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This article focuses on the involvement of Los Angeles, California-based schools of architecture in urban planning and designing. Richard Koshalek, the president of Art Center College in Pasadena, decided it was not only time for a new, more inclusive vision for the city, but for a new way of devising that vision. In 1999, he initiated a proactive, cross-institutional study to reassess the very identity of the city and propose ideas for guiding and catalyzing its transformation. Koshalek's very simple but effective idea was to use California's design and architecture schools—the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc); as well as the Art Center—as a collaborative think tank for developing constructive ideas in a city without the mechanism and will to take long strides. INSET: A Visionary's New Pulpit.

The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) has long been one of America's most vocally schools, and recently it decamped from its warehouse facility on Los Angeles's Westside to a promising former freight depot just East of downtown, next to a nascent loft district. Designating and encouraging the next generation of Southern California figures beyond that of the well-known eminences Thom Mayne and Eric Owen Moss, SCI-Arc's then director Neil Denari looked to his faculty to design the space. He selected Gary Paige, director of the undergraduate program at the time. The building, an industrial leftover in Los Angeles's sprawling rail-yard landscape, was a mixed blessing. In a complicated lease-to-buy arrangement, SCI-Arc rented the building from a developer who pursued historic nomination for the structure to obtain tax credits.

From the first day, light has been the fundamental metaphor of religious revelation and a raw material with which architects have long shaped religious space. The first rays of dawn still crack through temples in Egypt and the Druidic monoliths in Stonehenge, Divine light filters through stained-glass windows in Gothic cathedrals and hidden sources in Baroque churches. The art and mystery of light, however, often eluded Modernists because glass diffused light and decreased the sense of its rarity and specificity. Housed in an A-frame church, vintage 1954, with a dated and lugubrious interior, the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church in Encino, California, hired a local firm, Abramson Teiger Architects of Culver City, to create a more uplifting congregational space. The basic structure of the church becomes a luminous backdrop for the backlit planes, which read as silhouettes floating in space. The architects have succeeded not just in lightening the church, but in making it buoyant.

The article discusses the automobile collection of Nicola Bulgari, vice chairman of the jewelry company Bulgari. His passion for American cars is described including his collection of 50 mostly American cars housed in Allentown, Pennsylvania and 80 American cars housed in Rome, Italy. Also discussed is the social context of the automobile.

This article focuses on the architectural design made by three architectural firms for three different pool pavilions in the U.S. It includes a poolhouse in Wilton, Connecticut designed by Hariri & Hariri, a poolhouse set on an 1830 South Carolina rice plantation designed by Historical Concepts, and a poolhouse in Orinda, California designed by David Kesler. The highlights of each design are discussed.

Features the style, culture and shopping opportunities for architects in New York City. Shops famous for interior designs; Arts; Interior architectures. INSET: TRIBECA SOURCES..

Describes the houses of some architects in Los Angeles, California. Rudolph Schindler's seminal redwood-and-glass house in West Hollywood; Pierre Koenig's steel-and-glass residence in Brentwood; Lorcan O'Herlihy's use of dark concrete panels with stepped windows in his residence in Venice Beach; ]Barton Meyers' guesthouse built with structural steel and glass elements.

Describes the architecture and interior design of a Palm Beach house in Florida, by Peter Marino. Use of a collection of Southeast Asian sculpture; Location of the library and the master bedroom; Inclusion of symmetrical flights of stairs which rise from the driveway.

Features the architectural design of the cottage built in 1903 by the Borden family in Penobscot Bay, Maine. Physical description; Total number of rooms; Details on the landscape design.

Features a Modernist house in rural Connecticut. Architectural design by Peter L. Gluck and Partners; Architectural plan; Landscape design; Furniture and furnishings.

Examines the design of the Tribeca penthouse created by architect Sam Trimble in New York. Entrance to the penthouse; Gallery; Dining room.

Describes a house designed by architect Toshiko Mori for Renée Silverstein and Michael Silverstein in Florida. Design and construction of the house; Interior design of the house; Details of the materials and fixtures in the house.

Details the design of a house in San Diego, California designed by architect Wallace Cunningham. Living room; Gate that leads into the house; Dining room; Spaciousness of the house.

Features the design of architect James Estes' house in Rhode Island. Steel-frame structures; Garden; Chairs; Ceiling; Glass doors.

Focuses on the additions done by Richard Meier & Partners to a house in Los Angeles, California, owned by Gil Friesen. Description of the postwar design of the house originally created by Marc Peter Jr. in 1953; Limitations of the original house; Addition of steel railings at the stair landing and windows in the library; Furniture selection; Assistance from interior designer Laura Clayton Baker and landscape artist Pamela Burton.

Features the architectural design of an apartment in Chicago, Illinois. Names of the architects; Description of the interior design; Types of paintings and drawings hanged in the living area near the entrance hall.

Features the Turbulence House, a prefabricated structure in New Mexico. Creation of hole for ventilation; Components of the house; Use of high-technology digital drafting programs.

