I’m bringing you a set of mini-stories that were taped live at the AWA 100th Building Our Legacy event on September 10, 2022 at the HenryBuilt showroom in LA’s art district. This event not only celebrated AWA+D’s 100 year anniversary, but also focused on how we can preserve the legacies of women in architecture—especially our own legacies. As we know, too often women’s work was historically unrecognized, erased, and forgotten, and we lose so much by not being able to access this information. We ...
Dec 01, 2022•1 hr 16 min
This special episode is released in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Association for Women in Architecture and Design. In today’s episode, I’m joined by Barbara Elwood, who served three terms as madame president of AWA+D (which was then named AWA-LA) in 1960, 1962, and 1996. Barbara enrolled in USC Architecture’s Industrial Design program in 1952, and by the end of her first semester, was the only woman in her class. It’s so fascinating to hear about Barbara’s experiences and also hea...
Nov 29, 2022•39 min
Today’s episode is going to be a little bit of a different one, because the roles are reversed! Annie Chu of Chu+Gooding Architects , who is featured in Episode 31 , graciously offered to interview me for this episode. I am an architect and president of Sato Architects, Inc. , a podcast host, and past president of the Association for Women in Architecture + Design (AWA+D) . I previously taught architecture at Cal Poly Pomona , my alma mater. I have a new role to add to my list, which is that I’m...
Aug 02, 2021•1 hr 5 min
Karin Liljegren is founder and principal of Omgivning , an architecture and interior design firm whose practice is rooted in a love for the extraordinary urban fabric of downtown Los Angeles. Karin is an architect and interior designer, and founded Omgivning in 2009, just as the recession was threatening to halt downtown’s resurgence. To date, she and her staff have worked on almost 350 projects in Los Angeles, seeking to restore downtown’s purpose while helping to define its new identity. I’m c...
May 01, 2021•44 min
Today’s guests are Tracy Stone, principle of Tracy A Stone Architect, and designer Abbi Naylor. Tracy is the founder of The Elysian Valley Arts Collective , a 501c3 non-profit that manages the biennial Frogtown Artwalk , and supports a variety of programming to the youth and neighbors of Elysian Valley. Tracy received a BA from Cornell University and a Masters in Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin . She spent five years working for award-winning architects Ray and Finn Kappe bef...
Apr 01, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Eera Babtiwale is Vice President of Sustainability at HMC Architects , a mother of 3, a board member of Designing Futures Foundation , Chair of USGBC-Inland Empire , and an active member with USGBC-Los Angeles. Eera was nominated to be a guest on the show by her co-worker, Lance Hosey. Even though I had never met Eera, as I started researching in order to prepare for our interview, I realized that we had a lot of really awesome people in common! When asked about Eera, her co-workers talk about h...
Jan 31, 2021•59 min
Annie Chu is an architect, interior designer, educator, and a founding principal of the award-winning firm Chu+Gooding Architects . Annie is an alumnus of Sci-Arc and Columbia , and trained for 11 years with Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects in New York and Frank Israel in Beverly Hills before starting her own practice in 1996. Chu+Gooding Architects works on projects of many scales, from design of objects to residential homes, to exhibition design, and world-class arts, cultural, and higher ...
Dec 01, 2020•52 min
After a pandemic-induced break, it’s a pleasure to kick off new episodes of the podcast with guest Lise Bornstein, architect and partner at KFA Architecture . I feel like this interview is long-overdue, because Lise is someone who I have a ton of respect for, and feel lucky to call a mentor and a friend. Lise graduated from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture and received her Masters of Architecture from Sci-Arc . Lise joined KFA in 2001, and w...
Nov 01, 2020•52 min
Helena Arahuete started working for John Lautner in 1971 and rose to the role of Chief Architect in his office. She continues today as Principal of Lautner Associates , most recently completing the restoration of the Bob and Dolores Hope House in Palm Springs. This is a very unique two-part episode featuring conversations with Helena Arahuete. I first met Helena at Palm Springs Modernism Week in February. Part 1 is an edited recording of interviews she did with eighth graders Abrianna Pingleton,...
Apr 11, 2020•1 hr 2 min
Kishani DeSilva has worked in the architecture and design industries for over twenty years in the project and major program management arena. Prior to her current appointment in local government, she worked as a management consultant following her time as a project manager at Foster + Partners in London . Her current work as an Executive Advisor with the executive office of the Los Angeles County Development Authority focuses on homelessness and the affordable housing shortfall in Los Angeles. A...
