Shane Reiner-Roth

We can’t wait around for a spark, Mike Davis always seemed to be saying.

“We’re not cake decorators,” he intoned from his seated position while showcasing his Orange County Museum of Art, a swoopy concoction with half-baked detailing that opened last October—mostly to negative reviews.

What should aspiring architects take away from a lecture on fetishistic sand piles?

At an LA book launch, taco-wielding attendees mingled against a backdrop of protest banners and DIY “Catholic prayer candles for architecture.”

Which side of the Whole Earth Catalog—green capitalism or hippie modernism—was Jaque on?

“Mike rejected pessimism as political fatalism in favor of the optimism necessary for organization.”

Three projects unburdened by the frictions of reality…