Managing Director
Habitat Group Los Angeles LLC
SPEAKER INFORMATION
Email: RLoring@archetype-crm.com
Website: www.habitatgroupla.com
SESSION DESCRIPTION
Design Developers
Planned obsolescence isn’t just for your laptop anymore, or that secret switchgrass plantation out back. A worrying amount of new construction, far more concerned with the bottom line than any form of longevity, isn’t meant to last for more than twenty years with the prevailing build-it-up-tear-it-down mindset. And LA, a city seemingly founded on the concept of the strip mall, is one of California’s prime offenders. But as these five developers and designers so aptly demonstrate, Los Angeles’ unique character needn’t be lost in the push toward greener pastures.
Our panelists have all shown a commitment not just to beautifying Los Angeles, but to doing so through sensitive, progressive design. We’ll sit down to discuss what role developers and planners must take to ensure that good design gets off the drawing board and into our cities.
SPEAKER BIO
Richard Loring grew up in Detroit and obtained his Bachelor and Master’s Degrees while attending the University of Michigan, School of Architecture. After graduation, Richard worked as an architect and was lucky enough to live in a Mies van der Rohe apartment tower in Lafayette Park. This experience and several visits to Moshe Safdie’s Habitat 67 made lasting impressions and helped form Richard’s interest in multifamily housing design.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1981, Richard formed Archetype, a Construction Management Firm, working on a significant number of noteworthy contemporary buildings. In 2001, Richard formed Habitat Group Los Angeles LLC, with the intent to combine his passion for contemporary architecture, multifamily housing, and his practical experiences in running a construction company.
Working with architects Lorcan O’Herlihy, Predock_Frane and others, Richard has developed and sold five multifamily projects and has three more in construction phase. Habitat Group projects have won local, state and national AIA awards and have appeared in publications ranging from the Los Angeles Times and New York Times to Dwell Magazine.
In addition to Richard’s activities as a developer, he serves on the Board of Directors for the West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation, a non-profit provider of low income housing in and around the City of West Hollywood. Richard also serves on the Board of Directors of the Antaeus Group, a theater company located in the NoHo Arts District.
