Amplifying Voices thru Education

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Amplifying Voices thru Education

Organizers:
AIA|LA J.E.D.I Committee

SoCal NOMA

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AIA|LA | Latinos in Architecture (LiA) ‘s mission is to promote and connect the Latino design professionals in Los Angeles through outreach, professional development, education, and community engagement and to become an open resource for Latino architects, the architectural profession, and the community at large about issues impacting the Latino community.

As part of the celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we present this panel discussion, Amplifying Voices thru Education. We focus on local Latino Voices that have engaged vigorously in our profession’s education. This conversation will explore the diverse backgrounds, communities, and organizations our panelists represent and highlight their work, igniting changes in education, design, and architecture.

How can innovation in education help to include marginalized voices in our profession? The panel will discuss issues of representation around culture, race, language, and gender. How do educational institutions, as organizations and physical spaces, create unique opportunities around a sense of belonging and social justice in the Latino community? Can education be the platform that supports and connects us to resolve our current social issues? How does Latino culture influence architecture’s response to educational justice matters?

Moderator:

Karla Grijalva, Associate Principal NAC

Karla Grijalva is an Architect and an Associate Principal at NAC, based in Los Angeles. She has over 28 years of experience, focusing on civic, educational, and healthcare project types. She is especially interested in sustainability and interior environments and believes that design should be human-centric, driven by the stories of people who use the spaces. Karla’s recently completed and notable projects include The Lotus, an interim housing project on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, as well as the Reentry Opportunity Center, a one-stop facility to assist probation clients. These facilities serve Los Angeles County’s most vulnerable population and create the environments necessary to aid each person who uses them. Karla holds a Masters of Science in the Built Environment, Energy Efficiency and Climate Responsive Architecture from Arizona State University and a Bachelor degree in Architecture from Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey.

Panelist:

Eduardo Perez, Asosciate Professor California State University Long Beach

Associate Professor Eduardo Perez is a tenured professor and has been teaching at CSULB since 2007 and is Owner of LAVA Design Studio, an interdisciplinary design studio located in the South Bay. His professional experience includes positions at Rothenberg Sawasy Architects, Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, HNTB Sports and Entertainment, The Jerde Partnership International, Studio X Architects and Guess?, Inc. He has been involved in many different building typologies and scales with project locations varying the continental United States, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Mr. Perez was previously an adjunct faculty member of East Los Angeles College and El Camino College Department of Architecture and is a visiting design critic at numerous southland colleges and universities. Mr. Perez is Faculty Member In Charge of the CSULB IIDA Campus Center.

Marcela Oliva, Los Angeles Tradet Technology College

For 10 years, she was the Knowledge Architect for the 9 billion Building Program at Los Angeles Community College District. She envisioned and implemented the largest Virtualization BIM/GIS System in the nation following National Intelligence Standards.

She is a Professor of Architecture and Environmental Design at LATTC and founder of UCLA Extension Courses: Transforming Community and Design for Social Justice.

At NASA’s Knowledge Management, she was a principal investigator for the Cyber-Physical Systems National Science Foundation Grant, and is a recipient of the California Governor’s Award in Geospatial Technologies and National Park Services. Presenter for the California Higher Education Sustainable Landscape and serves as a founder and member of multiple organization; STEAM, PANDO Populus, ENCOUNTER LA and UrbanRiver LAbs

She presents at forums that encompass education, STEAM, technology, innovation, and social justice: USC “Building Information Modeling, for Executives”, International AIA, Caixa Barcelona “Focus the Nation”, Eureka International Mexico City, “IBCon Intelligent High Performance Building”, “International Open Government Data Conference” by the U.S. GSA, Data.gov, the World Bank Open Data Initiative, and the White House.

She is the USC recipient of the Alpha Rho Chi Medal and she was awarded 2012 Educator of the Year.

Her integrated model using STEAM was identified as a catalyst solution for Higher Education by Climate Neutral Campus Report, UNCF (United Negro College Fund) Building Green and the Kresge Foundation.

In London 2016, she was the winner for “Government Innovation” International Bentley Systems

In 2018, the LATTC Architecture Program was awarded National Park Grant and her students won 1st place at JUNK Battle PANDO POPULOUS Design Competition.

Currently she is lead for Mayor’s Garcetti Workforce Initiative for the Green New Deal for the AEC Industry Cluster -Careers by Design LA.

B.Arch from USC and M.Arch/Building Science Degree from Columbia University New York. Harvard GSD edX Architecture Imagination Certificate

Cynthia Gomez, Senior Student at Cal State Long Beach

Cynthia Gomez is a first generation DACA student in pursuit of a BFA in Interior Design degree. She was born in Mexico, but raised in the U.S. In her own words: “Even though society has never viewed me as Mexican American, I feel that I am both. Growing up I used to always keep my cultural side hidden because of the fear of being judged or ridiculed, but now it’s something that I truly embrace because I’ve come to realize that it is a part of my identity. It makes me proud to represent my culture and it gives me the strength to keep going to achieve my goals. I’m currently attending my last school year and I have already achieved much more than I had originally planned. I’ve had the privilege of working with a residential firm where I assisted the principal designers create functional and aesthetically pleasing spaces, and now I’m working with the Planning and Sustainability Department for CSULB, where I will have the honor of helping create a better place to study and work. I’m constantly looking for ways to grow, not only as a designer, but as a person of color.”