 Michael B. Lehrer, FAIA founded his practice, LEHRER ARCHITECTS LA, in Los Angeles in 1985. He is also the Design Partner of LAWRL Design, a deeply interdisciplinary national practice. His work is grounded in the idea that beauty is a rudiment of human dignity. He designs for community with a reverence for light and space. Delight is a matter of extreme gravitas in the work. The firm&rsquo;s work consists of institutional, commercial, industrial, residential and urban design projects. Regarding sustainability, the work aspires to embody the beauty of performance and the performance of beauty. He was President of the American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles and has been an adjunct member of the faculty at the University of Southern California since 1986. Prior to 1985, Mr. Lehrer worked at Frank O. Gehry and Associates and other design offices. Licensed in California in 1981, Michael was educated at Berkeley and Harvard after attending LAUSD public schools. 

 Michael Lehrer describes the Spring Street Park project in Downtown LA, a public / private design collaboration between his firm and the city. The park, build on land that used to be parking lots, is designed to provide a wide variety of different social environments to serve the community. 

 Michael Lehrer talks about growing up in the Hollywood Hills and the "Cosmic Trifecta" of Modern Architecture set up by the Lovell House, Ennis House and the Schindler House during the 1920's. As Lehrer suggests, these houses might have set up a precedent for Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water House and his residential concrete architecture. 

 Michael Lehrer talks about the design of a private home in Santa Monica Canyon, as well as the six buildings his firm completed in south LA, for an agency called "Restore Neighborhoods Los Angeles." Both the large, Modernist home and the smaller buildings are driven by "indoor / outdoor relationships" and long views. 

 Michael Lehrer talks about the Water + Life Museums in Hemet, the first LEED Platinum museums in the world. He describes the ideology behind the buildings, which is evident both in their museum content and their architectural design. 

 For 20 years Michael Lehrer ran his practice out of his house, until he bought and moved into a new building in 2005. He describes how he has integrated his personal tenets of design and practice into the form and experience of his new office. 

 One of the Barnesdale Foundation's programs is the Cotsen Artist Residencies, which is an extended working creative experience with artists of great stature to inspire talented young students. These Master residencies have been hosted at Lehrer Architects LA Studio. Artists such as Tim Hawkinson, Alexis Smith, and Lita Albequerque have worked there. Michael Lehrer describes the program and what it's like to work with the artists in the same space. 

 Michael Leher talks about the James M. Wood Community Center, an acclaimed community building that his practice designed in downtown LA to serve the community of Skid Row. 