CA, 90034, United States
HD Buttercup
3225 Helms Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
Join HD Buttercup on Saturday, June 18th from 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM for a day of fresh flowers from FlowertruckLA.
FlowertruckLA is a farm-to-vase company that offers the freshest selection of flowers, including many seasonal assortments.

In Harmony with Nature: The Architectural Work of James Hubbell
2022-06-17 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-06-12 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-06-10 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-06-05 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-06-04 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-06-03 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-05-29 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-05-28 12:00 - 17:00 and 4 more dates | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Helms Design Center
8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City
Exhibition runs April 22 – June 18, 2022
Viewing hours: Friday-Sunday, 12 PM – 5 PM
James Hubbell is a painter, sculptor and architectural designer who has spent 60 years designing and making buildings, artifacts and fine artworks that reflect a deep passion for the ocean and for earth’s gifts. From Ilan Lael, his self-made home, workshops and foundation in Julian near San Diego, Hubbell has created schools in concert with the community in Tijuana, an organic chapel at Sea Ranch, and parks that span the cultures of the Pacific Rim.
Hubbell’s vision is the antithesis of rational and industrial. “Most important is my infatuation with nature,” he says. “There is also my love of the primitive and naive, gothic architecture, the arts and craft movement, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gaudi, and the pleasure of working with the material of stone, wood, cement, clay, metal, glass, and mosaics.”
Now Angelenos can see his architectural work shown for the first time in L.A. at an exhibition opening on Earth Day at Helms Bakery District in Culver City. The installation brings to life Ilan-Lael, his Pacific Rim Park and schools in Tijuana, his chapel at Sea Ranch as well as stunning doors, windows and other decorative building elements including his extraordinary stained glass window for Findhorn, the spiritual retreat in Scotland.
Above: The Sea Ranch Chapel by James Hubbell | Photo © Craig Tooley, Ruffimage.com

Boys' House, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell | Photo ©Don Musial

Boys' House Interior, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell in his studio | Photo ©John Durant

Interior of The Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Craig Tooley

James Hubbell's Firebird | Photo ©Laurel Costa

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Art as Community | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Firebird Window | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

All artwork is copyrighted work of the artists. All rights reserved. Images not to be used without permission.

Arcana hosts a Book Signing with Arthur Grace – Communism(s): A Cold War Album
2022-06-11 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Please join us Saturday, June 11th, 4:00 – 6:00 PM for a book signing
Arthur Grace: Communism(s): A Cold War Album
For most people in the West, the realities of life behind the Iron Curtain have faded into caricatures of police state repression and bread lines. With the world seemingly again divided between democracies and authoritarian regimes, it is essential that we understand the reality of life in the Soviet Bloc. Noted American photojournalist Arthur Grace was uniquely placed to provide that context.
During the 1970s and 1980s Grace traveled extensively behind the Iron Curtain, working primarily for news magazines. One of only a small corps of Western photographers with ongoing access, he was able to delve into the most ordinary corners of people’s daily lives, while also covering significant events. Many of the photographs in this remarkable book are effectively psychological portraits that leave the viewer with a sense of the gamut of emotions in that era.
Illustrated with over one hundred and twenty black-and-white images – nearly all previously unpublished, Communism(s) gives an unprecedented glimpse behind the veil of a not-so-distant time filled with harsh realities unseen by nearly all but those that lived through it. Shot in the USSR, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia and the German Democratic Republic, here are portraits of factory workers, farmers, churchgoers, vacationers and loitering teens juxtaposed with the GDR’s imposing Social Realist-designed apartment blocks, annual May Day Parades, Poland’s Solidarity movement (and the subsequent imposition of martial law) and the vastness of Moscow’s Red Square.
Beautifully printed in Italy by publisher Damiani Editore, Communism(s) was co-edited by Arthur Grace, Arcana’s own Lee Kaplan, and Deadbeat Club Press’ Clint Woodside, who also contributed the book’s striking design. Read some of its impressive advance reviews from The New York Times, Washington Post, and The Sunday London Times, and join us Saturday, June 11th to acquire your own copy of this timely document signed by photographer Arthur Grace
If you cannot attend, place an order here for your very own copy of Communism(s) signed by Arthur Grace to be picked up at the store or shipped to you after the event.

