Building LA

Randall Winston is the Deputy Mayor of Infrastructure for the City of Los Angeles. His portfolio covers everything in the public right of way, including street services, engineering, street lighting, sanitation, and transportation. Randall is currently doing something no one in his role has done before: building the city's first comprehensive, multi-year capital improvement plan. Randall and I go...

Alan Pullman founded Studio One Eleven 25 years ago with a theory that ran against how most architecture firms operated: that the most important work in urban environments was not designing the next signature building, but the space in-between. His firm embraces the messiness of cities and finds opportunities in spaces large and small. At the core of every Studio One Eleven project is a dedication...

Leon Rost is a Partner at Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the firm behind some of the most talked-about projects in architecture today. He leads BIG's Los Angeles office, which opened three years ago in a 1928 Paul Williams building in Santa Monica. Before that, he spent 12 years running major West Coast and international projects, including Google's next-generation campus in Mountain View and Toyota's...

In Los Angeles, the ground floor is often where the identity of a neighborhood is established. In this episode, I sit down with Giancarlo Pagani, founder of Pagani Hospitality and Managing Partner of Mother Wolf Group, to discuss the mechanics of hospitality and his approach to creating local institutions that build community. Giancarlo is a second-generation LA restaurateur, practically growing u...

Few architects ever achieve name recognition among the general public; fewer still become local heroes in northern English cities. Dan Meis, Managing/Design Partner at MEIS+ and SVP, Director of Global Sports Design at AECOM, is the exception. In this episode, I sit down with him to discuss the vision behind the new Everton football stadium and the unique challenge of designing venues that define...

For most real estate professionals, using AI might look like asking ChatGPT to tidy up grammar on an email, but that’s just scratching the surface of what’s possible. Jake Heller, co-founder of AI for CRE Collective , argues that the true utility of these tools lies in automating tedious tasks, freeing up valuable resources to build relationships and strategies that actually get deals across the f...

Downtown LA generates 30% of the city's business, parking, and transient occupancy tax revenues despite occupying just 1% of its land mass. Despite this, the neighborhood faces serious challenges: office vacancy rates have risen significantly, major convention bookings have been turned away for a decade, and the graffiti-covered Oceanwide towers remain a stark symbol of neglect. In this conversati...

Can LA still build things that serve everyday people? Chris Torres and Eli Lipmen think so, and their Festival Trail project is putting that belief to the test. Festival Trail is a bold 28-mile mobility and culture corridor connecting neighborhoods from Downtown through Inglewood. Chris, founder of Agency Artifact, brings urban design expertise, while Eli, Executive Director of Move LA, has a trac...

Most architects spend their careers talking to other architects. Vishaan Chakrabarti, FAIA took a different path, and it's made him one of the most influential voices in urban planning today. From his role as Manhattan Director of Planning under Mayor Bloomberg to founding Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), Vishaan has spent decades working across scales. His non-linear career path has...

Governor Newsom recently signed a significant rollback to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), creating a new statutory exemption for urban infill housing projects, effective immediately. Spencer Kallick, a land use attorney who's guided everyone from Blackstone to AvalonBay through California's regulatory maze, breaks down what this actually means for developers reassessing their pipe...

What's holding LA back from reaching its potential? Jessica Lall, Managing Director of CBRE's DTLA office, and Carl Muhlstein, a veteran LA commercial real estate advisor, have a few ideas. When Jessica ran for mayor in 2021, she discovered the harsh reality that candidates often spend more time fundraising than working on policy. Carl has witnessed the same cycle of problems for decades. Both see...

Building LA is back for season two with a fresh lineup of stories about the forces shaping the city from the ground up. This season, we're looking at how Los Angeles is being remade by architects and planners, developers and public officials, and what those changes say about where the city is headed. Each episode dives into the big ideas transforming LA's physical fabric and the people behind the...

In today's post-pandemic world, we're presented with many new opportunities to think about and shape our workplaces. With over 7000 team members globally, Gensler leads the way with its innovative approach to workplace design and strategy that prioritizes collaboration and community. In this episode, I talk with Michael White, Gensler's principal and managing director of the LA office, and Sarah K...

