Architects launch project to preserve historic California

on Wednesday,February 11,2009 20:02

An architectural firm is working to preserve the urban heritage of the Inland Empire.

Edifice Architect''s Modern Heritage Project is an initiative designed to celebrate modern design within the Southeastern Californian region and preserve it from destruction.

Under its auspices, the architects will identify and preserve mid-century commercial and residential buildings. The firm has also asked the public to participate in the project.

"Someone needs to champion and support these structures," says Edifice co-founder Hirohito Kuroki. "Modern architecture is a part of Southern California; it showed the optimistic spirit of the designers of that era experimenting with new forms and materials and methods of construction."

And his colleague Ignacio Sardinas adds that it is shameful that significant examples of mid-century design can currently be legally destroyed in many cities of the region.

Edifice Architects has won numerous historic preservation awards over the past decade, including a 2007 Design Excellence Award for the restoration of the modernist Sangsland Residence in Claremont, California.

The Inland Empire is a traditional name for the urban regions in Southeast California around Riverside and San Bernardino counties first established in late the 19th century. The name was coined in the 1950s to distinguish the region from the coastal communities of the Los Angeles area.