San Francisco is ramping up for its seventh annual Architecture and the City Festival, hosted by AIA San Francisco and Center for Architecture + Design. The nation's largest architecture festival, with more than 20,000 participants annually, the event will be held September 1-30.

The month-long celebration of architecture will feature a variety of tours, workshops, exhibitions, lectures, family programs, and other events that aim to honor the unique architectural environment of San Francisco. It welcomes individuals, design firms, companies, and cultural institutions to embrace their own contribution to architecture, as well as its role in their lives.

The 2010 festival theme is "Investigating Urban Metabolisms," an image drawn from the quote: "For even as your brain, nerves, heart, lungs, and stomach are hidden from view, so it is with the city," (Harry Granick, “Underneath New York,” 1947). The theme intends to "take an in-depth look at hidden and emergent systems that generate form, movement, growth, and entropy in the city," according to the festival’s Web site, and seeks to explore the hidden systems that underlie a city: information, ecological, transportation, surveillance, life cycles, etc.

Again this year, the festival will continue to examine the community impact of architecture and will highlight efforts toward sustainability, as well as at information systems, ecological systems, building systems, transportation systems, surveillance systems, life cycle systems, natural systems, and more.

"This year's festival promises several new and exciting ways to engage in conversation about our city. The theme Investigating Urban Metabolisms explores the notion of the city as a living, breathing organism that is as multi-layered, intricate, and in flux as the human body," says festival curator Erin Cullerton. "Our hope is that it encourages all of us to look at our city anew, appreciating with fresh eyes the urban metabolisms so central to this place we call home."

Events kick off with an Opening Night party on Aug. 27, where architects, designers, and design enthusiasts will mingle and view “Site Preview,” a photo exhibition by local photographer Emily Hagopian that will showcase artistic interpretations of the local sites featured during the festival.

A weekly Wednesday film series will feature architectural videos, such as “The Last Wright,” which tells the story of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie-style design for The Park Inn in Mason City, Iowa, and connects the edifice to the historical ebb and flow of the American century. The number of offered lectures include an eco-minded panel centered on The Caterpillar Residence, the first structure named LEED Platinum for Custom Homes on the Central Coast, and the Los Angeles REDCAR Colloquium on the topic of “Rethinking Transportation: A Strategy for Integrating the System with the Person.”

Some particularly unique and exciting events include city tours. “The Port Walk: An Eating Tour” follows the San Francisco waterfront and looks at the restaurant architecture of converted pier buildings while showcasing the talents of distinguished chefs. Walking and biking tours include “San Francisco Living: Home Tours,” which allows participants a privileged indoors glimpse at the city's latest well-designed residences.

Scavenger hunts enliven the schedule and prove that architecture and design can be universal. Families are welcomed to participate in the iSpy Architecture: Photo Scavenger Hunt, competing together to photograph local architectural spaces. (Other family events include a children's design contest.) Adults will also get their turn with the Scavetecture digital scavenger hunt, a multimedia design tour, and scavenger hunt for a cash prize.

The fun-filled events will conclude with a Closing Night event and party at GOOD Design Bay Area.

Mayor Gavin Newsom officially proclaimed September as "Architecture and the City" month in honor of the festival.