Frank Gehry has exploded the landscape of modern architecture, transforming it from a conventional science into a sublime and majestic form of art. Rebelling against the status quo, Gehry's struggle to create the impossible has resulted in such contemporary masterpieces as the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the stunning Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

Bringing the outdoors in is essential to midcentury modern architecture, as author Beth Dunlop shows in her book Gardens for Modern Houses: Design Inspiration for Home Landscapes (Rizzoli, 2025). Join SAH/SCC for an inside look at the importance of modern landscape designs with the author.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.