Lectures Archives – Page 2 of 2 – Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara

At the Edge of Empire: The Ancient Roman Temple Complex at Baalbek, Lebanon

JOIN US AS WE WELCOME BACK DR. ALLAN LANGDALE!

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is thrilled to welcome back art historian, Allan Langdale for a talk called “At the Edge of Empire: The Ancient Roman Temple Complex at Baalbek, Lebanon.” This talk will be held via Zoom on Thursday, May 28, from 7:00 – 8:00 PM. Click the flyer to be directed to the meeting room. All are welcome.

In the first century CE, in a city then known as Heliopolis, ‘City of the Sun’, a vast religious complex was constructed. A monumental statement of Roman power at the eastern edges of the Empire, the temple complex at Baalbek is the greatest architectural assertion of Roman might ever undertake.

Consisting of two enormous temples, the Temple of Jupiter and the Temple of Bacchus, the site became the center of a cult of Greco-Roman gods at the very moment those same deities were being challenged by the emergence of new religions such as Mithraism and Christianity. Join Allan Langdale and the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara for a lecture on this amazing site and its impressive two-thousand-year-old structures.

Allan Langdale has given several annual lectures for the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara. He has his PhD in art history from UCSB and currently teaches at UC Santa Cruz. He also works in the tourism industry for Smithsonian Journeys and Zegrahm Expeditions, doing about a dozen trips a year. Allan is the author of several articles and books, including Palermo: Travels in the City of Happiness (2014) and The Hippodrome of Istanbul / Constantinople (2020). His travel blog can be found at ‘Allan’s Art and Architecture Worlds’: https://allansartworlds.sites.ucsc.edu/

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND: “Our Lutah” brings Lutah Maria Riggs to Life

AFSB is proud to present an expanded version of last year’s Lutah Maria Riggs Monologue, written by Terre Ouwehand, in collaboration with Drama Dogs, a theater company.

Saturday, August 10, from 4 – 6 PM

This year is a fundraising event for one of our scholarships aptly named after Lutah Maria Riggs. Every year we partner with the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara to award scholarships to selected Santa Barbara County students which exemplifies how we continue our mission of educating the public on the built environment by supporting students continuing their education in architecture and related fields through our Scholarship Programs.

The Hippodrome of Constantinople: The Art and Architecture of Chariot Racing in the Ancient World

A lecture by Dr. Allan Langdale, Art & Architecture Historian

Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara Gallery

July 25, 2019, 6:00 – 8:00 PM

When people think of ancient entertainment, they often think of the Colosseum and its gladiatorial contests or Greco-Roman theaters with their tragedies and comedies. Yet the most popular entertainment of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, by far, was chariot racing, which took place in hippodromes. Few hippodromes–or, as the Romans called them, circuses–still survive, making them less central in our imaginations.

Join the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara for a lecture on the hippodrome of Constantinople by Dr. Allan Langdale, who will take us on a tour of hippodromes throughout the Romano-Byzantine world, with a focus on the hippodrome of the capital city of the Byzantine Eastern Empire, today known as Istanbul. The hippodrome in Istanbul is the only hippodrome that has some of its monuments still standing in situ, and each tells a fascinating story of the history of Constantinople and of the emperors, charioteers, and racing fans.

450 Years of Cuban Architecture in 45 Minutes

A Lecture by Brent Winebrenner, Photographer

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Reception 6-7 pm / Lecture 7-8 pm

Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara

The Cuba that we know lies beneath a crumbling facade, the silent victim of the relentless family feud between the Castro brothers and the aging exiles in Miami’s Little Havana. While true that most of Cuba’s architectural heritage is in irreparable ruins, there are priceless treasures that have been lovingly maintained, often hidden from even the most observant visitor’s eye.

Join Brent Winebrenner for an entertaining and enlightening survey of Cuba’s architectural heritage. Along the way, he’ll provide an overview of the social, economic, physical and political forces that shaped the continually evolving Cuban architectural trends – from the early colonial period until May 1, 1961, the day that Fidel stopped time and declared Cuba a socialist state.

Modernist Inventions of the Brazilian Baroque

Thursday, July 19, 2018, Reception 5-6 pm / Lecture 6-7 pm
229 E. Victoria Street.

This talk explores how the “Brazilian Baroque” was reinvented by leading intellectuals and architects in mid-twentieth century Brazil as a forerunner of a national modernist architectural idiom. We will see some of the most important late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Baroque churches, and consider how these buildings, during the Getúlio Vargas dictatorship, served to support nationalist politics through the construction of a “Brazilian” architectural lineage. In the process, Baroque architecture and sculpture in Brazil, particularly the works of “Aleijadinho” [Antônio Francisco Lisboa] (1730/8-1814) with the works of leading modernist architects and planners, such as Oscar Niemeyer (1907-1912) and Lúcio Costa (1902-1998).

There is a suggested donation of $10.00 to attend the lecture. There are 32 seats available for the lecture. Tickets will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis via Eventbrite, at the door, or by calling 805-965-6307.

“Gehry’s Gambit: the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao” A lecture by Dr. Allan Langdale, Art & Architecture Historian

“Gehry’s Gambit: the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao”

A lecture by Dr. Allan Langdale, Art & Architecture Historian

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Reception 6:00-7:00pm / Presentation 7:00-8:00pm

Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara

229 East Victoria Street, Santa Barbara, CA

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to announce a lecture by historian Dr. Allan Langdale. Dr. Langdale will present an illustrated talk entitled “Guggenheim Bilbao.” There is a suggested donation of $10.00 to attend the lecture. There are 32 seats available for the lecture. Tickets will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis via Eventbrite.com, at the door, or by calling 805-965-6307.

Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is one of the key monuments of recent architecture. Built in the final years of the 20th century, its revolutionary form presaged the 21st. This lecture presents the building as expressive of the concept of ‘gestural architecture’ and examines the building in its role as a destination piece, placing a previously unknown port town squarely on the map as a cultural center.

Allan Langdale is an art and architectural historian, filmmaker, photographer, and travel writer who received his Ph.D. in art history from UC Santa Barbara. Allan has taught courses in Italian Renaissance art, Byzantine art, East Indian art, and Islamic art and currently teaches art history at UC Santa Cruz and film studies at UC Santa Barbara. His travel blog can be found at ‘Allan’s Art and Architecture Worlds’: https://allansartworlds.sites.ucsc.edu/

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is located at the historic Acheson House at 229 E. Victoria Street. The primary entrance on Garden Street is ramp accessible.

Category: Lectures