Programs
The Center for Architecture + Design hosts annual programs spanning a range of topics in the architecture and multi-disciplinary design space. Programs include forums, tours, youth programs, film screenings, authors showcases and more that provide diverse opportunities for people of all ages to discover the power of design to improve the quality of life.
Upcoming
Spring 2024 Exhibition
ON VIEW: MARCH 25 – MAY 3
LECTURE + BOOK SIGNING: THURSDAY, MARCH 28 | 6:00 – 8:00 PM
San Miguel de Allende: the soul of Mexico | Cathi and Steven House
Join us at the Center for a lively conversation with Cathi and Steven House featuring their newest book, San Miguel de Allende: the soul of Mexico. In 1988 a seemingly orchestrated series of events led Cathi and Steven to the Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende. After several amazing visits to San Miguel, they bought a little ruin in the historic center and built a home to be a retreat, an escape from their normal lives to a place they love where they are surrounded by their own art and books, where they can work on projects not distracted by the world normally embracing them. Building their home led people to them and they have now designed more than forty homes in Mexico. Working there has added deep, profound dimensions they never imagined – to their work and to their lives.
Signature Programs
Architecture + the City Festival
Since 2003, we have worked to enrich these core events and have collaborated with countless design and community partners, firms, and organizations to further creative ideas and advance the conversation surrounding our local built environment, to celebrate accomplishments, and together work towards building a more sustainable future. Through these program partnerships, we have worked to bring together leading minds from around the world to share and exchange ideas as well as promote the innovation and forward-thinking that defines the San Francisco Bay Area.
Community Alliance Awards
Since 2015, the Center for Architecture + Design and AIA San Francisco’s Community Alliance Awards has honored 100+ individuals, firms, and organizations whose overall work, leadership, and dedication has shaped the character and vibrancy of our communities and the future of our built environment.
In addition to the annual awards program, our ongoing Community Spotlight and Community Builders Series recognizes the contributions of an array of extraordinary individuals and organizations for their service to the community and to the profession. Their continued efforts to engage, educate, collaborate, and advocate elevates the value of design and its impact on the experiences of our daily lives.
Stay tuned for more info on the 2024 Community Alliance Awards!
Exhibitions
Gallery Exhibitions showcase unique local and international perspectives where architecture meets at the intersection of art. These exhibitions are complemented by programs that provide a space for engaging conversations with thought-leaders, innovators, and multi-disciplinary designers.
Youth Programs
Extending AIA San Francisco’s legacy of investing in emerging designers, the Center’s K-12 programs will launch family-friendly tours, after-school and summer programs, enrichment programs, and more in 2022.
With your support, the Center can expand to offer youth programs that nurture design thinking, collaboration, creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking.
Tours
Led by a corps of local architects, native San Franciscans, and veteran tour docents, the Center’s walking tours offer attendees a variety of perspectives that provide a deeper appreciation of the City’s historic narratives, as well as an opportunity to engage in dialogue about the Bay Area’s most distinctive neighborhoods, architecture, and urban spaces.
Fresh Brew
Fresh Brew is a series of online morning conversations covering a variety of topics about all things architecture and design. Fresh Brew provides the general public and industry professionals with engaging dialogue and a space for inspiration. Stay tuned for in-person Fresh Brew programs coming soon!
Design Lecture Series
The Design Lecture Series provides ongoing design conversations within a variety of practice areas. The talks feature internationally renowned architects, multi-disciplinary designers, and theorists representing diverse design fields from architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture, to industrial and product design, and more.