AIA|LA Legislative Day at City Hall: Connecting Architects & Designers with Civic Leadership

Historically, AIA|LA’s premier annual advocacy event has been our annual Legislative Day at City Hall, which began in 1999 when Michael Lehrer, FAIA was President-elect of AIA Los Angeles. With greater emphasis going towards promoting initiatives that highlight best-practices and underscore AIA|LA’s core values of inclusion, mobility, social equity, housing affordability and resilience, and as a direct result of our recent strategic planning process, we are revitalizing this important day at City Hall to make it as inclusive as possible for all AIA members to participate.

The primary objective of AIA|LA Legislative Day at City Hall is to highlight the leadership of the architecture & design profession, as well as, to help advance planning and land-use goals, zoning and building code innovations, urban design guidelines and other regulatory concerns that impact the built and natural environment of the Los Angeles region, including ensuring that we are able to build more housing opportunities for all Angelenos while preventing further displacement.

AIA|LA Legislative Day at City Hall will also serve as a way to celebrate programs and strategies that are working well to ensure that neighborhoods are complete communities with a well-balanced housing-to-jobs ratio and integrated with a diversity of incomes and cultures.

Please read the AIA|LA Advocacy Platform online here <

2018 AIA|LA Legislative Day will include meetings with:

• Mike Feuer – City Attorney, City of Los Angeles
• Paul Krekorian – Councilmember, District 2, City of Los Angeles
• Bob Blumenfeld – Councilmember, District 3, City of Los Angeles
• Mitch O’Farrell – Councilmember, District 13, City of Los Angeles
• Gil Cedillo – Councilmember, District 1, City of Los Angeles
• Ana Guerrero – Chief of Staff, Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti
• Michel R. Moore – Chief of Police, Los Angeles Police Department
• Vince Bertoni, AICP – Director of Planning, City of Los Angeles
• Seleta Reynolds – General Manager, Los Angeles Department of Transportation
• Krista Kline – Director of Land Use & Planning, Office of Councilmember Mike Bonin
• Alison Becker, AICP – Senior Advisor, Office of Councilmember Joe Buscaino
• Office of Herb Wesson – President of the Los Angeles City Council, City of Los Angeles
• Barbara Romero – Deputy Mayor, Mayor’s Office of City Services
• Brenda Shockley – Deputy Mayor, Economic Opportunity, Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti
• Amanda Daflos – Director, Innovation Team, Mayor’s Office of Budget and Innovation
• Jan Perry – General Manager, Economic and Workforce Development Department, City of Los Angeles
• Michael A. Shull – General Manager, Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks
• Frank M. Bush – General Manager, Superintendent of Building, Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety
• Grace Liu – General Manager, Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, City of Los Angeles
• Ron Galperin – Controller, City of Los Angeles
• Sharon Tso – Chief Legislative Analyst, City of Los Angeles
• Richard H. Llewellyn, Jr. – City Administrative Officer, City of Los Angeles
• Mike Davis – Commissioner, Board of Public Works, City of Los Angeles
• Joel F. Jacinto – Commissioner, Board of Public Works, City of Los Angeles
• Gary Lee Moore, PE, ENV SP – City Engineer, Bureau of Engineering, Department of Public Works
• and many more meetings to be announced ASAP.

Strategic objectives include:

• To change the nature of the architecture profession and inspire architects to become more civically engaged, i.e., to be a designer and a citizen are one and the same.
• To change the culture of our City and our civic leadership: architects and system-wide design-thinking needs to become a more integral aspect of their mental landscape.

We aim to achieve this by creating:

1. An open and inclusive initiative that is strategically programmed with relevant and progressive action-items and policy platforms, which will further connect the shared values of of a multi-disciplinary group of architects, urban designer, city planners and policymakers to help make a healthier, more beautiful and more highly functional Los Angeles region.
2. A committed group of task-force member volunteers (Political Outreach Committee) comprised of architects that establish an annual slate of issue briefs and policy recommendations.
3. Targeted meetings with council members, deputy mayors, general managers and commissioners. We aim to schedule the critical mass of these meetings on one day (November 15, 2018) at Los Angeles City Hall. However, additional meetings will be coordinated through-out the year with more public agencies throughout the region, such as METRO, Los Angeles County, LAUSD and the cities of Culver City, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Inglewood, Beverly Hills, etc.

Will you join us?
To be successful, AIA|LA Legislative Day at City Hall will rely on a committed group of AIA members to serve as a critical leadership resource. If you’re interested in getting more involved, please RSVP below. Before November 15th, we will organize a roundtable discussion on November 8 (5PM) in Downtown LA to share our annual advocacy platform and bring everyone up to speed on how to best prepare for our annual Legislative Day at City Hall.

