XX|LA Architects Podcast

XX|LA Architects Podcast

Show featuring Los Angeles’ leading women in architecture and discussing relevant issues in the profession

Episodes

December 1, 2022 76 mins
I’m bringing you a set of mini-stories that were taped live at the AWA 100th Building Our Legacy event on September 10, 2022 at the HenryBuilt showroom in LA’s art district. This event not only celebrated AWA+D’s 100 year anniversary, but also focused on how we can preserve the legacies of women in architecture—especially our own legacies. As we know, too often women’s work was historically unrecognized, erased, and forgotten, and ...
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This special episode is released in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Association for Women in Architecture and Design.  In today’s episode, I’m joined by Barbara Elwood, who served three terms as madame president of AWA+D (which was then named AWA-LA) in 1960, 1962, and 1996.  Barbara enrolled in USC Architecture’s Industrial Design program in 1952, and by the end of her first semester, was the only woman in her class. ...
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Today’s episode is going to be a little bit of a different one, because the roles are reversed! Annie Chu of Chu+Gooding Architects, who is featured in Episode 31, graciously offered to interview me for this episode. I am an architect and president of Sato Architects, Inc., a podcast host, and past president of the Association for Women in Architecture + Design (AWA+D). I previously taught architecture at Cal Poly Pomona, my alm...
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Karin Liljegren is founder and principal of Omgivning, an architecture and interior design firm whose practice is rooted in a love for the extraordinary urban fabric of downtown Los Angeles. Karin is an architect and interior designer, and founded Omgivning in 2009, just as the recession was threatening to halt downtown’s resurgence. To date, she and her staff have worked on almost 350 projects in Los Angeles, seeking to restore ...
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Today's guests are Tracy Stone, principle of Tracy A Stone Architect, and designer Abbi Naylor. Tracy is the founder of The Elysian Valley Arts Collective, a 501c3 non-profit that manages the biennial Frogtown Artwalk, and supports a variety of programming to the youth and neighbors of Elysian Valley. Tracy received a BA from Cornell University and a Masters in Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin. She spent f...
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Eera Babtiwale is Vice President of Sustainability at HMC Architects, a mother of 3, a board member of Designing Futures Foundation, Chair of USGBC-Inland Empire, and an active member with USGBC-Los Angeles. Eera was nominated to be a guest on the show by her co-worker, Lance Hosey. Even though I had never met Eera, as I started researching in order to prepare for our interview, I realized that we had a lot of really awesome peop...
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Annie Chu is an architect, interior designer, educator, and a founding principal of the award-winning firm Chu+Gooding Architects.  Annie is an alumnus of Sci-Arc and Columbia, and trained for 11 years with Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects in New York and Frank Israel in Beverly Hills before starting her own practice in 1996.  Chu+Gooding Architects works on projects of many scales, from design of objects to residential homes, ...
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After a pandemic-induced break, it's a pleasure to kick off new episodes of the podcast with guest Lise Bornstein, architect and partner at KFA Architecture.  I feel like this interview is long-overdue, because Lise is someone who I have a ton of respect for, and feel lucky to call a mentor and a friend.  Lise graduated from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture and received her Mas...
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Helena Arahuete started working for John Lautner in 1971 and rose to the role of Chief Architect in his office.  She continues today as Principal of Lautner Associates, most recently completing the restoration of the Bob and Dolores Hope House in Palm Springs.  This is a very unique two-part episode featuring conversations with Helena Arahuete.  I first met Helena at Palm Springs Modernism Week in February.  Part 1 is an edite...
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Kishani DeSilva has worked in the architecture and design industries for over twenty years in the project and major program management arena. Prior to her current appointment in local government, she worked as a management consultant following her time as a project manager at Foster + Partners in London. Her current work as an Executive Advisor with the executive office of the Los Angeles County Development Authority focuses on hom...
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Christina Monti, owner of CDM Consulting, started her career in landscape architecture after graduating from Texas A&M University. A self-proclaimed non-designer (I don't quite buy that she "stinks" at design), Christina became an expert in marketing and business development. In this episode, we discuss the skills needed for being good at business development. Spoiler alert--they are skills, and can be worked on and learned! ...
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This episode is a live recording from Sci-Arc graduate thesis Spin Room, with student (now graduate) Yi Ning Lui, her advisor Kristy Balliet of BairBalliet, and distinguished alumnus Barbara Bestor of Bestor Architecture. In this episode we talk about the experience of the thesis project from the student and the advisor/practitioner perspective. You can watch the video recording from this conversation through Sci-Arc’s vimeo ...
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This episode features financial planner Renee Cohen, and guests Harper Halprin of AAHA Studio and Luciana Tagliaferri of Tagliaferri Architects, in a candid discussion about financial planning for small business owners and architects. We discuss topics like the entrepreneur mindset, business and personal finances, outsourcing, forecasting, growth, diversification, retirement and financial freedom, insurance and protection, and the...
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Emmanuelle Bourlier is the co-founder and CEO of Panelite, as well as a mother and skater. Emmanuelle co-founded Panelite while in grad school at Columbia University 21 years ago. From its inception, Panelite was so innovative that it was used in a project by Moneo Brock that landed on the cover of the Spanish edition of Interior Design magazine. From there, Panelite was quickly sought after by elite firms like Diller Scofidio+R...
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This episode features Elena Manferdini, the recipient of the ICON award at the 2019 LA Design Festival. This interview was recorded at the event at Row DTLA. Elena is the Graduate Chair at Sci-Arc and principal of Atelier Manferdini. Elena’s striking exuberance, charisma, and rigor is completely evident in her work, which ranges in scale from product design, to graphic facades and entire buildings. Her process often incorporate...
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Helena Jubany, FAIA has a real knack for developing leaders, as well as a sharp business acumen. Helena’s 30 year career specializing in education and public sector architecture included 17 years of building her own practice, prior to mergers with NAC Architecture and Osborne. Loyal listeners will remember my interview with Leslie Sydnor in Episode 15, where Leslie spoke incredibly highly of Helena as her mentor. In fact, I was ...
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What I admire about Rachel Allen is the pragmatic, intelligent, and unapologetically hard-working ethos that she brings to her work.  As founding principal of RADAR (Rachel Allen Development Architecture Research Inc.), her success relies upon her ability to understand the viewpoints of people she's working with in order to communicate effectively and harness the strengths of her team.  The pay off of RADAR's hard work is evident i...
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In episode 20, we're putting the "LA" in XX|LA by speaking with an architect who is also a film maker!  Mina Chow is an architect and professor at the USC School of Architecture. She is also the director, producer, and star of the documentary "Face of a Nation: What Happened to the World's Fair?"  The film is about Mina's journey as an idealistic architect and daughter of immigrants, as she discovers why America abandoned World's ...
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I'm fascinated by architects who work in interdisciplinary and collaborative ways, and my latest guests bridge architecture and dance in a fascinating way!  In this episode, I speak with Rennie Tang and Sara Wookey, the artists and creators behind Punt.Point.  Punt.Point was commissioned by the Van Abbe Museum in 2013 and acquired for their permanent collection in 2018.  Rennie and Sara are practitioners who come from architecture ...
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Irma Ramirez is a professor in the architecture department and director of the China Study Abroad program at Cal Poly Pomona. Her accolades include the NCARB Grand Prize, National Lynton Citation for Distinguished Engaged Scholarship for the Habitat 21 Sustainable Settlements Project in Tijuana with Corazon, and awards from the American Planning Association and American Institute of Certified Planners and Environmental Design Resea...
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