Mar 02, 2020•45 min
Christina Monti, owner of CDM Consulting, started her career in landscape architecture after graduating from Texas A&M University. A self-proclaimed non-designer (I don't quite buy that she "stinks" at design), Christina became an expert in marketing and business development. In this episode, we discuss the skills needed for being good at business development. Spoiler alert--they are skills, and can be worked on and learned! Christina and I got to know each other through the Association for ...
Nov 20, 2019•46 min
This episode is a live recording from Sci-Arc graduate thesis Spin Room, with student (now graduate) Yi Ning Lui, her advisor Kristy Balliet of BairBalliet, and distinguished alumnus Barbara Bestor of Bestor Architecture. In this episode we talk about the experience of the thesis project from the student and the advisor/practitioner perspective. You can watch the video recording from this conversation through Sci-Arc’s vimeo channel at https://livestream.com/accounts/21300942/events/8798849...
Oct 06, 2019•39 min
This episode features financial planner Renee Cohen, and guests Harper Halprin of AAHA Studio and Luciana Tagliaferri of Tagliaferri Architects, in a candid discussion about financial planning for small business owners and architects. We discuss topics like the entrepreneur mindset, business and personal finances, outsourcing, forecasting, growth, diversification, retirement and financial freedom, insurance and protection, and the importance of having a board of advisers. I think it’s super impo...
Sep 22, 2019•1 hr 16 min
Emmanuelle Bourlier is the co-founder and CEO of Panelite, as well as a mother and skater. Emmanuelle co-founded Panelite while in grad school at Columbia University 21 years ago. From its inception, Panelite was so innovative that it was used in a project by Moneo Brock that landed on the cover of the Spanish edition of Interior Design magazine. From there, Panelite was quickly sought after by elite firms like Diller Scofidio+Renfro and OMA. In this episode, Emmanuelle and I talk about her jour...
Jul 28, 2019•51 min
This episode features Elena Manferdini, the recipient of the ICON award at the 2019 LA Design Festival. This interview was recorded at the event at Row DTLA. Elena is the Graduate Chair at Sci-Arc and principal of Atelier Manferdini. Elena’s striking exuberance, charisma, and rigor is completely evident in her work, which ranges in scale from product design, to graphic facades and entire buildings. Her process often incorporates cutting edge technology as an integral part of the design, and she ...
Jun 29, 2019•25 min
Helena Jubany, FAIA has a real knack for developing leaders, as well as a sharp business acumen. Helena’s 30 year career specializing in education and public sector architecture included 17 years of building her own practice, prior to mergers with NAC Architecture and Osborne. Loyal listeners will remember my interview with Leslie Sydnor in Episode 15, where Leslie spoke incredibly highly of Helena as her mentor. In fact, I was so struck by what Leslie had to say about Helena, that I felt there ...
Jun 01, 2019•44 min
What I admire about Rachel Allen is the pragmatic, intelligent, and unapologetically hard-working ethos that she brings to her work. As founding principal of RADAR (Rachel Allen Development Architecture Research Inc.), her success relies upon her ability to understand the viewpoints of people she's working with in order to communicate effectively and harness the strengths of her team. The pay off of RADAR's hard work is evident in their growing project list, such as their role as Design Architec...
Mar 30, 2019•39 min
In episode 20, we're putting the "LA" in XX|LA by speaking with an architect who is also a film maker! Mina Chow is an architect and professor at the USC School of Architecture. She is also the director, producer, and star of the documentary "Face of a Nation: What Happened to the World's Fair?" The film is about Mina's journey as an idealistic architect and daughter of immigrants, as she discovers why America abandoned World's Fairs. Michael Sorkin calls it an "urgently dispiriting but ultimate...
Mar 04, 2019•42 min
I'm fascinated by architects who work in interdisciplinary and collaborative ways, and my latest guests bridge architecture and dance in a fascinating way! In this episode, I speak with Rennie Tang and Sara Wookey, the artists and creators behind Punt.Point. Punt.Point was commissioned by the Van Abbe Museum in 2013 and acquired for their permanent collection in 2018. Rennie and Sara are practitioners who come from architecture and dance backgrounds respectively, with training and interest in ea...
Feb 11, 2019•31 min
Irma Ramirez is a professor in the architecture department and director of the China Study Abroad program at Cal Poly Pomona. Her accolades include the NCARB Grand Prize, National Lynton Citation for Distinguished Engaged Scholarship for the Habitat 21 Sustainable Settlements Project in Tijuana with Corazon, and awards from the American Planning Association and American Institute of Certified Planners and Environmental Design Research Association for work in the China program. She also recently ...
