REVITALIZING LA'S AGING BOULEVARDS
It's Time for a Fresh Perspective
Speaker Bios
Marcelo Spina, P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S, Architect AIA [Rosario, Argentina, 1970]
Marcelo Spina is an Argentinean-American Architect and Educator. Along with Georgina Huljich, he is a partner in Los Angeles-based PATTERNS, which he founded in 2002 as a speculative platform to explore an increasingly global design culture. The firm brings a progressive approach to projects and buildings across scales, agendas and geographies, insisting on the cultural and social relevance of architectural form, contemporary aesthetics and emerging technologies.
As a licensed architect in Argentina and in the United States, Mr. Spina has more than twenty years of experience designing and executing distinctive buildings worldwide, gaining a reputation as one of the most innovative architects in contemporary design culture. He received his BArch from the National University of Rosario, Argentina and a M.Arch from Columbia University, New York. Mr. Spina is a Design Faculty at Southern California Institute of Architecture [SCI-Arc] since 200. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Yale, Syracuse, Pennsylvania, Harvard, Berkeley, Innsbruck, and Di Tella among others. PATTERNS’s built and unbuilt work has received many important awards including Local and National AIA awards, American Architecture Award, Young Architect of the Year, Architectural League’s Emerging Voices and the prestigious USA Artists Fellowship, an endowment that recognizes America’s most accomplished and innovative artists.
Spina’s work has been widely published and exhibited worldwide, most notably at the Venice Biennale, The Chicago Biennial, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, The Art Institute of Chicago, The San Francisco MOMA and The MAK Museum in Vienna, where is also part of the permanent collection. He is the Co-Author of Embedded [ACDCU, 2010], Co-Editor of Material Beyond Materials [SCI-Arc 2012] and Co-Curator of Matters of Sensation at Artists Space [2008]. His forthcoming book Mute Icons and other Dichotomies of the Real in Architecture [ACTAR] will be released to the public in Summer 2020.
Mr. Spina is the author of ‘Material Beyond Materials: Composite Tectonics, by SCI-Arc Press, the co-author ‘PATTERNS: Embedded’, PATTERNS first monograph published in 2010 by Shanghai based ACDCU and the forthcoming ‘Mute Icons & other Dichotomies of the Real in Architecture’, by ACTAR Press, Barcelona
Deborah Murphy, Associate AIA
Deborah serves as an Urban Design/Active Transportation Planning and Grant Preparation consultant to public agencies and non-profit organizations. Deborah has assisted with the successful award of over $160 million in grant funds in the past ten years for new parks and open space and pedestrian, bicycle and transit improvements in the Los Angeles area. She is widely recognized for her leadership and vision in community consensus building, comprehensive city and active transportation planning, streetscape design and pedestrian safety issues. In her efforts to make Los Angeles more walkable and for safe streets for all users, she founded Los Angeles Walks in 1998, the leading pedestrian advocacy group in Los Angeles, is Chair of the City’s Pedestrian Advisory Committee and serves on the Leadership Committee of the Los Angeles Vision Zero Alliance.
Doug Fitzsimmons, Former President, South Robertson Neighborhoods Council
Doug Fitzsimmons served for five terms as President of the South Robertson Neighborhoods Council. During that time, he rebuilt the Board into one of the City’s most successful, innovative, and effective Councils.
The centerpiece of his public service was securing a $2 million LA Great Streets grant for Robertson Blvd. to revitalize a major, but economically depressed, thoroughfare after two decades of frustrated local effort. The initial built Phase I improvements to the street were the result of extensive community input and debate: thousands of residents participated in surveys, design sessions, town halls, and community events. Additional planned phases will follow as funds become available.
Doug also served as Chair of the Westside Regional Alliance of Councils and on numerous City committees. He is a partner and Creative Director at Dolphin Group, a Los Angeles public affairs and marketing firm.
Daniel Skolnick, Senior Planning Deputy, LA County 5th District
Daniel is the Senior Planning Deputy for Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz of the 5th District. He’s passionate about using his knowledge and experience to help communities reach their land-use objective.
He has 12 years of urban planning experience. Previously employed by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, he worked in the Office of Zoning Administration, Development Services, Policy, and Project Planning. He also served as a Planning Deputy to the 3rd and 6th council districts. Before entering government service, Daniel worked in real estate lending, brokerage, and property management.
Hakeem Parke-Davis, Planning Deputy, LA County 10th District
Hakeem Parke-Davis is the Planning Deputy in the CD-10 office of newly-elected Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, focused on housing production and economic development. Hakeem was a planner in the City of Los Angeles Planning Department, and has volunteered for 10 years with the Southern California chapter of the National Organization for Minority Architects' (NOMA) summer camp initiative to develop a pipeline for young students of color to study architecture, engineering, planning and interior design.
Also Featuring
Gaurav Srivastava, Instructor, UCLA Luskin School's Urban Planning, and Senior Urban Design Project Manager, Dudek
Presentation Group 1: Noy Ramon, Paola Tirado Escareño, and Michael Van Gorder
Presentation Group 2: Ryan Caro, Irene Farr, Alexander Murray, Alejandro Gonzalez
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