Teen Orchestrates Exhibit of Miniature Buildings, Based on Beloved Places Burned in the Palisades Fire
By Laurel Busby
Miniature buildings featured in Rebuilding Memory: Dioramas of the Palisades. Photos: Courtesy of Doug Suisman
News & Information Editor
Pieces of Pacific Palisades have been resurrected in miniature in a new exhibit at Emeco House in Venice.
Running through June 20, the exhibit, Rebuilding Memory: Dioramas of the Palisades, is the brainchild of 17-year-old Palisadian Luca Dal Bello, who sought to help friends and neighbors preserve their town memories through handcrafted models of destroyed buildings made in collaboration with Japanese artists and families, according to the project website.
Dal Bello’s home on Chautauqua survived last year’s fire, but many homes and businesses that he cherished did not. The resulting loss of his community, which had become precious to him after he moved to the Palisades from New York City at five years old, was something he wanted to address with the exhibit.
“Rebuilding Memory began as a way for me to process what was lost in the Palisades fire,” Dal Bello wrote on his website. “But it’s become much more, a tribute to the places and people that shaped me: Palisades, Altadena, and Japan. Because home isn’t just where we live. It’s what we build, together.”
The exhibit includes more than 50 scale models of homes, schools, churches, restaurants, and other buildings, such as Will Rogers Ranch House, the United Methodist Church, the Pierson Playhouse, and both Palisades and St. Matthews elementary schools. In addition, a digital gallery of residents’ photos of varied structures have been collected to create a visual record of the Palisades.
Dal Ballo drew on his Japanese heritage, which taught him “how to observe, preserve, and create” and also exposed him to diorama miniature art, according to his website. He spent part of his childhood in Tokyo, where he learned about detail and care in artistry, and he also discovered 3D printing and design at the ATAM makerspace formerly located at 881 Alma Real Dr.
To create the exhibit, Dal Bello traveled to Japan to commission miniature artists, including the architecture model maker Yamato Kougei and miniature food artist Fukumaruko.
Luca Dal Bello speaking at the May 30 opening.
“The project is both archival and participatory: students, families, and displaced residents are invited to contribute oral histories, photographs, miniature figures, and personal memories that become part of a growing public record,” Dal Bello said on his website. “Together, these works form a living archive that preserves not only physical places, but the emotional landscape of community life for future generations.”
On June 4 from 6-8 p.m., Emeco House will hold a special event called Pali-Altadena Collective: Rebuilding Memory that will include remarks by Dal Bello, the collective’s founder. In addition, UCLA architecture Prof. Hitoshi Abe and Emeco House owner Gregg Buchbinder will discuss the role of architecture in shaping community recovery after disasters. The evening will also feature Home for Humanity, a collaborative research and design initiative presented by Dal Bello’s brother, Kai.
Buchbinder’s daughter, Jaye, who lives in East Rustic and works at Emeco House, has also been instrumental in organizing the exhibit.
The Canyon Alliance Board Member Doug Suisman attended the exhibit opening on May 30 and “was blown away by the quality of the exhibit, in substance and feeling.”
Suisman said, “It’s clear that from Luca’s inspired initial concept, he was able to coordinate an impressive and diverse team—fellow students, exhibition designers, architects, photographers, printers, Japanese model makers—and execute the idea with a stunning level of care, detail and professionalism. The show is both elegant and emotional at the same time.”
