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Architect Brenda A. Levin, FAIA, has touched the historic and cultural spirit and complexity of Los Angeles, significantly shaping the city we know. For over 20 years her architecture and urban planning firm, Levin & Associates Architects, has pioneered, in collaboration with innovative developers, the process of preserving and re-defining the riches of the city. The success of this effort helped to catalyze the preservation movement in Los Angeles. Among the landmarks she has helped to preserve and revitalize are Grand Central and Chapman markets; the Oviatt, Fine Arts and Bradbury buildings; the Wiltern Theater, and City Hall. In process are Griffith Observatory, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings at Barnsdall Art Park, and the Japanese American National Museum’s National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, among others.
In addition to her work in preservation, some of her most significant projects have been the adaptive re-use and design of new buildings on school campuses and in the cultural and social realms. Ms. Levin believes that her work is obligated to both inform—and be informed—by the context—and by the audience. On the campus, Levin has created Johnson Student Center and Samuelson Pavilion at Occidental College; Malott Commons at Scripps College; St. James’ Elementary School; and, a campus master plan, the Math-Science, and the Music, Dance and Athletic Center buildings at Oakwood School, a private secondary school.
In the spring 2000, the Boone Gallery designed by Levin opened at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino and an art museum at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Levin’s housing projects include the nationally-recognized Downtown Women’s Center for mentally-ill, homeless women in downtown Los Angeles, and the Adams Congress affordable apartments in the city’s South-Central neighborhood.
Born in the New York metropolitan area, Levin studied design and painting at Carnegie-Mellon University, and graduated with a degree in graphic design from New York University in 1968. She earned a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in 1976. Moving to Los Angeles in 1976, she first worked with the legendary architect John Lautner.
Brenda Levin was elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1997. She and the firm have been honored by a number of organizations, including the Urban Land Institute, American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles Conservancy, City of Los Angeles, State of California, the National Association of Women Business Owners, and NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund. A 256-page monograph presenting Ms Levin’s ideas and work and entitled Brenda Levin, Levin & Associates Architects: Los Angeles was published in the spring, 2001.