Design Calendar: Feb. 17-March 9, 2012

Soak in style and sun as you lace up your shoes with this year’s Venice Modern Home Tour at Los Angeles. Admire the architectural beauty and interiors of nine Westside homes. Learn ways to find that ideal interior layout shot from photographer David Livingston. And when winter weather gets you down, have a look at the terrarium exhibit at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden or half of a million flowers in bloom at the Dallas Arboretum. Continue reading for 5 selections of what to do and watch now.

David Duncan Livingston

WORKSHOP — Feb. 29, 2012, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Photography Workshop: Interior Vignettes on La Cienega
716 North La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles

Calling all interior photography shutterbugs! Internationally recognized interiors photographer David Duncan Livingston will direct a hands on workshop showing how to take and write better interior photographs. You’ll find out how to block out a photograph composition, how to look for the ideal light and how to operate with natural light. Through a mix of brief discussions and live demos you may remove straightforward, practical tips about item placement, photo cropping, when to use which lens, and camera angles and height will enhance your shot. Photoshop, Lightroom, meta tagging, rights and utilization issues will also be covered.

This workshop is geared to photographers of all levels — from iPhone into DSLR shooters. The workshop will begin at the Therien showroom, then move on to Hollywood at Home.

Cost: $175, such as lunch

Julius Shulman

HOME TOUR — Feb. 18, 2012, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Venice Modern Home Tour, Venice and Mar Vista, California

Go on a self-guided tour of nine architecturally progressive homes on Los Angeles’ Westside. Featuring the work of Tighe Architecture, Ortiz Mexia Projects, Carson Architects, Glen Irani and others, the tour allows you peek inside these amazing homes and come away motivated. The homes were selected by Ingrid Spencer, contributing editor for Architectural Record.

Cost: $30 advance online purchase, $40 day of; free to children 12 and younger

Jae Hi Ahn

EXHIBIT — Through Feb. 26
Terrarium
Brooklyn Botanical Garden
900 Washington Ave., Brooklyn, New York

The chilly gloom can frequently inspire indoor gardens to blossom. On display at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Steinhardt Conservatory is a imaginative exhibition pairing delicate terrariums with art installations by Brooklyn artist Jae Hi Ahn. Ahn uses easy artificial materials such as plastic tubes and wires to pay tribute to the organic forms of the natural world. Extended rows of terrariums housed in a variety of vessels exhibit unique miniature plant worlds on tables, even though some of Ahn’s advanced sculptures hang from skylights.

The backyard is available until 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday before March 11 and until 6 p.m. from March 13 to November 4; weekday entry is free.

dallasarboretum.org

TULIP SHOW — March 3-April 8, 2012
Dallas Blooms, Dallas Arboretum, 8525 Garland Rd., Dallas

For an instant mood lifter, head to the Dallas Arboretum to admire an impressive display of more than 500,000 colorful flower types, such as tulips, daffodils, Dutch iris and hyacinths, pansies, violas, poppies and tens of thousands of other spring-blooming annuals and perennials. In this flower festival, cherry blossom trees may also blossom for a 10-day period.

Whilst soaking from the blooming extravaganza, check out the exhibition Small Houses of Great Artists, built and created by Bob Hoebeke of Hoebeke Builders and other Dallas architects. It will open to the general public through Dallas Blooms and will run through Dec. 31, 2012. A fine art show and sale named ArtScape will also occur in the backyard March 16-18, including the works of 100 artists from around the nation.

Joe Woolhead

LECTURE — March 6, 2012, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The Butler-VanderLinden Lecture on Architecture comprising Craig Dykers of Snøhetta
Art Institute of Chicago, Rubloff Auditorium
111 South Michigan Ave., Chicago

Join Craig Dykers, cofounder and principal of Snøhetta, for an engaging lecture highlighting his recent endeavors. Dykers conducts an integrated architecture, landscape, and interior design practice in Oslo and New York. In recent years, the company has won international competitions for major American jobs, such as an expansion of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the redesign of Times Square, and the National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion at the site of the World Trade Center (photograph ). Dykers is a fellow of the Institute for Urban Design in New York.

Cost: $5 students, $10 A&D members, $15 public. Register online here.

More 2012 design occasions: Feb. 4-24, Feb. 6-Mar. 2, 2012

What’s on your calendar? Let us know in the Comments!

See related