To discover which City Council District you live in, check online HERE.

Please note:  this is an exclusive opportunity for AIA members, AIA Associates and AIA Allied Affiliated Members.  If you’d like to join the AIA, then please CLICK HERE for more details.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Will Wright

The Leadership of the AIA|LA Political Outreach Committee:

• 2018 Chair: Douglas Hanson, AIA, ASID – President, Hanson LA
• Past-Chair: D. Rocky Rockefeller, AIA – Senior Partner, Rockefeller Kempel Architects
• Vice-Chair/Chair-elect: Open to 2018/2019 AIA Members

Douglas Hanson, AIA, ASID – President, Hanson LA

Douglas Hanson is a Los Angeles based architect who has worked with some of the world’s leading architectural firms designing major cultural, commercial, and residential projects in Asia, Europe and North America. With over three decades of professional experience, Hanson launched his eponymous firm, HansonLA, in 2010.

Early in his career at Skidmore Owings and Merrill, Hanson collaborated on major European projects from design through construction. In Barcelona, Hanson managed Vila Olimpica, a collaboration between SOM and Frank O. Gehry & Associates. Hanson then joined Frank O. Gehry & Associates in 1992 as a Senior Associate and Project Architect for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. He worked closely with the Guggenheim Foundation and the local Basque developer as the project took shape. Hanson then had the opportunity to collaborate with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop on the California Academy of Sciences. In 2004, Hanson became principal at DeStefano & Partners, and led the Los Angeles office in designing and building a number of cultural, commercial, and residential projects. In Hanson’s current role as President of HansonLA, he is the Design Principal on various residential and commercial projects, and the Master Plan Architect for City Market of Los Angeles, a 10 acre, mixed-use development in the Fashion District, and the Mail Order District, located in Boyle Heights.

Hanson’s commitment to the arts is evidenced by HansonLA’s Support DTLA Arts campaign. Proceeds from merchandise sales go to non-profit organizations; Heidi Duckler Dance Theater, City Ballet of Los Angeles, District Gallery, and Arts for LA. Hanson has served as an AIA|LA board member since his nomination in 2015. He was also recently nominated to become a part of the leadership group for AIA’s Knowledge Community—The Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art, and Architecture. Hanson remains an active member of the NDSU alumni with a seat on the Advisory Board for NDSU’s Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Hanson has also spoken on multiple panels.

D. Rocky Rockefeller, AIA – Senior Partner, Rockefeller Kempel Architects

Rocky Rockefeller, AIA, has been practicing architecture for 38 years, building a base of knowledge and expertise that spans the creative demands of the design process to the technical and managerial requisites for construction and business. Prior to establishing Rockefeller Kempel Architects, Mr. Rockefeller was Managing Partner at Rockefeller / Hricak, an award winning design firm in Los Angeles from 1981 to 2002. Rocky has a varied repertoire ranging from sophisticated and refined residential estates to the complex and challenging engineering requirements of a critical service telecommunications facility. He has coordinated and managed teams of consultants and design professionals using his forward thinking and highly touted “cradle to grave” project management approach that provides for seeing projects from conception through construction and beyond. One of the firm’s major areas of focus has always been the design of residential estates.

Upon graduation from Lakewood High School, in 1971, Rocky began an apprenticeship for the Case Study firm, Killingsworth, Brady & Associates, first as an office boy and soon thereafter as a draftsman. He assisted on custom residential, hospitality and mixed-used projects, all while attending Long Beach City College at night. He received an Associate of Science degree in Construction Technology from LBCC in 1974. Shortly thereafter, with the strong support and assistance by his mentor, Ed Killingsworth, FAIA, Rocky was accepted to Cal Poly’s School of Architecture in San Luis Obispo, where he eventually received a Bachelor of Science in 1979.

Rocky is also a well-respected member of the architectural and academic community. For nearly 30 years he has taught at UCLA and at Cal Poly Pomona’s Interior Architecture Masters Degree Programs. A registered architect in California since 1984, and is an active member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Institute of Architecture where he currently serves on the Board of Directors as the AIA|LA Representative for AIA California Council. His dedication to the community is firmly in place as he has served on several Los Angeles City Commissions and is currently a Board appointed Member of the LA StreetCar, Inc. Rocky is CEO and President of Rockefeller Kempel Architects, headquartered in the Smoky Hollow neighborhood of El Segundo, California. He resides in Hermosa Beach with his wife, Amy, of 29 years. They enjoy scuba diving, travel, sailing and hiking in the high sierras.

For more information, please contact:

Will Wright, Hon. AIA|LA
Director, Government & Public Affairs
American Institute of Architects | Los Angeles Chapter
3780 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 701
Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213) 639-0764
will[@aialosangeles.org