Talk + Demo With Architect and Ikebana Teacher Ravi GuneWardena
2022-06-11 14:00 - 15:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Join us on Saturday, June 11 from 2:00 to 3:30 as we welcome architect and ikebana teacher Ravi GuneWardena of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana, Los Angeles who will talk about the history of the Sogetsu School in Tokyo and its collaborations with artists. The conversation will be followed by a demo of three arrangements (from a simple basic arrangement to an advanced freestyle arrangement) and a discussion with Frances Anderton on the relevance of the art form today.
The audience will also have an opportunity to view the completion of the large ikebana work made of unconventional materials (recycled construction scraps) with the addition of fresh plant material.
RSVP and TICKETS HERE
If you plan to pop into the L.A. GOAL art installation which takes place during the same time, L.A. GOAL is asking guests to please wear masks to protect their teachers and members. Thanks for keeping everyone safe!

In Harmony with Nature: The Architectural Work of James Hubbell
2022-06-11 12:00 - 17:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Helms Design Center
8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City
Exhibition runs April 22 – June 18, 2022
Viewing hours: Friday-Sunday, 12 PM – 5 PM
James Hubbell is a painter, sculptor and architectural designer who has spent 60 years designing and making buildings, artifacts and fine artworks that reflect a deep passion for the ocean and for earth’s gifts. From Ilan Lael, his self-made home, workshops and foundation in Julian near San Diego, Hubbell has created schools in concert with the community in Tijuana, an organic chapel at Sea Ranch, and parks that span the cultures of the Pacific Rim.
Hubbell’s vision is the antithesis of rational and industrial. “Most important is my infatuation with nature,” he says. “There is also my love of the primitive and naive, gothic architecture, the arts and craft movement, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gaudi, and the pleasure of working with the material of stone, wood, cement, clay, metal, glass, and mosaics.”
Now Angelenos can see his architectural work shown for the first time in L.A. at an exhibition opening on Earth Day at Helms Bakery District in Culver City. The installation brings to life Ilan-Lael, his Pacific Rim Park and schools in Tijuana, his chapel at Sea Ranch as well as stunning doors, windows and other decorative building elements including his extraordinary stained glass window for Findhorn, the spiritual retreat in Scotland.
We are fortunate to have special guests join us today at 3:00 pm: Drew Hubbell will lead a group of members from the Society of Architectural Historians, along with architect and historian, Alan Hess.
If you plan to pop into the L.A. GOAL art installation which takes place during the same time, L.A. GOAL is asking guests to please wear masks to protect their teachers and members. Thanks for keeping everyone safe!
Above: The Sea Ranch Chapel by James Hubbell | Photo © Craig Tooley, Ruffimage.com

Boys' House, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell | Photo ©Don Musial

Boys' House Interior, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell in his studio | Photo ©John Durant

Interior of The Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Craig Tooley

James Hubbell's Firebird | Photo ©Laurel Costa

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Art as Community | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Firebird Window | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

All artwork is copyrighted work of the artists. All rights reserved. Images not to be used without permission.

Join L.A. GOAL for "Mother Nature Survived It (and I Will Too)"
2022-06-11 11:00 - 16:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
On Saturday, June 11th from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, please join L.A. GOAL in celebrating their show, Mother Nature Survived It (and I Will Too). As part of L.A. GOAL’s mission to foster a more inclusive society, there will also be artworks created by artists from the broader Los Angeles County community. A show by artists of all abilities!
L.A. GOAL is a non-profit organization that partners with adults with developmental disabilities and their support networks to assist them in living more fulfilling lives. Many of the artworks featured in this exhibition were created by artists with developmental disabilities. These artists are employed by L.A. GOAL’s professional art studio, Inside Out Productions.
This art exhibition aims to highlight the ways in which pandemic circumstances affect our relationship with nature and how that relationship affects our experience of healing, strength, and community. During this global pandemic, many people were traveling less, spending more time at home, and moving their gatherings to the outdoors. Since then, our relationship to nature has likely changed. Whether we are hiking or camping, taking a walk in the park, tending to a houseplant, or rendering images of landscapes, nature finds its way into our lives one way or another. It may find itself in our homes and our neighborhoods in small and perhaps overlooked ways.
To learn more about L.A. GOAL and Inside Out Productions, please visit our websites:
www.lagoal.org
www.insideoutproductions.com
Please note: Masks will be required at this event.

