Architecture

This is not Barcelona. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, sponsors of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games here repeat this refrain when talking about Atlanta's efforts to organize the Games and make the city look good in the global media spotlight. Barcelona is a hard act to follow. In preparing for the '92 Olympics, the Catalonian capital commissioned many of Spain's and the world's best architects to design Olympic venues and related facilities. Atlanta did not aim so high.

The American Institute of Architects Orange County has given LPA Inc. of Irvine six of this year's 14 Design Awards for public and private projects. In the organization's 21st annual awards ceremonies, held Friday at Noguchi Gardens, LPA took one of the two Honor awards for the Tarbut V'Torah Community Day School, expected to open in Irvine in fall 1997.

There was a time when designing a church was strictly a matter between an architect and his or her maker. Now into this very private communion has come a very public concern: earthquakes. In Southern California, seismic safety regulations are beginning to have an impact on the way churches are built. "An architect can no longer say, 'This is what the church is going to look like--make it work,' " said Trailer Martin, a structural engineer with the Los Angeles firm John Martin and Associates.

Dagmar Sedlakova's discerning nose turns up at the mention of the new building on Jiraskovo Square that was co-designed by Los Angeles-based architect Frank O. Gehry. Her words are judicious, but they carry the reproach of a schoolmarm admonishing a band of truants. Disrespectful. Unsuitable. Where is the self-restraint? "Prague is changing too quickly," Sedlakova lectures from her 18th century office in the heart of this medieval city. "We risk losing the spirit of our city.

Yoshiko Hirayama has been freed from her "life as a mole." She couldn't be happier. After years of toiling in crowded department stores brightened only by artificial light, "I can smile naturally, can enjoy myself, and that is passed on to the customers," said the manager of the Cue'ss International Network boutique. Her new home opens out into the heart of Canal City Hakata, a $1.

Like other first-time visitors to Rome, my husband and I found ourselves showered with lists of imperatives from well-intentioned friends. Depending on individual biases, those lists consisted of churches, restaurants or historical monuments--all handed over with the clear implication that should we miss any, our visit would be severely diminished. Like good children, we obediently worked our way through several of those suggestions.

College credit for visiting Disneyland? It may sound like a dumb jock's dream class, but instructor Nina Lesser swears it's no Mickey Mouse course. Lesser is teaching a seminar called "Theme Parks and the Architecture of Leisure" this semester at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. The course explores the links between contemporary theme parks and utopian models of urban planning from earlier eras.

An architectural group has completed its design for a rehabilitated Old Towne and is ready to share its vision with the public. The design consortium of 10 architects and landscapers, which presented its plan to city officials earlier this week, will meet with other groups over the next six months to seek comment. The collaborative was formed several years ago to help the city set standards for state-mandated seismic retrofitting of buildings.

Plans for a $2.7-million, Asian-style pedestrian bridge spanning Bolsa Avenue moved forward this week with the City Council's vote to issue bonds. The 500-foot bridge, which is intended to increase tourism, will link the Asian Garden Mall and Asian Village, Little Saigon's main shopping areas. The city will issue 40-year bonds that will not exceed $3 million to finance the bridge.

The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to grant official landmark status to a 28-year-old Pacific Palisades house despite the panel chairwoman's earlier concerns that building might be too new for such designation. The matter had provoked much discussion about Los Angeles' role as a showcase for modern architecture.