Somehow it's all architecture and design - architectural exhibition, auction, and sandcastle competition in San Francisco

Sunset, June, 1988

Somehow it's all architecture and design

Going on this month in San Francisco There are many ways to shape a space; events this month and next show that it can be done with sand, paint, furniture, a glass facade. It's all architecture and design, and it's all on view in San Francisco--at two exhibitions, a sandcastle competition, and an auction. Through June: New headquarters of the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects, on the sixth floor of the Hallidie Building (130 Sutter Street, across from the Crocker Galleria), presents drawings by the building's architect, Willis Polk, famous for designs throughout the city. Hours are 9 to 5 weekdays. Through July 5: Limn Gallery (457 Pacific Avenue) and Limn Annex (821 Sansome Street) present "Nouveau Style Francais," an exhibition of almost 200 pieces of French furniture dating from the 1920s to the present. Hours are 9:30 to 5:30 weekdays, 11 to 5:30 Saturdays. Sunday, June 12: The beach at Aquatic Park is the site of the fifth annual LEAP Architects' Sandcastle Competition, sponsored by Learning through Education in the Arts Project. From low tide (around 10 A.M.), more than 20 architectural firms compete in such highfalutin' categories as Best Recognizable Monument and Best Urban Design. Judging begins around 1. Friday, June 17: Rincon Center (Mission and Second streets) hosts an auction and sale of architectural artifacts to benefit the Foundation for San Francisco's Architectural Heritage. Bidding begins at 7:30 P.M., in the dramatic multistoried atrium of a new complex carved out of the old Rincon Annex Post Office. More than 100 items will be sold, including turn-of-the-century redwood paneling, plaster rosettes from the Fairmont Hotel, and windows from the old City of Paris department store. From 5:30 on, all will be on view in the original mural-wrapped post-office lobby. Admission is $25 in advance, $30 at the door.

PHOTO : Fanciful faceted turrets emerge from sand in architects' competition at the beach at San

PHOTO : Francisco's Aquatic Park

PHOTO : A menage of chairs by French designers is unpacked in preparation for architectural

PHOTO : furniture shows at Limn Gallery and Limn Gallery Annex

PHOTO : Willis Polk's 1917 Hallidie Building houses new A.I.A. offices, which open with a show of

PHOTO : Polk's drawings. Facade is one of the first glass curtain walls

PHOTO : Mural depicting California business (with banker A.W. Clausen at center) wraps around

PHOTO : lofty, just-opened atrium at Rincon Center, site of architectural auction