Michael B. Lehrer, FAIA

email: michael@lehrerarchitects.com

Principal, Lehrer Architects, College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture, University of Southern California
Harvard Design School Alumni Council, Homeless Health Care of Los Angeles, Board of Directors

Michael B. Lehrer, FAIA founded his practice, Lehrer Architects LA, in his native district of Los Feliz in Los Angeles in 1985. He has won numerous design awards, including honor awards from the national, state, and local chapters of The American Institute of Architects. In 2004, his James M. Wood Community Center received the Business Week/Architectural Record Award and the AIA Housing Award for the Norton-Towers-On-the-Court. In 2001, he was bestowed the Institute Honor Award of the American Institute of Architects, the top annual award for architecture in the United States, for the Downtown Drop-In Center. The firm’s work consists of institutional, urban design, residential, commercial, and industrial projects. Prior to 1985, he worked at Frank O. Gehry and Associates and other design offices.

He was President of the American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles in 1999. He served as Vice Chairman of School Construction Bond Oversight Committee, where he successfully led the battle, for over 5 years, to place design and sustainability at the center of the $8 Billion funding for the repair of 700 schools and the construction of between almost 150 new schools of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Michael’s work has been widely published nationally and internationally and he is regularly called upon to comment about design matters in national and local broadcast media, print, panels and symposia to explain the public interest from the architect’s perspective. This includes Architectural Digest, Architectural Record, NPR’s Weekend Edition, All Things Considered, KCRW’s Which Way L.A.?, the LA Times, among many others.

Mr. Lehrer has been a member of the faculty at the University of Southern California since 1986. An Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture there, he has taught all levels of design studio from 1st Year through Masters Thesis. Licensed to practice architecture in California in 1981, Michael was educated at Berkeley and Harvard after attending LAUSD public schools. He is married to Mia Lehrer, ASLA of Mia Lehrer + Associates Landscape Architecture. They have three children: Benjamin (Princeton ’03), Rebecca (Columbia ’04), and Raphael (Harvard-Westlake ’07).

Education:
• Harvard University, Master of Architecture, 1978
• University of California, Berkeley, AB Major in Architecture with Highest Honors, 1975

Design Awards:
• The College of Fellows, The American Institute of Architects
• Elevation to Membership, The American Institute of Architects 2004
• Norton Towers on the Court
• Honor Award to recognize excellence in residential design, The American Institute of Architects Housing PIA 2004
• Gold Nugget Grand Award for Excellence and Value for Best Attached Project Over 30 DU/Acre , Pacific Coast Builders Conference 2004
• Westside Prize, Westside Urban Forum 2004
• Award of Excellence for “exceptional contribution” in the Residential category, Los Angeles Business Council. 2004
• Award of Merit, Multiunit Housing, Residential Architect Magazine 2004
• Temple Bat Yam Torah Center
• Honor Award, The American Institute of Architects Orange County 2003
• Gold Nugget Grand Award for Excellence and Value for Best Public/Private Special Use Facility, Pacific Coast Builders Conference 2004
• The James M. Wood Community Center
• Business Week/Architectural Record Award, The American Institute of Architects 2004
• Merit Award for Excellence in Design, The American Institute of Architects California Council 2003
• Westside Prize, Westside Urban Forum 2003
• Gold Nugget Award of Merit for Excellence and Value for Best Public/Private Special Use Facility, Pacific Coast Builders Conference 2003
• Gold Nugget Special Award for Excellence and Value for Building Industry Community Spirit, Pacific Coast Builders Conference 2003
• Award of Excellence for “exceptional contribution” in the Institutional category, Los Angeles Business Council. 2003
• Presidential Award for Excellence in the Service of Good Design
The American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles 2002
• The Downtown Homeless Drop-In Center
• The Ahwahnee Award, Local Governments Association, The American Institute of Architects California Council 2002
• Institute Honor Award for Architecture, The American Institute of Architects 2001
• Award of Excellence, The American Institute of Architects/National Concrete Masonry Association 2000
• Honor Award for Excellence in Design, The American Institute of Architects California Council 2000
• LA Beautification Award, Los Angeles Business Council 2000
• Award of Merit, The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles 1999
• The Silverlake Master Plan
• Honor Award of Merit, The American Society Of Landscape Architects Los Angeles (with Mia Lehrer and Associates) 2001
• The Davisson House, Capistrano Beach.
• Design Award, The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles 1998
• Honor Award, The American Institute of Architects Orange County 1997
• de Bont Residence, L. A.
• LA Beautification Award, Best New House. Los Angeles Business Council 1998
• Hollywood Tower & Master Plan for Barnsdall Park.
• Honor Award, Next LA, The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles 1997
• Roy Neuchatz Preservation Award, Los Angeles Conservancy 1996
• Legacy Software Co., Marina del Rey
• Semifinalist, Business Week/Architectural Record/Award, The American Institute of Architects