Mia Lehrer, born Mía Guttfreund (San Salvador, El Salvador)[1] is a Salvadoran American landscape architect. She received a B.A. from Tufts University with a degree in environmental design and a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.[2] Lehrer is one of the first professionals to incorporate both of her degrees to design sustainable landscapes.[3]

Biography

Mía Guttfreund was born in the first half of the 1950s in San Salvador, capital of El Salvador. She is the daughter of German Jewish refugees who fled to Latin America because of Nazi persecution. Her parents did not have high school degrees, but her father was able to find success in the export business. Her childhood would inspire her work later in life. She would later say that "nature was always present and palpable" and that she "was always aware of it and it was always on [her] mind." She also recalled how DDT had damaged coastal ecosystems and was impacted when experts worked to help reverse the damage.[4] In the late 1970s, El Salvador was facing worsening political conflicts and Lehrer's father urged her to leave the country and complete her undergraduate studies in the United States.[1]

Having immigrated to the United States, she went to Tufts University near Boston. She intended studying international relations or urban planning, and her senior thesis examined the impact that dams in El Salvador had had on communities and habitats. While attending a lecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, she found an exhibition of Frederick Law Olmsted's landscape drawings and after added encouragement from landscape architect Peter Walker, decided to go on to study landscape architecture. She completed her degree at Tufts and applied to the landscape design program at Harvard;[4] There, she studied under Peter Walker and was influenced by the work of Ian McHarg and Cornelia Hahn Oberlander.[1]

She met her husband, Los Angeles architect Michael B. Lehrer, at Harvard; after graduating, the couple relocated to Southern California and eventually settled in Los Angeles. Mia ran a private studio out of her home focused on residential landscape design.[4] By the late 1980s, her interest in environmental issues and activist work as well as tree planting projects around the neighborhood connected her with Andy Lipkis, founder of TreePeople, who introduced her to sessions where government officials, engineers and activists were involved. These sessions led her to making the public realm a focus of her professional work rather than just her private work. During this time, she formalized her office and established a professional studio, Mia Lehrer + Associates, in 1995;[5] this studio has evolved into Studio-MLA and now includes an office in San Francisco.[1]

Career

She is the founder and president of Mia Lehrer + Associates,[5] a landscape architecture firm based in Los Angeles, California. Her breakthrough to public work was her work on the 2000 master plan for the Silver Lake Reservoir. Notable projects include the Annenberg Community Beach House, the revitalization of the San Pedro Waterfront, and 3.5 acres of outdoor gardens for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. She designed Vista Hermosa Park, which was the first new public park in downtown Los Angeles in 100 years.[6] More recently, Leher has been involved with the design and building of complex large-scale infrastructural projects. Lehrer was a key author of the 2007 Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan[7] and has been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the City of Los Angeles, and community groups on related reviving efforts for nearly 20 years.[8][9] In 2010 she was named a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.[2]

On June 25, 2014, President Obama appointed her to serve a four-year term on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.[2]

She won the competition to design the FaB Park[10] on First and Broadway in Los Angeles. Her design proposal was among the four finalists.[11]

In 2015, Lehrer served as one of six selection committee members for the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence.[12]

Lehrer was appointed to the Board of Water and Power Commissioners by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on September 24, 2020, and was confirmed by the Council on October 21, 2020, for a term lasting until June 30, 2024.[13]

In 2021, Lehrer's Studio-MLA was selected to design the new Community Park as part of the Fair Park Master Plan in Dallas, Texas in partnership with Studio Outside of Dallas, architect Allison Grace Williams and Dallas architects buildingcommunityWORKSHOP as the core design team.[14]

By 2022, Lehler designed the gardens of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, scheduled to open in 2025.[15]

Lehrer is also a lecturer at the University of Southern California's School of Architecture.[16]

