Tag archives: architecture

The Art, Design & Architecture [AD&A] Museum at UCSB’s newest acquisition is the hire of Orianna Cacchione, PhD, as its Assistant Director. Filling a long vacant position, she brings new perspectives, background, and for certain, relief, to its Executive Director Gabe Ritter, PhD.  Our interview on Wednesday May 17, was at the museum, during the […]

Los Angeles has always been an incubator for magnetic religious personalities, and in the 1920s no one could touch evangelist, faith healer, and media celebrity, Aimee Semple McPherson. At her pioneer megachurch, Angelus Temple, she preached the “old-fashioned gospel” for a packed house of more than 5,000 people three times every Sunday.  “Sister Aimee” livened […]

Cities and civilizations leave enduring footprints. Think of Egypt’s Pyramids, the rows of statues on Easter Island, the white columns of the Parthenon in Athens. But Los Angeles has an unhappy habit of knocking down its past, its iconic buildings and houses – paving paradise to put up a parking lot and leaving no trace […]

Every year my wife, Merry, and I drive Interstate 40 from Southern California to New Mexico. The route is scenic, but the Arizona part has long stretches of nothing but miles and miles of miles and miles.  I always think of a favorite cartoon: An automobile is starting a trip across a dull, featureless desert, […]

The American Institute of Architects Santa Barbara hosted their annual Design Awards gala at the Cabrillo Pavilion honoring the achievements of local architects and architecture. The award program recognizes design excellence in architecture, residential architecture, restoration-renovation, and urban design. Among the honorees was the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and Kupiec Architects, with the Cabrillo […]

With students about to swarm back to the seaside campus, UCSB’s Art, Design & Architecture Museum is opening its fall-winter exhibition, “Ishi Glinsky: Upon a Jagged Maze.” The show is the first solo museum exhibition of L.A.-based Glinsky, an early career survey of 25 works made over the past decade including painting, works on paper, […]

Montecito animal activist Gretchen Lieff, founder and president of the Lutah Maria Riggs Society, has been appointed a member of the county’s Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission. The organization was created in 1965 to promote the preservation of historic buildings and structures. “The county has such a rich history of architectural protection and preservation,” says Gretchen. […]

The American Institute of Architects Santa Barbara (AIA) hosted their Design Awards Gala for 2021 in December. It honored the achievements of local architects and architecture. The annual event provides a showcase of the members’ contribution to the architectural legacy of Santa Barbara and the value of well-designed work. The group recognizes design excellence in […]

Ganna Walska Lotusland recently collaborated with the Lutah Maria Riggs Society for a screening at the Lobero of the award-winning documentary film, Lutah—A Passion for Architecture: A Life in Design. There was a patrons’ reception in the tent prior to the filming. As Lotusland executive director Rebecca Anderson said, “When we dig into the Lotusland […]

Dear Montecito, It is rarely a good sign to hear the latest about your hometown through the national news before discovering the information on local sources. Such was my experience opening my browser to CNN and seeing the now infamous contribution of Charlie Munger to our local university. Of course, the news did not stay […]

This past year has been really tough (COVID-19, inflation, supply chain problems, etc.). However, when things get tough, it is exactly when we need to give thanks. Our Founding Fathers and great leaders understood that giving thanks and expressing gratitude matters in the face of adversity. It gives us hope, emotionally. Giving thanks for what […]

After premiering at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2014, the documentary Lutah – A Passion For Architecture: A Life In Design aired at the Lobero, fittingly a building she conceived, to raise funds for a George Washington Smith pavilion restoration project at Lotusland, the 37-acre Montecito botanical garden owned by opera star Ganna […]

Quietly and without fanfare, Montecito recently welcomed a legendary architect to our village. Though long a celebrity figure for his “elegant barn” aesthetic in rustic settings like Sundance and Napa Valley, it was with delight that we caught up with Howard Backen — at his desk overlooking Coast Village Road — hand sketching a new […]

An earthquake a century ago shook Santa Barbara but united the city. Can today’s housing and economic crises coalesce to effect similar change? The retail closures of State Street and local housing crisis are familiar topics in the area and have been discussed for years. In 2017 the Santa Barbara chapter of the American Institute […]

Former U.S. ambassador to Austria Susan McCaw, ex-wife of cell phone billionaire Craig McCaw, has paid $9.5 million, a hefty $2 million over the asking price, for the Erdman House, designed in 1959 by noted architect Lutah Maria Riggs. Nearly 9,000 square feet, on four eucalyptus and pine tree studded acres, the sublimely preserved midcentury […]

The project being proposed at the Montecito Sanitary District campus was also at MBAR last week, for further conceptual review of a new Essential Services Building and associated improvements. Architect Brian Cearnal outlined the project, which includes a new 5,000-sq-ft Essential Services building with a new 17-space parking lot, lighting and landscaping, multiple solar canopies, […]

During normal times, Appleton Partners, the architecture firm founded by Marc Appleton and based in Santa Barbara and Santa Monica, uses 3D printers to build models of custom houses as well as individual design features. But in mid-March, as news began to build of the health dangers posed by the looming coronavirus pandemic, the firm […]

On Tuesday, April 7, the Montecito Association Land Use Committee met via Zoom to discuss an upcoming project in Montecito: a proposed project by the Montecito Sanitary District that includes a new 5,000-sq-ft Essential Services building with a new 17-space parking lot, lighting and landscaping, multiple solar canopies, and a new recycled water treatment system, […]