Jim Venturi is the founder and principal designer of ReThink Studio and ReThinkNYC. Through his experiences in information technology, planning, and architecture, Venturi focuses on solving the infrastructural, social and economic challenges of transportation planning.
This holistic approach is reflected in both his work at ReThink Studio and his past work as a network architect, bridging analytical and creative assets by building early technology networks and developing software. He founded Creative Technologies, a boutique systems integration technology firm catering to architects and designers. In 1996, the company shifted focus to designing and implementing email and network migrations for Fortune 1000 companies.
Venturi’s work experience in architecture and urban planning comes from working with architects in his early career and teaching architecture students CADsoftware at Parsons School of Design. He gained further experience more recently from the production of Bob and Denise, a feature film in post-production about the renowned architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.
With deep roots in Southern California, founder Robin Donaldson studied painting, printmaking, and architectural theory at UCSB, earned his Master’s degree in Architecture from SCI-Arc, and spent his early career working at Morphosis. Since founding Donaldson + Partners, he has developed a trans-disciplinary design team working with a diverse range of clients to realize extraordinary ground-up residential projects and create homes for creative enterprises ranging from company headquarters to a home for quantum computers; and—on the home front—founded an R+D lab dedicated to formulating and articulating new materials, methods, design strategies, and architectural applications.
Donaldson has been widely recognized for his interdisciplinary creativity, collaboration-intensive teamwork and creative cultural awareness. His architectural work has been published locally, nationally, and internationally in Elle Decor, GA Houses, The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, and more. With offices in Los Angeles and Orange County, he lives in Santa Barbara, above the store.
Walter Hood is the creative director and founder of Hood Design Studio in Oakland, CA. He is also a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and lectures on professional and theoretical projects nationally and internationally. He is a recipient of the 2017 Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Award, 2019 Knight Public Spaces Fellowship, 2019 MacArthur Fellowship, 2019 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, and the 2021 recipient of the Architectural League’s President’s Medal award.
Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano have Masters Degrees in Architecture and Urban Design from the Universita’ di Napoli, Italy (1989). After graduating they completed post-graduate studies at Columbia University, New York (1990-1991) as Visiting Scholars. They founded LOT-EK in Naples, Italy in 1993 and opened up LOT-EK’s New York studio in 1995. Besides heading their professional practice, they also teach at Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in New York, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture and Planning in Cambridge, MA.
LOT-EK is an award-winning architectural design studio renowned in the architecture/design/art world for its sustainable and innovative approach to construction, materials and space through the upcycling of existing industrial objects and systems. Their work has been exhibited in major museums, including MoMA, the Whitney Museum, the Walker Art Center, the Guggenheim and the MAXXI.
Born in Bulgaria, Valentina B. Ganeva is graduate of the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia. She holds a BA degree in Film History and Theory and made her mark as a freelance film critic for major Bulgarian publications. After relocating to Los Angeles, Valentina became Murex Films co-owner and an exec. producer. During her time with the company she built an extensive resume as a film editor. Her lifelong interest in art, architecture and design merged with her knowledge and experience in film production culminated in “Schindler Space Architect”, a passion project about the life and works of R.M. Schindler.
Danny Berish and Ryan Mah are award-winning documentary film directors and co-founders of Black Rhino Creative based in Vancouver, Canada.
Director credits include the one-hour documentary film for Telus “Outside In,” the 6-part series “Red Chef Revival,’ “Nude to Me,” a documentary selected by the Hot Docs Film Festival in 2020, and “House Special,” a 5-part documentary series. Danny and Ryan are also in their third season of directing the travel series “Postcards from…” for AMI.
"Arthur Erickson: Beauty Between the Lines" is the co-directors’ first feature documentary, which will premiere at the Architecture and Design Film Festival in Toronto in October 2024. The film will be broadcast on Knowledge Network early 2026.
Danny Berish and Ryan Mah are award-winning documentary film directors and co-founders of Black Rhino Creative based in Vancouver, Canada.
Director credits include the one-hour documentary film for Telus “Outside In,” the 6-part series “Red Chef Revival,' "Nude to Me," a documentary selected by the Hot Docs Film Festival in 2020, and “House Special,” a 5-part documentary series. Danny and Ryan are also in their third season of directing the travel series “Postcards from…” for AMI.
"Arthur Erickson: Beauty Between the Lines" is the co-directors' first feature documentary, which premiered at the Architecture and Design Film Festival in Toronto in October 2024. The film will be broadcast on Knowledge Network early 2026.
