Category Archives: Newport Beach

Los Angeles Appoints the First Chief Design Officer

The City of Los Angeles and Mayor Eric Garcetti have taken a bold step and appointed the first Chief Design Officer for the city. Because of the scale and pace of development of the city, Mayor Garcetti feels strongly about having a focus on the future while balancing the need for development and the importance of keeping the face of the city inspired. The challenges the city faces are vast; expanding the Metro system, Olympic infrastructure improvements and the desperate need to address the housing and homeless crisis. This is an area where the city has traditionally struggled.

Christopher Hawthorne was the architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times from 2004 to March of this year. Before coming to the LA Times, he was architecture critic for Slate and a frequent contributor to The New York Times. He is the co- author of The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture. Hawthorne grew up in Berkeley and has a bachelor’s degree from Yale. His vision for the new role is to make the city more beautiful, inclusive and efficient.

From the the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Broad Museum, or the beautiful angles of a modernist home next to a striking building outfitted with the minarets of a temple, Los Angeles architecture is unique and inspiring. The wonderful weather and the beautiful people found in Los Angeles have long inspired breathtaking architecture and a great number of dreamers and eccentrics. Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright were among the visionaries who came to Los Angeles and left their indelible mark on this City of Angels.

In an era of increased public awareness about urbanism, it makes sense that the people driving the discourse should be in a position to change things for the better. Making that happen, however, is incumbent on mayors and other officials. Inviting critics to become part of the city-building process is the first step; listening to them and giving them real authority has to come next.

From the ADG Jobsite

Gorgeous entry doors

by Gerald Olesker, CEO, ADG Lighting

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Balkrishna Doshi Recognized For A Lifetime of Social Good

“One is all the time looking at financial returns — that is not only what life is. I think wellness is missing.”

Balkrishna Doshi, Architect

Balkrishna Doshi has become the 45th laureate of architecture’s highest honor, the prestigious Pritzker Prize. He is also the first laureate from India. The Pritzker Prize is bestowed upon a living architect or architects whose work clearly demonstrates talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.

Mr. Doshi started his architectural career in 1947 at the Sir JJ School of Architecture in Mumbai. During the 1950’s he contributed to the work on Chandigarh, which was an experimental modernist city 150 miles north of New Delhi. He continued his work on the Mill Owners’ Association Building in 1954 and other projects in the Ahmedabad region, to include the Sarabi House in 1955. In 1956, he founded his practice Vastushilpa, which now has five partners and 60 employees. In the early 1960’s, Dr. Doshi worked on the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, where he was an associate of Louis Kahn for the project. His work has consistently drawn on the grandeur of Indian history and culture, reflecting the essence of local materials, busy city streets and the splendor of Indian shrines and temples. Mr. Doshi has always had a certain vision for his projects. He strongly feels that architecture is not static, but a living organism. Never intended to be iconic structures, his projects were intended to be miniature societies that residents can easily expand over time.

“What is the role of an architect today? Are we going to be a service provider working for a client, or are we going to be useful to the society at large?”

Balkrishna Doshi, Architect

He has been driven by the larger issues of sustainability and social good throughout his career. Mr Doshi feels that today’s architecture is a culture and profession focused strictly on the bottom line of projects. Instead, he feels strongly that architecture should focus on wellness throughout the design. Considerations of living life at your own pace and how we should connect with silence should be incorporated into designs.

The Pritzker jury commented in their citation that housing as shelter is but one aspect of these projects. The entire planning of the community, the scale, the creation of public, semipublic and private spaces are a testament to his understanding of how cities work and the importance of the urban design.

Architecture History: Recognizing the Women of Architecture

Beverly Willis and Wanda Bubriski have spent the past five years documenting the work of women in architecture. Since 2012, the work of women in architecture has been exhaustively researched, fact checked, and photo documented to promote the influence of those being recognized. The website Pioneering Women of American Architecture has finally been launched and features architects who have met the strictest criteria of a jury of architectural historians. Some of the women included on the website are Ada Luise Huxtable, Marion Mahoney Griffin and Ray Kaiser Eames.

Beverly Willis is an American architect who played a major role in the development of many architectural concepts and practices that influenced the design of American cities and architecture. Her achievements in the development of new technologies in architecture, urban planning, public policy and her leadership activities on behalf of architects are well known. Willis is best known for her built-work of the San Francisco Ballet Building. She is the co-founder of the National Building Museum, in Washington, D.C., and founder of the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, a non-profit organization working to change the culture for women in the building industry through research and education.

After 35 years leading her firm FAIA, Willis found that women in architecture were not represented in books that documented the practice and history of architecture. This inspired her to work with two architecture historians who shared her concerns. In 2002, the Beverly Willis Architectural Foundation (BWAF) was founded with a mission of advancing the knowledge and recognizing the work of women in architecture. BWAF commissions and curates research that pertains to women working in all disciplines of architecture.

