Recognition Due

Quite a buildup is underway for a major retrospective of the work of Smith and Williams. It's part of an ongoing series, Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., which celebrates the city's modern architectural heritage through exhibitions and programs at arts institutions in and around L.A. starting in April 2013. Supported by grants from the Getty Foundation, Modern Architecture in L.A. is a wide-ranging look at the postwar built environment of the city as a whole, from its famous residential architecture to its vast freeway infrastructure.

UC Santa Barbara is presenting, as part of the Pacific Standard Time Presents series, an exhibition of the work of Smith and Williams. Outside In: the Architecture of Smith and Williams. This collaboration, initiated by the Getty, brings together several local arts institutions for a wide-ranging look at the postwar built environment of the city as a whole, from its famous residential architecture to its vast freeway network, revealing the city’s development and ongoing impact in new ways.

For a brief preview of the upcoming exhibition at UC Santa Barbara and links to the Smith & Williams bibliography and a video of a Shelly Kappe interview of Smith, see John Crosse's "Outside In: The Architecture of Smith and Williams, UC-Santa Barbara Art Museum, April 13 - June 16, 2013 and "Smith & Williams: An Annotated Bibliography".

Debi Howell-Ardila will include an essay on Smith & Williams in the exhibition catalogue. Whitney Smith actually attended USC just as modern reforms were being launched - along with Cal Straub, Conrad Buff, Don Hensman, Pierre Koenig and many other notable architects of the modern period.