An Evening with AIA Gold Medal Winners Angela Brooks, FAIA, and Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA
2022-06-09 18:30 - 20:30 | Washington Corridor Gallery, 8723 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232, United States
Congratulations!
Helms Bakery District Presents An Evening with AIA Gold Medal Winners Angela Brooks, FAIA, and Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA
Thursday, June 9th | 6:30 PM
Reception and Celebration of Brooks + Scarpa
Private Invitation Only | RSVP Required
8723 Washington Boulevard | Culver City
After meeting at architecture school at the University of Florida, Lawrence Scarpa, raised in a family run restaurant, and Angela Brooks resolved to not work together. That changed and now Brooks + Scarpa has won the AIA Gold Medal for a partnership dedicated to creating buildings that advance the art and technology of architecture. Through citizen activism they have also disrupted codes, construction and the financing of buildings, demonstrating the breadth of ways an architect can shape space and place.
“Their efforts have fundamentally reshaped public policy initiatives that address critical issues and reforms that serve the public good, increase housing equity, and improve the built environment,” wrote Steve Dumez, FAIA, and Douglas A. Benson, FAIA, in a letter nominating Brooks and Scarpa for the Gold Medal.
Brooks + Scarpa has built on the foundations laid by Pugh + Scarpa, founded in 1991 by Gwynne Pugh and Larry Scarpa. The firm has designed single and multi-family dwellings, commercial, institutional, educational and governmental buildings. Most recently they won the commission to design a new Holocaust Memorial to be placed at the Florida State Capitol Building in Tallahassee. In Los Angeles they have made a deep imprint with affordable housing, designing formally powerful buildings that also nurture social connection in contemporary variants on the Southland’s courtyard housing. “Form is important but it is experience that matters,” say the duo, adding that their body of work is united not by a signature look but rather an approach. “It is a sequence of spaces and not a form. We design from the inside-out.”
Brooks and Scarpa also relish experimentation with texture and materials, and have incorporated ping-pong balls, crushed aluminum cans, Dixie cups, industrial brooms and glitter stucco into structures. “Architecture is most powerful when it is tactile. Many times people want to actually touch our buildings—walk up and feel the walls,” says Scarpa. That material exploration met innovative sustainable design when they sheathed a wall at the Colorado Court affordable housing project, for Community Corporation of Santa Monica, with solar panels, making the energy system into a decorative facade. Now they are pushing new limits with the NEST Toolkit, a prefab home building system developed in collaboration with Plant Prefab, that they hope will substantially cut construction costs. “That willingness to take risks has great rewards,” says Brooks. “We are calculated risk takers.”
Despite the seriousness with which they take their work, they have held onto the love of a good party that Scarpa experienced at his father’s restaurant.
Special thanks to the event sponsors:
AIA Los Angeles, Bulthaup, Labib Funk Engineers, and Plant Prefab.

A reception, lecture, and discussion with Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott
2022-06-02 18:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Join us on Thursday, June 2nd, 6:30-8:30 pm, for a reception, lecture, and discussion with Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott
In collaboration with the Helms Bakery District and the Cal Poly SLO LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design
Helms Design Center
8745 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Free Parking is available at the corner of Helms Ave. and Venice Blvd.
Lecture is Free and Open to the Public
RSVP

Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott
IwamotoScott Architecture, established in San Francisco in 2002, was co-founded by Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott. Committed to pursuing architecture as a form of applied design research, and guided by the belief that each project regardless of scope or scale can achieve a unique design synthesis, the firm has gained widespread recognition for innovation in design. IwamotoScott’s client list includes arts organizations, educational institutions, technology companies, commercial developers, and private clients. Our projects consist of work at all scales including urban design, buildings, interiors, digital fabrication projects, museum installations and exhibitions, and theoretical proposals.
Honors received by IwamotoScott include: the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, induction into the Interior Design Hall of Fame, ACADIA’s Digital Practice Award of Excellence, Architectural Record’s Women in Architecture and Design Vanguard Awards, The Architectural League of New York’s Emerging Voices and League Prize awards, and over seventy five individual project design awards including a Progressive Architecture Award and over twenty AIA Design Awards at local, state and national levels. The work of Iwamoto and Scott has been widely exhibited and published nationally and internationally. The founding partners have lectured on the work of IwamotoScott at a wide range of institutions and venues worldwide.
Both partners continuously maintained academic careers alongside their professional practice – Lisa Iwamoto is Chair and Professor of Architecture at the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley, and Craig Scott is Professor of Architecture at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Iwamoto and Scott have taught previously at University of Michigan, and as visiting faculty at Harvard University, Cornell University, Syracuse University, SCIArc, Yale University and Sydney University. Both partners received Master of Architecture with Distinction degrees from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, while Iwamoto earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Structural Engineering and Scott earned a Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University.
Introduced and moderated by Stephen Phillips, FAIA, PhD, Principal of Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS) and professor, director, Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo).
Photos (Left to Right): Image of Pinterest HQ, 2016. Image of Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott. Image of Ivy Tech Columbus Indiana, 2020.

A reception, lecture, and discussion with Michael Young & Kutan Ayata
2022-05-26 18:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Join us on Thursday, May 26th, 6:30-8:30 pm, for a reception, lecture, and discussion with Michael Young & Kutan Ayata
In collaboration with the Helms Bakery District and the Cal Poly SLO LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design
HELMS DESIGN CENTER
8745 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Free Parking is available at the corner of Helms Ave. and Venice Blvd.
Lecture is Free and Open to the Public
RSVP

Young & Ayata
Young & Ayata formed as a partnership in New York in 2008 to explore the conceptual and aesthetic possibilities of architecture and urbanism. The practice is dedicated to building commissions, exploratory mediations, and published arguments where the reality of the contemporary environment is engaged as a provocation for experiments in form, material, and imagery. Both principals teach and view pedagogy as crucial to the continual development of architectural ideas. Young & Ayata have received the Progressive Architecture award, the Design Vanguard Award, the Young Architects Prize, the AIA Honor Award, and a first-place prize for the design of the Bauhaus Museum in Dessau, Germany.
Michael Young is an Assistant Professor at The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union. He is the recipient of the 2019-20 Rome Prize from the American Academy of Rome. He is the author of The Estranged Object (Graham Foundation 2015) and Reality Modeled After Images (Routledge 2021). Michael received his Masters of Architecture from Princeton University and his Bachelor of Architecture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Michael is a Registered Architect in the State of New York.
Kutan Ayata is an Associate Professor and the Vice Chair in the Department of Architecture and Urbanism at UCLA, where he also serves as the Director of Master of Architecture Program. He received his Masters of Architecture from Princeton University and his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Massachusetts College of Art. He is a registered architect in the Chamber of Architects in Turkey.
Introduced and moderated by Stephen Phillips, FAIA, PhD, Principal of Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS) and professor, director, Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo).
Photos (Left to Right): Image of Spectral Entourage No. 73, Image of Michael Young and Kutan Ayata, and Image of DL1310 Apartments.

A reception, lecture, and discussion with Marcelo Spina and Georgina Huljich, P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S
2022-05-19 18:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Join us on Thursday, May 19th, 6:30-8:30 pm, for a reception, lecture, and discussion with Marcelo Spina and Georgina Huljich, P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S
In collaboration with the Helms Bakery District and the Cal Poly SLO LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design
HELMS DESIGN CENTER
8745 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Free Parking is available at the corner of Helms Ave. and Venice Blvd.
Lecture is Free and Open to the Public
RSVP