Features the duplex house designed by architect Ike Kligerman in New York City. Number of bedrooms; Owners of the house; Details on the architectural design.

Features the Wing House, a house in Rancho Santa Fe, California designed by Wallace E. Cunningham. Details of how Cunningham came up with the design for the house; Opportunity that Cunningham had to modify some of the house's design elements 20 years after it was built; Description of the renovation work done on the rooms, windows and flooring.

Presents several architectural designs for a housing project in Southampton, New York. Focus on modernism; List of architects; Description of the real estate property.

Focuses on the art collection of museum trustee Emily Fisher Landau displayed at the trustee's home in New York. Themes and colors preferred by Landau; Artists' works collected by Landau.

Features the high-rise building of Baruch College, a branch of the City University of New York, in Manhattan, New York City which was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. Design concept and techniques; Description of the building's exterior; Discussion on design considerations, layout and features.

Presents building designs proposed by architects to replace the World Trade Center in New York City which was destroyed by terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Design presented by Zaha Hadid of Zaha Hadid Architects; Thom Mayne of Morphosis; William Pedersen of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates.

Features three projects of Mark Wamble, principal architect of Interloop in Houston, Texas. Jones Plaza Renovation; Oak Forest Pool House; Linkwood Community Center.

Focuses on the construction of the student pavilion center for the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, by Hodgetts + Fung. Structural planning; Budget for the construction project; Features of the center.

Features the Gannett/USA Today Corporate Headquarters in McLean, Virginia designed by architects from Kohn Pederson Fox Associates. Relationship of the building with the environment; Concepts and considerations of the building design; Description of its interior design; Discussion on environmental considerations.

Describes the Milwaukee Art Museum designed by architect Santiago Calatrava. Career background of Calatrava; Design of the interior and exterior of the museum; Problems faced in the project.

Focuses on the Stealth building in Culver City, California which was designed by architect Eric Moss. Details on the transition between square elevation and triangle elevation of the building's facade; Information on its design and construction.

Presents news briefs related to architecture as of September 2001. Appointment of Anthony Vidler as dean of the School of Architecture at Cooper Union architecture school; Acquisition of the archives of architect James Sterling by the Canadian Centre for Architecture; Decision of the town council of Freeport, Maine to reject a plan to create a separate downtown for residents.

Features the two-story loft buildings at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, California, which was designed by the architectural firm Pugh + Scarpa. Description of the facade and the materials used; Layout of the interiors; Efforts to avoid the style of architect Frank O. Gehry who lives and works near the building.

Presents suggestions on developing the waterfront of New York City. Potential of the waterfront as an area for recreation; Attitude of New Yorkers toward the waterfront; Criticism on the lack of planning for developing the waterfront; Information on ferry services in the area.

Features the design and construction of the Wedgewood Holly complex in Hayden Tract, Culver City, California conceptualized by architects, Eric Owen Moss and Fred Smith. Significance of architecture to the design and construction of the complex; Strategy followed by Moss in designing the complex.

Takes a look at the interior design of Gadi and Ilene Rosenfeld's loft in Long Island, New York.

Features a vacation house in Osprey, Florida designed by architect Toshiko Mori. Structural directness of the design; Elevation of the house; Element of modernism in the architectural design.

Looks at the Milwaukee Montessori School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, renovated by the Studio Works architectural firm in Los Angeles, California. Construction cost; Building materials used; Interior and exterior features.

Presents news updates on issues related to architects and architecture as of May 1, 2000. Information on Rem Koolhaas, recipient of the 2000 Pritzker Prize Laureate; `Project for a New Guggenheim Museum in New York City' exhibition; Bid of New York City for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Describes the Lincoln Road Gateway Structure designed by Carlos Zapata of Wood and Zapata in Miami Beach, Florida. Materials used in the pavilion; Shape of the structure; Dynamism of the structure.

Offers a look at the architectural and interior design of a loft in Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles, California designed and transformed by architect Brian Murphy into a home. Description of the layout of the architectural plan; Comments from Scott Sternberg, owner of the loft.

Features the architecture of the home of Bert Berdis and Sherry Spees in Los Angeles, California, as designed by architect Brian Murphy. Selection of Murphy because of his humor; Construction of the steel roof; Entrance to the house.

Focuses on the design of the renovated New York Presbyterian Church in Queens, New York City, New York formerly the Knickerbocker Laundry Factory. Designers of the structure; Details on the facade of the building; How the architects shaped the space of the building.

Describes the design and construction of the Los Angeles Public Library at Los Feliz branch in California designed by Barton Phelps & Associates. Thickness of the building's wall; Architectures of the building; General contractor.

Assesses the Los Angeles Staples Center development project. Prospective benefit of the project; Doubts and criticisms on the project; Construction proposal for the project; Comments from John Kaliski, former Community Redevelopment Agency planner.

Features the design of vacation house in Santa Barbara County, California owned by Barton and Victoria Myers. Interior and exterior features; Ground floor plan of residence; Site plan; Construction materials used.