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.
Save the Date
The Center for Architecture + Design in collaboration with AIASF hosts its inaugural 2023 Indigenous Architecture Forum: Finding Pathways to Regeneration. This one-day event at the new Center includes presentations, panels, and exhibitions exploring a wide range of topics about Indigenous placemaking in the Bay Area, California, and North America. The Forum will explore themes such as the contemporary Native American experience in a historical context; Rural to Urban migration — the Urban Indian experience; Indigenous cultural heritage along the San Francisco Bay waterfront — lessons from the Presidio and Alcatraz; as well, integrating Indigenous learning into contemporary practice, showcasing examples from Mexico, Canada, and New Zealand. More information coming soon!
Architecture + the City Festival
The 20th Annual Architecture + the City Festival continues to offer behind-the-scenes programs, tours, lectures, film presentations, and more that provide an excellent opportunity for all communities to experience architecture and design in a myriad of ways throughout the city. 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.
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.
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 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.
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.