Author Deborah Weintraub is Deputy City Engineer for the City of Los Angeles.
It has been 30 years since I graduated from Princeton University with a major in architecture, and 27 years since I received my masters degree in architecture from U.C. Berkeley. What distinguishes my career, and I believe the careers of many in architecture, is that I have been learning and growing the entire time. What more could one ask from a life’s work?
To many, my career path has been non-traditional, though, from my personal perspective, it has been quite logical. As I look back on the opportunities I have had, my focus has consistently remained on the power of design to transform, uplift, and create positive change.
My architectural education at Berkeley and Princeton taught me that solutions to large problems are within my grasp, and that creativity needs to be nurtured and fed.
My early professional experiences were quite traditional, as I apprenticed in various architectural offices, working my way up the ladder in terms of professional responsibilities, and pursued licensing. I worked on large scale restoration and preservation projects, large scale master planning, multi-family housing, single family housing, and new office and commercial projects. I then practiced in small partnerships and as a solo practitioner, doing mostly residential and small commercial work.
With the birth of my first child, I decided I wanted the companionship of a larger office and the potential to interact more regularly with professional peers. Unfortunately, my timing corresponded with a downturn in the economy, and half of the registered architects in California were unemployed. As an architect, though, I had been taught how to make something out of nothing, out of a few pieces of flimsy, so I grabbed an opportunity to work for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs in the Consulate in Los Angeles, promoting the work of sustainable design firms from Canada in the western U.S. The Canadian professionals I worked with during this period gave me a graduate-level education in the principles of sustainable design, long before LEED was even a concept in anyone’s mind. Their passion for the science of building and the marriage of this science with beautiful and site-specific design was inspiring. Again, I was learning.
My leadership of an AIA sponsored sustainable design charette for the City of Santa Monica, with a focus on their government civic center, led to my next professional relationship, working with the Design and Engineering Services group at Southern California Edison, an internationally trained group of mostly engineers who work on the cutting edge of technically high-performing buildings. I was an architect working for an investor-owned electric utility, doing demonstration energy efficiency and sustainability projects for Edison customers. The experience was broadening and fascinating, and it gave me a front row seat at the energy deregulation process in California. My projects at Edison included one of the earliest sustainably designed new schools in California— a prototype for the very successful CHPS (Collaborative for High Performance Schools) program—energy-efficient production homes, a sustainable, relocatable classroom building, and an involvement in the state policy discussion on energy and green technologies.
The position opened up at the City of Los Angeles for the City Architect five years ago. My varied background was an asset. I had experience in traditional architectural practice, I had worked in large bureaucracies, I understood systems thinking for the optimization of buildings, and I had worked in engineering-run organizations. My responsibilities as the City Architect included overseeing the in-house architectural, landscape, and engineering staff designing and managing building projects, now an office of 70 people, and working with the consulting community to design and build City projects. I was also the City’s in-house advocate for the power of design, demanding the best quality from the investment of public dollars.
I was recently promoted and now am a Deputy City Engineer in the Bureau of Engineering (the first architect and the first woman to hold the position). I oversee the Architectural Division (my former office), as well as the Construction Management Division, the Structural Engineering Division, the Mechanical and Electrical Group, the Geotechnical Engineering Division, the Environmental Group, the Real Estate Division, our Design Standards and Investigation Group, and our Survey Division. These groups are the core of the Bureau’s engineering, landscape, and architectural staff, providing technical and design support for a wide range of City projects.
The thread that holds together my career path is that I have had a passion for being at the center of vibrant debates that alter our environment and that provide opportunities for architects, landscape architects, and engineers to transform the built world. I wanted to be at the front end of the discussions and to bring to the table an architectural perspective. My most exciting current project is the City’s effort to craft a Master Plan for the Revitalization of the Los Angeles River, but I am equally excited by my recent success at holding the first design competition (by invitation) for a City project, a new neighborhood City Hall. I am also proud of the architectural input on a large retaining wall that is part of a major street project in Los Angeles, as well as for my work on small additions and new facilities for City parks. I was also able to lead the City’s effort to adopt LEED for City projects, with extensive support by our City Council. And my abilities and skills grow daily.
I suppose one could say I have had a non-traditional career path, or one could say I took the strengths of an architectural education and applied them liberally to the opportunities that came my way. I do believe that architecture training is a formidable background for leadership of complex tasks, and that our country would be better if more architects ventured into non-traditional work roles. My identity as an architect had never wavered; it defines my world view.
Originally published 2nd quarter 2005, in arcCA 05.2, “Other Business.”
