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SFMOMA: Paul Klee + Ray Johnson: TYPOFACTURE
At SFMOMA through Summer 2026
Writing functions not only as language, but also as a visual and even tactile form. Famed artist and educator Josef Albers imparted this idea to his students at Black Mountain College, a former liberal arts school in North Carolina, where artist Ray Johnson studied from 1945 to 1948. In an exercise called “typofacture,” Albers asked students in his design course to create drawings mimicking printed or handwritten text. After observing textures on surfaces — like speckles on a wall or patterns in a raked garden path — they applied the concept to printed text, which bears the imprint of its production, whether by hand or machine. This activity left a lasting impression on Johnson, a future collage and correspondence artist, whose works (like Paul Klee’s) frequently combine text and representations.
![Architectural Photography 101: Capture Modernism with Your Phone or Camera [Online Class]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c806e5734c4e2faa1db54c9/5c70a77a-334f-44cd-91d7-288a297e3583/Marin+Civic+Center+-+Josh+Weinberg.jpg)
Architectural Photography 101: Capture Modernism with Your Phone or Camera [Online Class]
Join photographer Josh Weinberg, San Francisco-based urban photographer, photo educator, and tour guide, for a dynamic 60-minute Zoom workshop on how to see—and capture—architecture more powerfully through your lens.
Free Tour: Architecture of the Oakland Museum of California
Sunday, April 5, 1-3:30 PM | The 1969 Oakland Museum of California, famous for its terraced roof gardens, is one of the Town's modernist, civic gems. Join Docomomo NoCa board members on April's "OMCA Architecture Walk & Talk" tour, 1-2 PM, free, no registration required, to learn more about the ground-breaking design led by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates and the Office of Dan Kiley. Directly after, we'll meet in the OMCA Garden to talk all things Docomomo and peruse a smattering of books, reports, and documents on the museum & mid-century visions and development of the surrounding Lake Merritt estuary. Visit the OMCA website for tour details.
![Roger Lee Home Tour: Modernism for the Masses [Walking Tour - Rerun] SOLD OUT Visit Eventbrite to join wait list](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c806e5734c4e2faa1db54c9/1714438000899-WYIUQRW17QBAYSNWWZVM/Roger+Lee.jpeg)
Roger Lee Home Tour: Modernism for the Masses [Walking Tour - Rerun] SOLD OUT Visit Eventbrite to join wait list
Join Docomomo US/NOCA on a walking tour to explore the legacy of Roger Y. Lee, a prolific and acclaimed – yet currently underrecognized – architect whose name and work should be synonymous with the development of Second Bay Region Tradition design and Mid-Century Modernism in California.
![Warnecke’s 1963 New Formalist Vision: College of San Mateo [Waking Tour]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c806e5734c4e2faa1db54c9/268f9bbf-82e5-405c-9a67-8dc3644a90ca/College+of+San+Mateo+-+Josh+Weinberg-3.jpg.png)
Warnecke’s 1963 New Formalist Vision: College of San Mateo [Waking Tour]
Join Docomomo US/Northern California for a 90-minute walking tour of architect John Carl Warnecke’s 1963 College of San Mateo’s College Heights campus, led by Josh Weinberg, author of a recent feature article on the school.
The Embarcadero Plaza: Then and Now
Join filmmaker and photographer Jacob Rosenberg and historian/co-curator, and Docomomo-NOCA Board Member, Ted Barrow, PhD for a conversation on the past, present, and future of San Francisco's Embarcadero Plaza. This dialogue will be parsed through the lens of EPICENTER, the landmark exhibition chronicling the birth of modern street skateboarding at the plaza (aka EMB). Through Rosenberg’s archival photography, video, and sound, EPICENTER captures the people, style, and raw civic energy that turned a public space into a global cultural engine, one that reshaped skateboarding, image-making, and the city’s creative identity.
Roger Lee: Modernism for the Masses Multi-Unit Housing Walking Tour
Discover the overlooked brilliance of Bay Area modernist architect Roger Lee on a guided walking tour through Berkeley’s Shattuck Avenue corridor. On Saturday, November 8, join Docomomo US/NOCA for a 1.5-mile exploration of Lee’s mid-century multi-unit housing, where architecture, community, and social history intersect.
SHLTR Talks: Restoration as Innovation: Building on the Legacy of Mid-Century Masters
From Hank Schubart’s Jackson House to Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House, architect Leo Marmol’s projects reveal how restoration can be a lower-carbon, higher-impact alternative to new construction. In conversation with Zahid Sardar, Marmol will also address the consequences of preservation in cities like San Francisco.
Modern Vernacular: Asian American Architects and the Built Environment of Postwar Northern California
The exhibition features the work of six designers, all but one alums of UC Berkeley: architects Kinji Imada (1927–2005), Roger Yuen Lee, BA Architecture 1941 (1920–1981), Terry Tong, BA Architecture 1949 (1921–2016), and Worley Wong, BA Architecture 1936 (1912–1985) and landscape architects Mai Kitazawa Arbegast, MS Landscape Architecture, 1953 (1922–2012) and Casey Kawamoto, BA Landscape Architecture 1949 (1919–2010).
22nd Annual Architecture + the City Festival
At the heart of San Francisco’s design community is the Architecture + the City Festival, an annual, citywide celebration now in its 22nd year. Showcasing the city’s vibrant built environment, the festival features an inspiring lineup of tours, talks, film screenings, youth festival, and special programs including the DIALOGUES Conversation Series. Audiences are invited to explore architecture and design from multiple perspectives, fostering connection, curiosity, and creative exchange across the city.
![Sunset at a Modernist Marvel: Exclusive Tours of the Weston Havens House [House Tour]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c806e5734c4e2faa1db54c9/c5c09339-f866-4e85-92e3-9fe5cc7951a6/Havens+House+Sold+Out.png)
Sunset at a Modernist Marvel: Exclusive Tours of the Weston Havens House [House Tour]
Explore the iconic Weston Havens House by Harwell Hamilton Harris on Sunday, April 6, 2025. Choose afternoon or sunset tours with expert talks. All proceeds support urgent preservation. Book now to save this modernist masterpiece!
![Ruth Asawa: Retrospective [SF-MOMA]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c806e5734c4e2faa1db54c9/1576389598102-YQG480SLQNU2WZL50D8K/asawa.jpg)
Ruth Asawa: Retrospective [SF-MOMA]
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is set to host Ruth Asawa: Retrospective, a comprehensive exhibition honoring the groundbreaking work of artist Ruth Asawa. Opening to the general public on April 5, 2025, with member tickets already available, the exhibition promises an in-depth exploration of Asawa’s expansive artistic output, featuring over 300 artworks.
![Do Not Try to Remember: The American School of Architecture in the Bay Area [Center for Architecture + Design]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c806e5734c4e2faa1db54c9/1740253536287-9Z8N0C3YK1WAFREFGXOE/Overstreet+Residence.png)
Do Not Try to Remember: The American School of Architecture in the Bay Area [Center for Architecture + Design]
Explore the groundbreaking “American School” architects at SF’s Center for Architecture + Design. Discover how Goff & Greene’s protégés, like Agnoli & Muennig, shaped Bay Area design with radical, contextual, and uniquely American visions. Runs Feb 20 - Aug 8, 2025.
Roger Lee: Modernism for the Masses [Walking Tour]
Join Docomomo US/NOCA on a walking tour to explore the legacy of Roger Y. Lee, a prolific and acclaimed – yet currently underrecognized – architect whose name and work should be synonymous with the development of Second Bay Region Tradition design and Mid-Century Modernism in California.