Leah Mallen has produced film, television, and digital content for over twenty years. Her past credits have garnered many awards and accolades including a Best Short Film Award at the Cannes Film Festival’s Critic’s Week, a Best Documentary Film at the Zurich Film Festival, and multiple Best Apps Awards at Kidscreen. She has distributed her content around the world, including such platforms and broadcasters such as HBO, Sundance, Hulu, BBC, ARTE, CBC and Knowledge Network. She was one of six international producers selected to attend the Binger Film Lab in Amsterdam, is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Producer Lab, and has chaired or sat on many creative boards, including the Hot Docs International Film Festival board, DOCBC, and Vancouver’s Cinematheque. She also produces the Architecture and Design Film Festival in Vancouver which just launched its first year.
Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano have Masters Degrees in Architecture and Urban Design from the Universita’ di Napoli, Italy (1989). After graduating they completed post-graduate studies at Columbia University, New York (1990-1991) as Visiting Scholars. They founded LOT-EK in Naples, Italy in 1993 and opened up LOT-EK’s New York studio in 1995. Besides heading their professional practice, they also teach at Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in New York, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture and Planning in Cambridge, MA.
LOT-EK is an award-winning architectural design studio renowned in the architecture/design/art world for its sustainable and innovative approach to construction, materials and space through the upcycling of existing industrial objects and systems. Their work has been exhibited in major museums, including MoMA, the Whitney Museum, the Walker Art Center, the Guggenheim and the MAXXI.
Thomas Piper is an award-winning filmmaker specialized in documenting contemporary artists and designers. His most recent film, Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf, won the 2018 Polly Krakora Award for Artistry in Film from the DC Environmental Film Festival, and is still in global theatrical release. His film, Ellsworth Kelly: Fragments, won Best Film for Television at the prestigious International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) in Montreal.
In addition, he has directed, photographed and/or edited more than 25 other films on painters, sculptors, photographers, architects, and writers. Subjects have included the artists Kiki Smith, Sol LeWitt, Alex Katz, Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brancusi, the writer James Salter and poet Billy Collins, the art historian Vincent Scully, the architects Peter Eisenman, Steven Holl, Jean Nouvel and Thom Mayne, and the only architects to win MacArthur “genius” grants, Jeanne Gang and Diller + Scofidio.
Frances Anderton covers architecture and design in Los Angeles, for print and broadcast. She is currently writing a book about multifamily housing in LA, entitled Common Ground. She spent many years as a host and producer at KCRW public radio station; her most recent project was a series of reports on waste, entitled.
Gina tells stories that connect people and ideas through artful documentary and narrative films. Her work has been the recipient of multiple Emmy awards and nominations, garnered top international festival prizes and major foundation grants. Gina directs, produces, and writes films through her company, SA KWA Pictures.
California native, UC Berkeley graduate, writer, illustrator and filmmaker Gregg Goggin began his storytelling in editorial television. Directing and producing news segments under the pressure of deadlines was great practice for getting to the heart of the story. Deeply interested in environmental topics and the creative process, Gregg’s documentary work has screened in festivals across the globe. Gregg currently resides in Montecito, California with his wife and filmmaking partner, Susan Crawford Goggin.
Susan enjoys making films about the things that bring her joy: Art, Architecture, and the Ocean. Her curiosity makes her a natural detective. She relentlessly dives into the research that produces golden nuggets. It's like a treasure hunt. Always interested in what makes people tick, she enjoys sharing her discoveries with others through film. Susan lives in Montecito, CA with her filmmaker husband Gregg and spends her free time making ceramics and enjoying the outdoors.
Bruce Heavin is an artist, strategist, and entrepreneur. As the Chief Creative Officer & co-founder of lynda.com, his creative vision was integral to lynda.com ’s success as a leader in online training. He created the company’s iconic logo of his wife Lynda Weinman, designed many of the distinctive illustrations on the website, and authored some of the site’s first video tutorials in Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects.
An illustrator with experience in both traditional and electronic media, Bruce graduated from ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. With an extensive background in illustration, photography, and motion graphics, he has created illustrations for national publications as well as clients including Adobe, MSNBC, and E! Entertainment Television. Bruce is currently a member of the ArtCenter Board of Trustees.
Thom Mayne founded Morphosis in 1972 as a collective practice of architecture, urbanism and design, rooted in rigorous research and innovation. Working globally across a broad range of project types and scales, Morphosis is recognized for its innovative and sustainable designs for cultural, civic and academic institutions, including the Bloomberg Center at Cornell Tech, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, and 41 Cooper Square, the academic building for The Cooper Union.
Throughout his career, Mayne has remained active in education and academia. In 1972, he helped to establish the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). Since then, he has held teaching positions at Columbia, Yale (the Eliel Saarinen Chair in 1991), the Harvard Graduate School of Design (Eliot Noyes Chair in 1998), the Berlage Institute in the Netherlands, the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, and many other institutions around the world. He was a tenured Professor at the University of California Los Angeles Architecture and Urban Design (UCLA A.UD) from 1993 – 2019. There has always been a symbiotic relationship between Mayne’s teaching and practice, evidenced in his concurrent position as Executive Director of the Now Institute, Morphosis’ research arm that collaborates with academic institutions to create design-based solutions for the pressing issues of the day, from mobility, urban revitalization, and sustainability, to public policy, planning, and community outreach.