P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S
Born and raised in Rosario, Argentina, Marcelo Spina and Georgina Huljich are both renowned architects and distinguished educators. Together, they lead Los Angeles-based and award-winning architectural practice P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S, which they founded in 2002 as a speculative platform to explore an increasingly global design culture. Their work reveals a rigorous and progressive approach to projects and buildings across materials, scales, agendas and geographies, insisting on the cultural and social relevance of architectural form, contemporary aesthetics and emerging technologies. Their books include PATTERNS: Embedded, the studio first monograph published in 2010 by Shanghai based ACDCU and Mute Icons & Other Dichotomies of the Real in Architecture recently released by ACTAR Press. Marcelo Spina is a Design Faculty at SCI-Arc and Georgina Huljich is an Associate Professor at UCLA AUD.
P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S is a leading architectural practice led by partners Marcelo Spina and Georgina Huljich. The studio brings a critical and progressive approach to projects across scales, programs, and geographies, insisting on the cultural and social relevance of architectural form, contemporary aesthetics, and emerging technologies. Based in Los Angeles, the forward-looking studio takes advantage of the city’s decidedly global stance and idiosyncratic identity to create engaging and speculative architectural projects that become civic and cultural landmarks within the public realm.
P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S gained international recognition as one of the most intriguing and broadminded firms in contemporary architecture with work exhibited worldwide, most notably at the Venice Biennale in Italy, The Chicago Biennial, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, The Art Institute of Chicago, The San Francisco MOMA, The MAK Museum in Vienna, and The FRAC in Orleans, where it is also part of their permanent collections.
P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S work has been published extensively and has been the subject of numerous essays, books, magazines, newspapers, and catalogues.
P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S is a registered Women Owned Business, Minority Owned Business and Small Business Enterprise.
Introduced and moderated by Stephen Phillips, FAIA, PhD, Principal of Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS) and professor, director, Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo).
Photos (Left to Right): Image of A4H Office Building, 2020, Image of Marcelo Spina and Georgina Huljich, Image of Prism Gallery, 2013.

In Harmony with Nature: The Architectural Work of James Hubbell
2022-05-15 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-05-14 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-05-13 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-04-22 12:00 - 17:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Helms Design Center
8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City
Exhibition runs April 22 – June 18, 2022
Viewing hours: Friday-Sunday, 12 PM – 5 PM
James Hubbell is a painter, sculptor and architectural designer who has spent 60 years designing and making buildings, artifacts and fine artworks that reflect a deep passion for the ocean and for earth’s gifts. From Ilan Lael, his self-made home, workshops and foundation in Julian near San Diego, Hubbell has created schools in concert with the community in Tijuana, an organic chapel at Sea Ranch, and parks that span the cultures of the Pacific Rim.
Hubbell’s vision is the antithesis of rational and industrial. “Most important is my infatuation with nature,” he says. “There is also my love of the primitive and naive, gothic architecture, the arts and craft movement, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gaudi, and the pleasure of working with the material of stone, wood, cement, clay, metal, glass, and mosaics.”
Now Angelenos can see his architectural work shown for the first time in L.A. at an exhibition opening on Earth Day at Helms Bakery District in Culver City. The installation brings to life Ilan-Lael, his Pacific Rim Park and schools in Tijuana, his chapel at Sea Ranch as well as stunning doors, windows and other decorative building elements including his extraordinary stained glass window for Findhorn, the spiritual retreat in Scotland.
In Harmony with Nature coincides with Seeding The City, a day-long program of talks, pop-ups and walking tours at Helms Bakery District, taking place April 23, that offer up new ideas about landscaping and gardening in our increasingly urbanized megalopolis.
Above: The Sea Ranch Chapel by James Hubbell | Photo © Craig Tooley, Ruffimage.com

Boys' House, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell | Photo ©Don Musial

Boys' House Interior, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell in his studio | Photo ©John Durant

Interior of The Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Craig Tooley

James Hubbell's Firebird | Photo ©Laurel Costa

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Art as Community | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Firebird Window | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

All artwork is copyrighted work of the artists. All rights reserved. Images not to be used without permission.

