Archtoberfest offers lectures, tours on architecture

Archtoberfest, San Diego’s month-long architecture and design festival, kicked off last week with more than 65 tours, exhibitions, lectures and street fairs in this third annual edition.

“It’s not just about architecture,” said Bastiaan Bouma, executive director of the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects that coordinates the event.

“It’s about how architecture works to elevate the community, to enrich the community. It’s not just a bunch of specimen buildings you look at. It’s how buildings work in the community.”

The program has added community organizations in Barrio Logan, North Park, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach as partners, brought in eight higher-education institutions with design curricula and helped organize a retrospective at various venues on San Diego’s early 20th century modernist architect, Irving J. Gill.

“We’re not just looking for architecture,” Bouma said, “we’re looking for a bigger sense of how design, planning, sustainability and community development work together to create a more successful community.”

A full calendar is available at archtoberfest.com. Here are some highlights:

San Diego Design Film Festival: “Design Disrupters” on corporate approaches to design, Thursday, Oct. 6, and “Design Maverick” on William F. Cody’s modernist work in Palm Springs, Oct. 20, sddesignff.tix.com.

Awards: Orchids & Onions awards program, Oct. 13, at the Spreckels Theatre,orchidsandonions.org; AIA Design Awards, Oct. 27, at the Scripps Research Institute auditorium, aiasandiego.org.

Tours: Barrio Logan Community Committee art crawl, Saturday, Oct. 8, mwsteele.com; San Diego Modern Architecture + Design Society modern home tour, Oct. 15, mads.media; Signature Flight support facility tour, Oct. 18, sdasandiego.org; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego tour of Tijuana architecture and design scene, Oct. 21, mcasd.org; American Society of Interior Designers interior excursion, Oct. 22,asidsandiego.org; Design Institute of San Diego campus tour, Oct. 22, disd.edu.

Lectures: Woodbury School of Architecture, Petra Blaise on Oct. 10, Karen Lewis on Oct. 21 and Mason White on Oct. 28, architecture.woodbury.edu; “Masters of a Generation,” Tom Kundig, Oct. 14, adjoinsd.org; Friends of San Diego Architecture, Rob Quigley, Oct. 15, friendsofsdarch.com; NewSchool of Architecture and Design, Billie Tsien on Oct. 19, newschoolarch.edu.

Exhibition, talks, tours on Irving J. Gill: “Illustrating New Architecture,” La Jolla Historical Society, lajollahistory.org; “New Architecture for a Great Country,” San Diego History Center, sandiegohistory.org; “A Comfortable Fit,” Oceanside Museum of Art,oma-online.org; “Coronado Refined,” Coronado Historical Association,coronadohistory.org; “Progress and Poetry in Architecture,” Save Our Heritage Organisation, sohosandiego.org; “Stones in the Meadow,” Barona Cultural Center and Museum, baronamuseum.com; “Simplicity and Reform,” UC Santa Barbara,museum.ucsb.edu; “The Iannellisin California,” La Jolla Athenaeum, ljathenaeum.org; “The Chicago School” symposium, La Jolla Woman’s Club, Oct. 20, eventbrite.com. “Romance and Honesty,” Bishop’s School, bishops.com. Tours and lectures also are planned at various sites, irvingjgill.org.