Rediscover the City: Northern California Modernism presented by Pierluigi Serraino

California Modernism is a vast post-war project largely credited to the architects based in Southern California. However, to this day, too many people fail to acknowledge that Northern California played a critical role in the mythology of Modern Architecture on the West Coast. This vast inventory of landmarks is, as a result, a built heritage in risk of extinction. Through the reading of a number of under the radar built designs, the lecture will focus on the legacy of Northern California Modernism. Join us as we learn why this period is still so relevant today and why it is worthwhile to study and preserve it.
 
Speaker: Pierluigi Serraino

Pierluigi Serraino holds multiple professional and research degrees from the School of Architecture of the University of Rome, "La Sapienza", the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and the University of California Los Angeles. He pursued doctoral studies at the University of California Berkeley in architectural theory. An Italian native, Pierluigi moved to California in 1994 and after three years in Los Angeles settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he owns a small design practice. He is the author of several books, including Modernism Rediscovered (Taschen, 2000) and NorCalMod (Chronicle Books, 2006). Forthcoming publications are extensive essays in "Solid States: Concrete in Transition" edited by Michael Bell and Craig Buckely (Princeton Architectural Press, Nov 2010) and "California Houses of Gordon Drake" forward by Glenn Murcutt (William Stout Publishers, Nov 2010)