Never Built California: The shadow landscapes of Los Angeles and San Francisco

Join Never Built LA co-curators Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin and John King, Urban Design Critic of the San Francisco Chronicle and an instigator of Unbuilt San Francisco. The trio will discuss how these provocative exhibitions came to be, and explore what the failed buildings and plans of the past might offer as we grapple with the cities of tomorrow.

The conversation occurs against the backdrop of two ongoing and unprecedented surveys of the alternate realities of California's two largest metropolitan regions. Never Built: Los Angeles is a compendium of projects that only saw the drawing board, a century of visionary works that had the greatest potential to reshape the city -- a reluctant city whose institutions and infrastructure have often undermined inventive, challenging urban schemes.

The five-venue Unbuilt San Francisco exhibition delves into the world of what-if from a variety of perspectives, from alternate designs for such landmarks as City Hall to neighborhood plans and roadways blocked by community activists. Also on view: works by today's architects prodding society to confront challenges such as sea level rise.

This event is presented by the Architecture and Design Museum Los Angeles and the California Historical Society.