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Mimi Zeiger combs SCI-Arc media archive to create lecture playlist highlighting feminist thought in design

2020-03-09T18:02:00-04:00

Los Angeles-based critic and curator Mimi Zeiger has developed Feminisms: 1974 to Now, a curated video playlist of lectures that have taken place at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) over the decades highlighting "feminist thought and dialogue" at the institution.

The playlist, dubbed a "Collection," is hosted on the newly-launched SCI-Arc Channel website, a dedicated online space that makes available videos created over the last 30 or so years from the school's lecture series, collected via the SCI-Arc Media Archive. Zeiger's Collection includes contributions from Design, Bitches, Penelope Spheeris, Dolores Hayden, Phyllis Birkby, Beatriz Colomina, Sheila da Brettaville, Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, Keller Easterling, Esther Choi, Izasjun Chinchilla, and Cecilia Fajardo-Hill.

The lectures focus on a variety of topics that stake a claim the for "feminist outlooks [that] shape our work and our world," Zeiger writes in an introduction for the collection. Ze...

Design, Bitches lead pedestrian-friendly remodel of a major shopping center in Los Angeles

2018-08-20T16:23:00-04:00

...the center, known as Runway, is being remade as a place where pedestrians will be more inclined to hang out, shop and eat — without having to dodge vehicles. After seeing the closed-off streets packed with people during farmers markets and other special events, manager DJM Capital Partners Inc. concluded that Runway’s autocentric ethos was outdated and has decided to make the ban full time, even though the center was built only three years ago in the recently developed community.

The Runway, a 220,000 square foot retail space in Los Angeles neighborhood Playa Vista, will undergo a $9.1 million renovation lead by local architect team Design, Bitches. The complex is located next to Marina Del Rey, Venice, and Santa Monica making it part of the Westside area known as "Silicon Beach". The new plan for Runway focuses on closing off the streets and creating a more pedestrian friendly space.

The Runway at Playa Vista rendering by Design, Bitches. Image: Design, Bitches.

As shopping centers face major changes to compete with online stores, these spaces are being rebranded as "lifestyle centers" focusing on public space as their main attraction. The Runway renovation is expected to be complete by early 2019.

Design, Bitches Shakes Up L.A. Architecture

2014-03-19T11:23:00-04:00

They submitted an entry for the "Architecture is" competition... The call for entries asked young architects to fill in the following sentence, "Architecture is ___." For Rudolph and Johnson, the answer to the question was a no-brainer. "Architecture is design, bitches." They earned an honorable mention, and although it was never intended as a name, Design, Bitches stuck. It has turned out to be a mission statement in two words.