Events this Weekend: 3.18-21

If you're wondering who the next great architects will be, all you need to do is step inside the gallery at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles this spring to find out. Opening Friday, London Eight is an exhibition curated by British architect and founding member of Archigram Peter Cook. To create the show, Cook asked five architects currently teaching at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London to each select a protege whom they had taught. London Eight features the work of each protege next to work by the nominating architect. Just as Cook's work with Archigram offered a glimpse into the future of design in the 1960s, this exhibit, on view through May 16, 2010, does the same.

Looking back, a new exhibit opening at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany, on March 20, The Essence of Things: Design and the Art of Reduction, focuses on modern iconics of the 20th and 21st centuries and the principles that guided their timeless designs. Furniture from the likes of Gerrit Rietveld, Le Corbusier, Charles and Ray Eames, Dieter Rams, and Jasper Morrison will be on display surrounded by images of the important architecture, fashion, and art at the times of their conceptions. The exhibition will be on display through September 19, 2010.

Also opening on Saturday is the first solo U.S. exhibition by Dutch designer and Droog founder Tejo Remy and his design partner Rene Veenhuizen at the Industry Gallery in Washington, DC. The exhibit, titled Hands On in reference to Remy and Veenhuizen's design process, features new work as well as public and private commissions from the past decade in a far-reaching range of materials--from concrete to bamboo to recycled tennis balls to old woolen blankets. The show will be on view through May 8, 2010.

Last but not least, if you're game for a drive through Southern California on Saturday, meet up with former Dwell senior editor and BLDGBLOG author Geoff Manaugh for a road trip to California City, an abandoned suburb 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The adventure takes place on Obscura Day, an "international celebration of curious places happening around the world on March 20, 2010", and is an exploration of this strange expanse of paved streets in the middle of the dusty desert.

Know of a great modern art, architecture, or design exhibition or event that should be added to our online calendar? Submit your suggestions here.