Yael Melamede is the co-founder of SALTY Features, an award-winning, independent production company based in New York City whose goal is to create media that is thought-provoking, vital, and enhances the world. Melamede’s documentary credits include 1341 FRAMES OF LOVE AND WAR (2022), the Steven Spielberg six-part series WHY WE HATE (2019), WHEN I WALK (News & Documentary Emmy Award Winner, 2015), (DIS)HONESTY—THE TRUTH ABOUT LIES (2015), INOCENTE (Academy Award Winner, Best Doc Short, 2013), and MY ARCHITECT (Academy Award Nominee, 2004). Yael was an architect before becoming a filmmaker and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
Lynda Weinman is a full-time artist, specializing in 3D printing and fabrication of mixed media including ceramics, resin, and plastic. She is the former co-founder of lynda.com, where she was responsible for the student-centered teaching philosophy, authored numerous books and tutorials, and served as the executive chair of the company until the purchase in 2015 by LinkedIn Corporation. Lynda served as the President of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for over eight years and is active on the advisory board of USCB Arts & Lectures. She and her husband, Bruce Heavin, have produced numerous films and documentaries, of which you can find listed on lyndaweinman.com. Lynda is currently consumed with making ceramics, jewelry, sculpture and playing bridge. Her passions include film, design, women’s issues and philanthropy for the arts.
Sam Lubell is Editor at Large at Metropolis. He has written more than ten books about architecture for Phaidon, Rizzoli, The Monacelli Press, Metropolis Books, and Gestalten. He writes for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Fast Company, Architectural Digest, Wallpaper, Dwell, and other publications. He has co-curated four major architecture exhibitions and taught as an adjunct professor at Syracuse University School of Architecture, Columbia University GSAPP, and Arizona State University The Design School.
Silvia Perea is an architect (M.Arch), Ph.D., and Curator of the Architecture and Design Collection at the AD&A Museum (University of California, Santa Barbara). Dr. Perea holds a Doctorate in Architecture with Honors from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) and a Certificate in Museum Studies from Harvard University. Throughout her career, Dr. Perea has combined teaching and publishing with the organization of exhibitions. Dr. Perea has taught at international universities, including Columbia (NY), CEPT (India), Blas Pascal (Argentina), and the UPM (Spain). She has also published extensively, working as an editor of Arquitectura Viva, and contributing articles to magazines such as Domus, Architectural Record, Potlatch, Minerva, and Arquitectura, among others. As a curator, Dr. Perea has organized over a dozen exhibitions of art and architecture for American and European museums. Her curatorial practice advocates the integration of both disciplines as a means to enrich their respective discourses and perspectives.
Kim Schoenstadt is a Los Angeles-based visual artist. Her work sits at the intersection of architecture and historical research, with a feminist bent. Recent work explores larger truths as told through architecture and gender equity issues, focusing on architect and designer Eileen Gray’s life and work. A significant bisexual architect working from 1878-1976, Gray contributed to the advancement of architecture but was sidelined by established men of the profession. Other projects by Schoenstadt include Now Be Here, which gathered nearly 1,000 women and non-binary artists in August of 2016 for a photograph that visually revealed an artist demographic not always included in exhibitions / collections. Born in Chicago with a B.A. from Pitzer College, CA, Schoenstadt’s selected solo and two-person exhibitions include: ArtCenter College of Design, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL; BYU Museum of Art, Provo, UT.; Santa Monica Museum of Art, CA. Her work is held in the permanent collections of institutions such as LACMA, The Hammer, and MOCA, LA, CA; MOMA, NY; MCA Chicago, IL; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL.
Kyong Park is professor at UCSD (since 2007), and the founding director of StoreFront for Art and Architecture in New York (1982-1998), a curator of Gwangju Biennale (1997), Artistic Director and Chief Curator of Anyang Public Art Project (2010), both in South Korea. His solo exhibitions include "Kyong Park: New Silk Road" at MUSAC in León, Spain (2009-10), and “Imagining New Eurasia,” a sequence of three research art exhibitions at the Asia Culture Center in Gwangju, South Korea (2015-18). He was a co- curator of “20985: Together How?” in the Korean Pavilion of Venice Architecture Biennale 2023.
Shane Reiner-Roth is a writer, curator and photographer. Through publications, exhibitions, and lectures, his work examines the means by which certain objects appeal to an economy of expression by communicating higher values than their own on the cheap.
An engineer and educator working for the past 20 years in sustainability at a variety of scales, Russell works with clients and design teams to develop viable and effective sustainability strategies that address the climate crisis and its effects on our cities, people, economy, and environment.
