about the contributors
Tatiana Begelman is a designer who is currently collaborating with studioTBD. She is also pursuing independent research on the historic development of downtown Los Angeles and has been a resident of the Old Bank District since 2000.
Vinayak Bharne is a senior urban designer with Moule & Polyzoides Architects and Urbanists in Pasadena. A contributing editor to Urban Ecology, he has also written for Urban Design Quarterly, Congress for the New Urbanism, LA Forum and Asian Art. A former Presidential Fellow at the University of Southern California, he is the author of the afterword to the Japanese classic In Praise of Shadows (Koda Press).
Julie Eizenberg is a Principal of Koning Eizenberg Architecture and holds degrees in architecture from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and UCLA. Recent projects include the winning designs for the Pittsburgh Children's Museum Expansion and the Chicago Public Schools competitions, and in downtown L.A. the design of the first new single room occupancy hotel on "Skid Row" and the new Standard Hotel.
John Given is Senior Vice President, Development of CIM Group, and is responsible for acquisition, structuring and planning development activities for the CIM California Urban Real Estate Fund, L.P. Mr. Given is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, the International Conference of Shopping Centers, and the American Institute of Certified Planners. He has served as a founding board member of the Hollywood Entertainment District and chaired the City of Santa Monica Housing Commission.
Robert S. Harris, FAIA, is a professor and urban design consultant. He directs the University of Southern California graduate programs in architecture, was dean of the schools of architecture at USC and the University of Oregon, and has been named a distinguished professor by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. In Los Angeles, he has co-chaired the Downtown Strategic Plan Advisory Committee and the Mayor's Design Advisory Panel.
LAH*UB [www.lahub.net] is an artist/architect collaborative comprised of Ken Ehrlich, Liz Falletta, and Avi Laiser.
Alan Loomis is a senior urban designer with Moule & Polyzoides Architects and Urbanists in Pasadena, where he has led planning projects for UCSB, Pomona College, the City of Azusa, and various locations in Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties, in addition to participating in charrettes and research projects throughout California and New Mexico. He is the director of the LA Forum’s web publications and the creator/editor of the DeliriousLA architecture events calendar.
Carol McMichael Reese is associate professor of architecture at Tulane University. Her books and articles focus on contemporary architecture and urban planning in the Americas. In 1985 Reese was commissioned by the Getty Research Institute to document the building of Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Roger Sherman is the Principal of Roger Sherman Architecture/Urban Design in Los Angeles and a faculty member at SCI-Arc. He was a finalist in the Railyard Park (Santa Fe, NM) Design Competition, 2002, and the FreshKills Landfill to Landscape Design Competition, 2002. He is the author of "Things in the Making: Contemporary Architecture and the Pragmatist Imagination," Museum of Modern Art, 2001, and the forthcoming Under the Influence: Negotiating the Complex Logic of Urban Property.
Doug Suisman is the founder and principal of Suisman Urban Design. An urban designer and licensed architect, he has gained national recognition for his ideas and designs of public space in U.S. cities. In 1999 he was made a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. The focus of his work is on downtown revitalization, public spaces and buildings, and street and transit design, with a strong emphasis on public participation. He is the author of Los Angeles Boulevard published by the LA Forum.
Peter Zellner is an architect, writer and curator, and a Studio Faculty member at the Southern California Institute of Architecture. He is the author of Hybrid Space: New Forms in Digital Architecture and along with Jeffrey Inaba, co-founder of ValDes, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching suburban conditions. His architectural projects have been published and exhibited internationally - most recently as a part of Experimental Architectures 1950-2000, in Orléans, France.