“It started with the de Young,” say many San Francisco architects. The city, which will host the 2009 AIA National Convention, has seen a space of high-profile projects in recent years. We highlight four projects—by Libeskind, Piano, SOM, and Tod Williams Billie Tsien—in this month’s portfolio. We also take a look at Bay Area housing.

Plus, view past Project Portfolios, with multimedia features including videos and interactive walk-throughs, and links to the people and products behind the projects.

Pictured: California Academy of Sciences; Photo © Tim Griffith

An international mix of firms established strong identities for these new restaurants, located in challenging urban sites. Each project’s design plays with the architectural, historical, and geographic context of its settings.

Pictured: The Grove/ Photo © Eric Laignel

Quarterly Lighting Section: Designed to evoke a particular aura—or many—each of these hospitality venues is defined by its lighting scheme. All share a similar program whereby a blank palette of surfaces becomes a canvas on which electrically generated light “paints” color and pattern, creating ambience in the deliberately spare environs.

Plus much more in our lighting archive.

Pictured: FUEL Café at Chesapeake; Photo © Hedrich Blessing/Scott McDonald

Record Interiors 2008: Our annual survey of remarkable interiors includes 14 projects for which materials matter: A downtown Milwaukee bar by Johnsen Schmaling Architects, a minimalist Beijing restaurant by CL3, one of Tokyo’s latest Bathing Ape (BAPE) boutiques by Wonderwall, and a list of other projects that pair striking details with impeccable execution.

Pictured: The Shoe Box, flagship store for chic Pedder Red shoes; Photo © Steve Mok

Engineering News-Record, RECORD’s sister publication, recently published a special feature on “Progressive Project Delivery,” including an opinion piece observing that “Architects Move Belatedly to the Light” and another column, “Could Big Change Happen here?” that warns: “new methods of project acquisition [in Britain]… should send shudders down the spines of American architects and engineers.”