How Architecture and Design Serve the LGBTQIA+ Community

Photo Credit: Jim Simmons Photography

How Architecture and Design Serve the LGBTQIA+ Community

AIA|LA Celebrates Pride Month with a Panel Discussion about LA’s LGBT Center | Anita May Rosenstein Campus

This is a FREE virtual event. Register using the link below.

Architect: Leong Leong
Executive Architect: KFA Architecture

The LGBT Center’s Anita May Rosenstein Campus in Hollywood is an expansive urban development designed by Leong Leong and Killefer Flammang Architects that supports the Center’s affordable housing, social, and cultural programs.

For this panel, the Designers and LGBT Leadership will discuss how architecture and design plays an unsung role in helping the world’s largest provider of services to the LGBT community deliver on its mission. The Campus we created has become a vibrant beacon of hope, remaining open and operating throughout the pandemic. It provides life-saving services to youth and seniors and is a home to more than 200 residents and a work place for 250 staff.

REGISTER HERE

Moderator:

Leslie Sydnor, AIA – VP/ President-elect, AIA Los Angeles & Director, Cumming
Leslie is a director at Cumming; currently working as a planning and development project manager for LAUSD. She has over 25 years of experience in the design of education, aviation, industrial, and low-income housing projects. Leslie is Vice President/President-elect of the AIALA Board of directors and past co-chair of the Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion (J.E.D.I.) committee. She teaches Architectural Project Management at Cal Poly Pomona, is on the Woodbury University Construction Management Program Advisory Board and mentors emerging professionals. Leslie has a B.A. in Architecture from Yale and an M.Arch from UCLA.

Panelists:

Dominic Leong, AIA – Founding Partner, Leong Leong
Dominic is the co-founder of Leong Leong, a minority-owned architecture firm that uses the power of design to advance visionary social agendas within the built environment for institutions, cultural enterprises, and forward-thinking clients. Leong Leong has been the recipient of the Architectural League of New York’s Emerging Voices Award, the AIA New York New Practices Award, and has been recognized as a Design Vanguard by Architectural Record. Dominic received his Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University, graduating with Honors, and his Bachelor of Architecture from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Dominic is currently Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Columbia University GSAPP and Dominic serves on GSAPP Alumni Board.

David Takahashi, AIA, LEED Green Associate – Staff Designer, KFA
David is celebrating his 6th anniversary at KFA Architecture this year and is already able to look back on the ways he has helped shape the architectural landscape of the city. He has been able to play a role in the design and construction of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the ongoing restoration of the West LA VA Campus and a number of additional residential & educational projects. With each new project he continues to expand his passion for Los Angeles, its architectural lineage, and the ways great design can help make small moments more meaningful. In 2020, KFA marked its 45th year of providing quality architecture that has affected every corner of Los Angeles. With over 18,000 residential units built thus far – 4,000 of which are affordable housing – the firm has left an indelible mark on the city. From its involvement in the adaptive reuse ordinance in downtown LA to the variety of mixed-use, hotel and supportive housing projects throughout the city, KFA is fulfilling their mission to design great places where people flourish.

Stephen Burn – Director of Business Development, LGBT Center
Stephen Burn was formally the General Manager of the Anita May Rosenstein Campus, responsible for all aspects of project management for the new site during conception and construction. Stephen has since become the Director of Business Development at the Center and oversee various social enterprises, including a catering operation and coffee shop and an affordable housing development and management business. All profits from these entities go directly to the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Previously, Stephen was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the US subsidiary of a large multinational corporation.