What is Andalusian Architecture? w/Stephen Olson

What does it mean to call something Andalusian? This lecture, slide show, and movie moves through landscapes of light and shadow, where water, stone, plaster, and color shape spaces meant to be felt as much as seen. Across centuries of cultural exchange, architecture becomes a record of memory — layered, altered, and carried forward. Images from a journey through southern Spain reveal recurring gestures: courtyards that hold quiet, surfaces that catch light, details that invite pause. The result is less a style than an atmosphere — an enduring language of place that continues to echo across time. Rather than a single style, Andalusian architecture emerges as a continuum of cultural memory, adaptation, and reinterpretation across time.

This event is free to Casa del Herrero Members (reservation required), or $85 for non-members.

About The Speaker:

Stephen Olson, founder of Olson Architects, obtained a degree in Architecture from Kent State University in Ohio with a semester abroad in Florence Italy. He has been licensed in the field since 1990. Olson Architects is an architectural and design studio based in Santa Barbara, CA with a distinguished residential and commercial portfolio. Stephen has also been an active member on the Board of the MOCA Contemporaries, and an intern for the Board of Trustees for the Salvation Army – Los Angeles. Today, Olson prides himself in designing original high-end residential and commercial architecture.