A reception, lecture, and discussion with Victor Jones
2022-05-12 18:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Join us on Thursday, May 12th, 6:30-8:30 pm, for a reception, lecture, and discussion with Victor Jones
Tweakers & Upcyclers
In collaboration with the Helms Bakery District and the Cal Poly SLO LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design
HELMS DESIGN CENTER
8745 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Free Parking is available at the corner of Helms Ave. and Venice Blvd.
Lecture is Free and Open to the Public
RSVP

Victor Jones
Victor Jones is a designer, writer, and cultural activist. His creative and intellectual work stands at the intersection of architecture, community engagement, and the urban experience. Infrastructure as a social, political, and spatial instrument is central to his scholarship, design research, and teaching.
Jones’s written works include (IN)FORMAL L.A.: The Space of Politics (eVolo Press, 2014), A Distant Bridge | Un pont à part (MétisPresses, 2016), and “New Orleans – Ecological Urbanism” in Shaping the City: Studies in History, Theory, and Urban Design (Routledge, 2013).
In addition, Jones is design principal of Fièvre + Jones Inc. Projects include Near Noah (2021), Bywater Houses (2015), and Watt House Project Platform (2011).
Currently Graduate Director and Assistant Professor of Architecture at Cal Poly Pomona, Jones has taught design studios and seminars at Tulane University, the University of California at Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California.
He lives and works in Los Angeles with his partner Alain Fièvre.
Introduced and moderated by Stephen Phillips, FAIA, PhD, Principal of Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS) and professor, director, Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo).
Photos (Left to Right): Image of Victor Jones, Image of Guild House, 2021, Image of Couples, 2020.

A reception, lecture, and discussion with Peter Tolkin and Sarah Lorenzen, TOLO Architecture
2022-05-05 18:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Join us on Thursday, May 5th, 6:30-8:30 pm, for a reception, lecture, and discussion with Peter Tolkin and Sarah Lorenzen, TOLO Architecture
In collaboration with the Helms Bakery District and the Cal Poly SLO LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design
HELMS DESIGN CENTER
8745 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Free Parking is available at the corner of Helms Ave. and Venice Blvd.
Lecture is Free and Open to the Public
RSVP

TOLO Architecture
Peter Tolkin + Sarah Lorenzen Architecture (working under the moniker TOLO) design projects that are meaningful to the people that use them, and that are reflective of the time and place in which they are built. We work out of a renovated warehouse at the nexus of the Arts District, Little Tokyo and Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. First founded by Peter Tolkin in 2000, our studio has designed and built projects of various types and scales, including creative workspaces, single and multi-family housing, mixed-use and retail, restaurants and hotels, and arts-based projects. TOLO’s designs draw from the rich material and cultural conditions that characterize the world we live in. Rather than conceiving our architectural role as primarily inventors of form, we also see our role as one that interprets and shapes relationships and situations.
Peter Tolkin, AIA is managing principal of TOLO Architecture. Peter founded the practice, previously called Peter Tolkin Architecture, in 2002 and since then has led the design of dozens of residential, commercial, cultural and arts-related projects. At TOLO, Peter advocates for the social and cultural agency of architecture, an approach informed by his prior work as a documentary photographer and his studies with American artists Allan Sekula and Lewis Baltz. Peter first rose to prominence in 2002 when Architectural Record named him one of its ten emerging international “Design Vanguard” architects. Peter received a Bachelor of Arts in Art and Art History from UC Santa Cruz, a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), and a Master of Architecture from Columbia University.
Sarah Lorenzen, AIA is principal at TOLO Architecture and an architecture professor at Cal Poly Pomona (where she was department chair from 2012-2016). Sarah has practiced architecture for more than 20 years, working on a variety of building types including educational, residential, institutional, and arts-related projects. Prior to TOLO Architecture, Sarah worked as a project architect at a number of award-winning firms in Atlanta, San Francisco and Los Angeles. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Drawing at Smith College and at the Atlanta College of Art, and has two Master of Architecture degrees, the first from Georgia Institute of Technology and the second from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (Sci-Arc). Sarah has published and edited articles on architecture and urbanism, and has received multiple design awards and grants including several Graham Foundation grants, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a travel fellowship to China.
Photos (Left to Right): Image of Peter Tolkin, Image of Night Gallery, 2022, Image of Sarah Lorenzen.

