AIA in California Presents….

Home Hardening Techniques: Fire-Resistant & Cost-Effective Rebuilding

AIA in California recognizes the immense challenges facing our city and county in the wake of the tragic and devasting wildfires that have stricken the Los Angeles County region. The swift and equitable rebuilding of homes, businesses, and public infrastructure is paramount while simultaneously ensuring the safety, resilience, and long-term sustainability of our communities.

This program will serve as an opportunity to provide architects with practical knowledge of fire-resistant building techniques and cost-effective strategies for home hardening.

Objectives:

• To review California’s Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) building codes and relevant updates.
• To detail key fire-resistant construction techniques (e.g., ember-resistant vents, non-combustible materials, and tempered glass).
• To explore cost-effective home hardening approaches for homeowners.
• To analyze case studies of fire-resilient structures and low-cost retrofit programs.

(*Virtual on Zoom.  Register below to receive the access link)

FEATURED SPEAKERS:  (12:00pm – 1:00pm)

• Frank L. Frievalt – Director, Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Institute at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
• Cameron Chorney, PE  – Associate/ Senior Engineer, RDH Los Angeles
• Nate Wittasek, P.E., C.F.E.I., LEED AP – Principal, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH)

Moderated by:

• Greg Kochanowski, AIA, ASLA – Design Principal, Practice & Founder, The Wild: A Research Lab
• Mohamed Sharif, AIA, RIBA – Partner, Sharif, Lynch: Architecture & Director, Undergraduate Program in Architectural Studies and Graduate Program Design Faculty, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design

REGISTER HERE

FEATURED SPEAKERS:

Frank L. Frievalt – Director, Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Institute at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

Chief Frievalt (ret.) has served since 1979 with Special District, City, County, State, and Federal fire agencies in roles from Firefighter to Fire Chief. He holds an M.S. from Oklahoma State University in Fire and Emergency Management Administration and currently serves as Director of the Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Institute at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Frank is an SME for the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Wildfire Advisory Council and previously served as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Western Fire Chiefs Association, with an emphasis on the development of resilient Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) communities. His work is grounded in aligning key stakeholders around a core set of parcel and community-level mitigations that will disrupt the fire pathways that lead to conflagration. He is pursuing the actuarial valuation of risk mitigations for both the public and private sectors because we share the same desired outcome, minimizing property loss to the peril of wildfire.

Cameron Chorney, PE  – Associate/ Senior Engineer, RDH Los Angeles

As an Associate and Senior Engineer, Cameron Chorney is an integral member of RDH’s building enclosure group, leading the development of RDH’s Southern California practice. He is experienced in both New Buildings projects as well as building enclosure assessments and renewals of Existing Buildings across the country. He specializes in high-performance building design, including net-zero construction, wildfire-resistant enclosures, climate resilient enclosure design, and the development of policies and guidelines to advance building science. Cameron is an active volunteer with AIA, USGBC, CSI, and the ACE Mentor Program, advocating for positive change in the ACE industry.

Nate Wittasek, P.E., C.F.E.I., LEED AP – Principal, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH)

Nathan B. Wittasek is a principal and vice president at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. He has more than 20 years of experience working in the fire protection and regulatory arenas.

Moderated by:

Greg Kochanowski, AIA, ASLA – Design Principal, Practice & Founder, The Wild: A Research Lab

Greg is a licensed architect, landscape designer, and educator in California with over 26 years of experience. His work weaves together architecture, landscape, and urbanism to create sustainable, equitable, and innovative environments that honor and enhance the unique qualities of place. Building on this foundation, Greg’s research emphasizes holistic design processes that foster resilience and harmony between natural systems, culture, infrastructure, and development, addressing the complex challenges posed by climate change.

Greg’s work has been featured in venues such as the Venice and Rotterdam Biennales and has received recognition, including the Architectural League of New York’s Young Architects Forum Award and honors from the AIALA, AIAPF, ASLA, and AIACA. He has presented at ASLA and AIA National Conventions, sharing insights on Southern California’s Wildland-Urban Interface and its recurring fire, flood, and debris flow cycles, exploring broader climate impacts across the Western U.S. and globally.

He is the author of The Wild and the upcoming Wildlands in the Expanded Field: Designing in the Pyrocene (Routledge Press, 2026). In connection with issues of wildfire and climate, Greg’s research also delves into affordable housing strategies aimed at addressing pressing social and environmental challenges. This includes innovative ownership models and housing solutions for vulnerable populations, emphasizing equitable, resilient, and sustainable communities.

As Partner and Director of Design at Practice in Pasadena, CA, and Founder of The Wild: A Research Lab, a nonprofit addressing urban climate issues, he advances design research and advocacy by bridging innovative practice with critical research. He currently serves on the Board of Community Design Group and previously served as Co-President of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design.

Mohamed Sharif, AIA, RIBA – Partner, Sharif, Lynch: Architecture & Director, Undergraduate Program in Architectural Studies and Graduate Program Design Faculty, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design

Mohamed Sharif is an Associate Adjunct Professor at UCLA’s Department of Architecture and Design, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses and directs the undergraduate program. Recently, he worked with Professor Hitoshi Abe on a multi-year design research platform focused on resilience and regenerative urbanism.

His practice, Sharif, Lynch: Architecture, with Todd Lynch, has completed several award-winning projects in Los Angeles.

Sharif’s work has been published in journals and periodicals, including 306090, a+u, arq, Constructs, JAE, the Getty Center, Log, and POOL. He served on the arq editorial board (Cambridge University Press, 2006–2016) and was President of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design (2007–2009), later joining its Advisory Board (2010–2016).

REGISTER HERE