Santa Monica City Gallery: Case Study: Adapt

“Case Study: Adapt”
On view April 10 – September 19, 2026; Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 11am-5pm.

In response to 2025’s devastating wildfires, ten architecture firms designed homes for sixteen families affected by the fires in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena communities. This exhibit features architectural models created by students at USC School of Architecture in collaboration with the Case Study: Adapt architects.

In 1945, John Entenza’s Arts & Architecture magazine launched the Case Study House (CSH) Program, challenging modernist architects to imagine a new way of living for postwar Los Angeles. They responded with experimental structures of glass and steel, capturing the optimism and innovative spirit of a city inventing its own future. The participating architects not only helped define the language of California modernism, but many— including Pierre Koenig, Calvin Straub, Summer Spaulding, Craig Ellwood, Conrad Buff, Donald Hensman, and Richard Neutra— also reinforced it through their teaching at the USC School of Architecture.

Eight decades later, Case Study: Adapt (CSA) continues where the original program left off. The initiative unites ten Los Angeles–based architecture firms to explore how design can meet the challenges of a changing climate and prove that homes can be as resilient as they are beautiful. This exhibition— featuring floor plans, renderings, and student-constructed models— offers an early glimpse into the post-fire modern home. Each example is identified by a house number and the surname of its commissioning client.

Case Study: Adapt (CSA) Project Co-Founders: Dustin Bramell, Leo Seigal

Architecture firms: Assembledge+, Bestor Architecture, EYRC Architects, Johnston Marklee, Marmol Radziner, Montalba Architects, Standard Architecture, Walker Workshop, Woods + Dangaran, von Oeyen Architects

Model creation: Kara Blask, Isabelle Bolotin, Vivien Boudette, Sihan Chen, Suylen De La Rosa, Chance Herd, Gauthier Muteba, Erik Paxtor-Miranda, Rosa Smith, Daniel Ungar

CSA exhibit team: Jenn Burke, Manqi Jian, Kate Ma

Project Partners: IBHS, Charles & Ray Eames Foundation, The Resiliency Company

Exhibition Curator: Geoffrey von Oeyen, Associate Professor of Practice, USC Architecture

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The city of Santa Monica’s first municipal art gallery makes its home at Bergamot Station Arts Center and showcases group exhibits of local art and design and works from the city’s collection.

Santa Monica City Gallery is located at 2525 Michigan Ave, Suite F2, Santa Monica CA 90404. Parking available onsite. BBB: Lines 5, 16, & 43, stopping at Olympic and 26th St. The City Gallery is steps away from the Metro 26th Street station SW pedestrian entrance to Bergamot Arts Center – take the train!