Check out the work of BWAF and the website here.

From the ADG Factory Floor

A series of dashes…bronze work

by Gerald Olesker, CEO, ADG Lighting

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Let’s Celebrate Archtober Fest 2017

October is the month we set aside to celebrate all things architecture. Archtober Fest is a away to bring awareness and appreciation to the art and science of architecture. Across the U.S., various cities are celebrating Archtober Fest to bring awareness forward and celebrate the architectural landmarks that their great communities offer.

The earliest surviving written work on the subject of architecture is De architectura, by the Roman architect Vitruvius in the early 1st century AD. According to Vitruvius, a good building should satisfy the three principles of firmitas, utilitas, venustas. Our modern day equivalent would be durability, utility and beauty. According to Vitruvius, the architect should strive to fulfill each of these three attributes as well as possible.

Architecture is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings and other physical structures. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements.

Here are some links to two of the best Archtober celebrations across the country:

NYC Archtober Fest – New York City’s Architecture and Design Month, the seventh annual month-long festival of architecture activities, programs and exhibitions taking place during the month.

San Diego Archtober Fest – San Diego’s Architecture and Design Month, celebration of San Diego’s built environment, will kick off with a rapid-fire show-and-tell, tours and talks, and conclude with awards for good and bad buildings.

In the spirit of the celebration, get out and explore the architecture of your city and region. It is all around us, but we tend to be focused on the day-to-day of our lives and miss the creative beauty that is all around us. Through their artistic and technical skills, architects translate the experiences of the culture into buildings that mark the passing of time.

From the ADG Jobsite

New custom designed lights in Malibu

By Gerald Olesker, CEO ADG Lighting

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The Perfect Creative Collaboration for Your Lighting Design Needs

ADG Lighting is a leading creative custom design and lighting manufacturing firm. We are fanatical about using our 20 plus years experience to bring to life the vision of clients in a manner that evokes quality and style. This passion for design and quality have made for the perfect partnership with Dering Hall.

Dering Hall is obsessed with quality design and broadening the audience for the best the industry has to offer. Their mission is to assemble a community of the world’s leading creators in one place and to connect them with savvy and sophisticated consumers.

Our collaborative efforts allow us to showcase creativity in a manner that inspires both clients and designers alike. We are proud to share two of our recent features on the Dering Hall platform.

Round & Circular Flush Mounts

Featured in Dering Hall’s Round & Circular Flush Mounts. Kitchens and dining spaces are the ideal locations for flush mount lighting.

Mount Ring Ceiling Flush Fixture

Vintage Pendant Lights

Featured in Dering Hall’s 40 Vintage Pendant Lights. Vintage and antique accessories add a sophistication and personality to any space in a home.

Vintage Cast Cameo Pendant

From The Factory Floor

Our new Pop Pendant shipping out to a happy client!

Gerald Olesker, CEO, ADG Lighting

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Newport Beach: ADG Creates Magic in Villas Fashion Island

Our magic and creativity is unsurpassed. We have a stellar reputation for not only design, but manufacturing of lighting fixtures for high-end and luxury projects. Across a broad spectrum of architectural and design projects, we are able to translate client vision into high quality fixtures that exceed all expectations.

This expansive project in Newport Beach, the prestigious Villas Fashion Island, was an opportunity to collaborate with the Irvine Company on the residences. Gerald Olesker has designed lighting for some of its monument entries, establishing lighting specs for some of its residential communities. ADG was responsible for the 50” tall modern pendant chandelier in the coordinating tower lobbies. The project began as a concept sketch using ADG’s ring chandelier as inspiration. The final project is a pendant, with four tiers of varying sizes, and extends about 6 feet wide. The resort style property is full of high-end fixtures and features, including stainless steel appliances, island kitchens, and hardwood-style flooring.

“We have worked with the Irvine Company for the last 22 years on a number of other projects,” said Gerald Olesker, founder and CEO of ADG Lighting. “We were thrilled when we found out we were collaborating with the team again.”

Last year, ADG Lighting worked closely with the Irvine Company on the remodel of the Crystal Cove sales office with Homer Oatman. Outside of Orange County, ADG Lighting is working with the Irvine Company on three more residential upper scale buildings.

With a number of residential and hospitality spaces under its belt, ADG Lighting is well known in trade circles for their premier custom lighting work on multi-family homes, spec homes, beach homes, restaurants, hotels, and landmarks worldwide. Their work on multiple lighting projects throughout Southern California and the United States. Current projects include work in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, and in major cities across Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Florida.

From the job site at Villas Fashion Island