Dec 28, 2018•48 min
In this episode, I spent an evening chatting with the women of Claret-Cup at the Los Angeles Brewery Artists Colony. Claret-Cup was co-founded by Bojána Bányász and Donatella Cusmá, two architects who bonded over a love of Los Angeles, a shared value that architecture does not only serve its private owners, and a desire to work outside the normal bounds of a traditional practice. Their work crosses over to disciplines like fashion, graphic design, food making, and community building, and to me d...
Nov 02, 2018•53 min
This episode is a live recording of a panel discussion, featuring Association for Women in Architecture and Design (AWA+D) members Lise Bornstein of KFA, Wena Dows of Wena Dows Designs, Marisa Kurtzman of Frederick Fisher and Partners, Brenda Levin of Levin & Associates Architects, Kate Diamond of HDR, and Nina Briggs of The Fabric, moderated by XX|LA host Audrey Sato. It was recorded on Sept. 30 at WUHO, which is Woodbury University’s Gallery space right on Hollywood Boulevard. Our event wa...
Oct 08, 2018•1 hr 31 min
Leslie Sydnor is an architect now working as a Director / Planning Project Manager at Cumming Corporation. Leslie grew up in New York City wanting to effect change in the built environment, and so she went on to study architecture at Yale and then UCLA. After about 20 years in architecture, having risen to the level of Associate Principal, Leslie left her traditional career in architecture to work on the other side of things in project, program, planning, and construction management. Throughout ...
Sep 03, 2018•1 hr 17 min
In this live recording of the XXLA Architects Podcast, I visit the Free School of Architecture at WUHO Gallery on July 24, 2018 and have a discussion with some of the participants to hear more about this innovative 6 week experience. Attend the closing party and find out more about Free School of Architecture Friday, July 27 from 6:30pm at WUHO Gallery: 6518 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028 Participants in the episode (listed in no particular order): Alejandra Ramirez, Nathan Halimi, Navee...
Jul 25, 2018•1 hr 15 min
Margot Siegel was born in 1932 in Germany, and as a child, she went on to live in Paris and then New York, as her family fled from Nazi occupation. She describes herself as always being somewhat of an outsider, having experienced the shock of new countries and cultures, and then becoming an architect in a time where it was highly unusual to be a woman and an architect. She attended Pratt Institute, graduating with her architecture degree in 1955. Finding that others weren’t giving her the opport...
Jul 02, 2018•1 hr 8 min
Do you want to start your own practice, but aren't sure how to go about getting work? Ginger Tanzmann knows how you feel, and she asked herself those same questions. In 1978, Ginger had $20,000, two rooms in the Bradbury Building, and the passion to pursue her dream of owning her own architecture business. In this interview with Virginia (better known as Ginger) Tanzmann, FAIA, we hear the stories of Ginger’s long and illustrious career, including how she built The Tanzmann Associates from 1978-...
Jun 03, 2018•51 min
Today’s guest is Deborah Weintraub, Chief Deputy City Engineer for the Bureau of Engineering in the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Public Works. Deborah is the first architect and woman to hold the position, and in this role has overseen projects like the LA River Revitalization Master Plan and the 6th Street Viaduct, which is currently under construction. Through this work, she had made major contributions to the city and its future, applying her architectural background and training to eng...
May 11, 2018•44 min
Episode 10 features Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter, Dean of the School of Architecture at Woodbury University and Director of WUHO (Woodbury University Hollywood) Gallery. Ingalill was elevated to the College of Fellows in the AIA this year, a high distinction awarded to only 3 percent of AIA members. She serves on the advisory board of the LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design,* and previously was on the Board of the AIA|LA. Prior to her tenure at Woodbury, Ingalill taught at Cornell, Yale, the ...
Apr 09, 2018•48 min
This episode features Ena Dubnoff, an architect and artist who had a diverse career since graduating at the top of her class, and as the only woman in her class, from USC in 1960. Ena has her Masters of Architecture from Columbia, and throughout her career taught at Penn State, Sci-Arc and USC, and worked at the offices of William Pereira, A. Quincy Jones, and Skidmore, Owings, & Merril. She established her own practice specializing in projects for non-profit organizations, such as W.O.R.K.S...
Mar 28, 2018•43 min
This episode features Elizabeth Timme, founder and co-executive director of LA-Más with Helen Leung. LA-Más is a non-profit urban design organization that helps lower-income and underserved communities shape their future through policy and architecture. During this episode, Elizabeth talks about LA-Más, and some of the exciting work they are doing in our city. Elizabeth and Helen were just named Emerging Voices by the Architectural League of New York, and Elizabeth is also part of the Re:Code LA...
Feb 24, 2018•1 hr 1 min