Introduced and moderated by Stephen Phillips, FAIA, PhD, Principal of Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS) and professor, director, Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo) and Jimenez Lai, Principal of Bureau Spectacular and faculty, Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo)

Russel and Mary Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga
2022-05-01 16:00 - 18:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
Please join us in celebration of the publication of
Russel and Mary Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga
A Discussion with author Jennifer Golub & Eames Demetrios
Sunday, May 1st 2022 at 4:00 PM
Helms Design Center | 8745 Washington Boulevard | Culver City
Jennifer Golub discusses her new book Russel and Mary Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga with Eames Demetrios.
“The book fills in the gaps, from how the house evolved to Mary’s involvement. It’s a new deeply considered way to understand the collaborative work. It’s a beauty.”
– John Danzer, Munder Skiles, emeritus board of directors, ManitogaRussel Wright Design Center.
Special thanks to Arcana: Books on the Arts. Signed copies of the book will be available during the event.

About Russel and Mary Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga
Best known for American Modern dinnerware, Russel and Mary Wright were at the forefront of American mid-century industrial design. Mary’s role as a partner, designer and entrepreneur is discussed here for the first time. Multiple archives have been synthesized exploring the innovation of Russel and Mary Wright’s design practice, their home and the extensive 77 acres of Woodland Paths at Dragon Rock, Manitoga.
Russel and Mary Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga is an immersive experience evoking the individuality of these artists, the spirit of architecture and design in the mid 20th century and their ethos which continues to flourish.

About Jennifer
Jennifer Golub is the author of Russel and Mary Wright: Dragon Rock at Manitoga. Her previous publication was Albert Frey Houses 1+2, also published by Princeton Architectural Press. She has produced award winning branded content for the likes of Apple, Adidas, Levi’s, RayBan, and directed and produced Apple’s Emmy award winning “Think Different”. She is the founder of A-Frame Content, generating communications at the intersection of art and social impact. She has served on boards and developed content for various foundations including the XQ Institute, Conservation International, Virgin Unite, (RED), Rock the Vote, Feeding America and Phillip Johnson’s Glass House. She has produced films for Ed Ruscha and Frank Gehry, curated art exhibitions, and has commissioned multiple architectural projects. She resides in Los Angeles, West Marin and New York City.
About Eames
Eames Demetrios is best known in the design world as director of the Eames Office and for authoring several design books — including An Eames Primer and Essential Eames. He has authored 11 books altogether and contributed to many others. He is also Chairman of the Board of the Eames Foundation, responsible for taking care of the Eames House. His current large-scale project is his parallel universe, Kcymaerxthaere, a global artwork of multi-dimensional storytelling. For this Eames has so far installed 143 markers and historic sites involving 27 linear languages, in 30 countries on 6 continents. (There is a ready-to-go design for the Moon.) Demetrios has also made over 60 films (mostly shorts) on topics from the Modern Maya to Frank Gehry, from homelessness to legendary winemaker Peter Gago. Genres include fiction, documentary and animation. Demetrios has given talks in 50 countries, including on the mainstage of the legendary TED conference. Eames Demetrios lives with his family in Los Angeles, California.

Seeding the City: A Nature-Inspired Event @Helms
2022-04-23 11:00 - 17:00 | Helms Design District, 8800 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90034, United States
Free
Saturday | April 23, 2022
11:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Campus-Wide Event
The Southland was once a garden of Eden. Now, as Los Angeles continues to build up its cityscape, connection to the land is out of reach for many. This rupture was underscored by the pandemic, when access to clean air, open space, plants and pets became an essential tonic.
But talented and creative designers are finding ways to green the City in ways beyond the traditional backyard, injecting trees onto rooftops, flowers under transit lines and plants into defunct concrete pools. They are reclaiming the wild and bringing back long-vanished birds and bees. Artists and writers are creating works reflecting on new ways of coexistence with all species.
Seeding The City celebrates the 21st century garden in Los Angeles with a daylong program of talks, tours, and popups, featuring some of LA’s leading landscape designers and thinkers.
See a full schedule of events here: https://helmsdesigndistrict.com/seeding-the-city/
Thank you to our media sponsor, KCRW.