In this episode I sit down with Frances Anderton and David Kersh for a discussion about affordable housing and their new initiative, Awesome and Affordable. Many Los Angeles residents have misconceptions, or even prejudices, towards affordable housing and there is a broad misunderstanding about the process to create affordable housing in this city. Their initiative aims to untangle some of these i...

In this episode, I'm joined by Robert Hale FAIA, Partner at RIOS. We talk about his career and two of his latest studio projects – Echelon Studios in Hollywood and the Sony Pictures Scenic Arts Building in Culver City. During our conversation, we discuss Robert's experience working with Frank Gehry, the future of LA's architectural and studio landscape, and what's next for the development of produ...

Today, I’m joined by Marcelo Spina and Georgina Huljich, the co-founders of Patterns, to discuss their latest project – The Victory Wellness Center in North Hollywood. The project involves the conversion of a former supermarket building originally built in the 1940s, into a contemporary medical office building. In our conversation, we dive into the how they approached the existing building, the ch...

Today, I’m joined by John K Chan, AIA the Co-Founder and Design Director at Formation Association, to discuss how to create a great retail experience, as exemplified by his firm’s design of the Atwater Canyon retail development. We also take a trip outside of the recording studio to explore the project on-site with the owner and developer Myles Rogg, Head of Acquisitions and Development at Rogg Pa...

In this episode, I speak with Babak Ziai, the Founder and Managing Principal at BrandView, Inc. His commercial real estate investment management firm focuses on acquiring underutilized properties in exceptional locations and transforming them into high-performing mixed-use developments. Today, we discuss BrandView's investment strategy, their creative approach to optimizing the value of properties...

In this episode, I am joined by Oliver Evans, the CEO and co-founder of The Kinn – a membership club and workspace in LA that caters to socially conscious entrepreneurs. The Kinn is a beautiful, light-filled space which fosters a community of like-minded individuals committed to personal and professional growth. Today, we discuss Oliver’s transition into entrepreneurship, why he created The Kinn,...

In this episode we get out of town for the weekend and go to Mammoth to discuss The Limelight Hotel Mammoth with the Managing Director of WATG's LA office, Monica Cuervo. We dive into the company's rich history and its role in designing 5-star resorts across the globe. WATG was founded in Honolulu in 1945 and is now renowned for pioneering hospitality tourism and modern luxury travel experiences....

Not many people can write professional skateboarder, brewery owner, real estate investor and city councilmember on their resume, but my guest Mikey Taylor can. Mikey is the President of Commune Capital, a private equity real estate investment firm with a focus on multifamily and storage assets in California. Born and raised in Southern California, he resides in Thousand Oaks with his wife and daug...

Welcome to the first episode of 2024! Today, I'm interviewing Kristi Paulson, a partner at Behnisch Architekten, about their mission to promote sustainability in architecture. Behnisch was founded in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1989 and expanded to Los Angeles in 1999. They are known for pushing the boundaries of design and incorporating sustainability, passive systems, and environmentally friendly mat...

Today, I had the pleasure of talking about one of the most unique and special aspects of Los Angeles – the food. Joining me in the conversation is David Kuo, the founder of Fatty Mart, and Catherine Johnson, the architect behind the project and Founding Partner of the firm Design, Bitches. This episode is truly a testament to how talented people can combine architecture, hospitality, food, and com...

In this episode I am joined by Mark Zajdzinski AIA, DBIA, a Principal at SmithGroup, to discuss the award-winning California Institute of Technology's Chen Neuroscience Research Building in Pasadena. The building is on the corner of Wilson and Del Mar and serves as an administrative hub for the Division of Biology and Bioengineering with research disciplines focused on brain development and treatm...

Today, I'm joined by Patricia Rhee, FAIA, DBIA, a partner at Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects (EYRC), to discuss The Culver Steps project. The once underutilized triangular site in Culver City was transformed into an open-air gathering place for the community with fully leased creative office and retail space. In our conversation, we dive into the challenges faced during the design process, th...