Awards

  • 2021 Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards, Landscape Architecture, Mia Lehrer [17]
  • Merit Award for Institutional Design from the American Society of Landscape Architects, Southern California Chapter - for their design of the North Campus Garden at the Natural History Museum[18]
  • LA Design Festival ICON Award 2015[19]
  • ASLA 2009 Professional Awards- Analysis and Planning Category Honor Award - for Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, Los Angeles, CA[20]

Projects

Project[21] City Year
670 Mesquit / Arts Matrix[22] Hollywood
Annenberg Community Beach House Santa Monica 2009
Dodger Stadium Los Angeles
First and Broadway Park (FAB Park) Los Angeles In progress as of 2022
Natural History Museum Garden Los Angeles
Hollywood Park District Inglewood In construction as of 2022
Ishihara Park[23] and Beach Improvements Santa Monica 2017
John Anson Ford Theatres Hollywood 2016
Los Angeles Federal Courthouse Los Angeles 2016
Los Angeles River Greenway[24] and Bike Path Los Angeles
Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan Los Angeles 2007
Water + Life Museum and Campus[25] Hemet
SoFi Stadium at Hollywood Park Inglewood 2021
UC Irvine Naturescape Irvine
Los Angeles Union Station Master Plan Los Angeles 2014
Orange County Great Park Irvine
Piggyback Yard Conceptual Master Plan Los Angeles 2010
Piggyback Yard Feasibility Study Los Angeles 2013
Santa Monica Village Santa Monica 2014
Silver Lake Reservoir Path and Meadow Los Angeles 2011
Vista Hermosa Natural Park Los Angeles 2008

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Miranda, Carolina A. (February 11, 2022). "How SoFi Stadium's landscape designer is transforming Los Angeles' urban grid". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 11, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 "MIA LEHRER APPOINTED TO THE U.S. COMMISSION OF FINE ARTS - States News Service". Biography In Context. Gale. July 31, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Iconic Hispanic Angelenos in History: Mia Lehrer". KCET. October 9, 2012. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 Horton, Guy (August 1, 2014). "Los Angeles: The River City?". ArchDaily. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
  5. 1 2 d.o.o., Promotim. "Working / Mia Lehrer + Associates Office". LehrerArchitects.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  6. ↑ Morrison, Patt (August 12, 2014). "Mia Lehrer on what makes a successful park, and how L.A. can build them". Retrieved March 23, 2017 – via LA Times.
  7. ↑ "Can Anyone Win in Architecture Criticism? An Appeal for a "New Sincerity"". ArchDaily.com. November 9, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  8. ↑ "This Designer Wants to Create a Real River for Los Angeles". MetropolisMag.com. July 10, 2014. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  9. ↑ "What's Taking L.A. River Revitalization So Long?". KCET.org. November 25, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  10. ↑ "FAB Civic Center Park". OMA.eu. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  11. ↑ "2015 National Design Award". Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Call for Entries: $50,000 Award for Urban Excellence". BrunerFoundation.org. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Bio-Lehrer - Board of Water and Power Commissioners". www.ladwpcommission.com. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
  14. ↑ Baldwin, Eric (January 1, 2021). "Studio-MLA to Design New Transformation of Fair Park in Dallas". ArchDaily. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
  15. ↑ Cano, Paula (September 27, 2022). "MAD Architects' Lucas Museum Reveals Latest Construction Details". ArchDaily. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Mia Lehrer, FASLA". USC School of Architecture. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  17. ↑ "2021 Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards". Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  18. ↑ Construction, MATT. "Mia Lehrer + Associates Merits ASLA/Southern California Award | News | MATT Construction". www.MattConstruction.com. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Los Angeles Design Festival". ladesignfestival.org. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  20. ↑ "2009 Professional Awards". www.ASLA.org. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Mia Lehrer | President of Studio-MLA". Studio-MLA. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  22. ↑ "670 Mesquit - Los Angeles Arts District by BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group". Architizer. March 8, 2017. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  23. ↑ "Ishihara Park: Project Details". SantaMonicaParks.org. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  24. ↑ "Multiple firms to design 12-mile long Los Angeles River bike path - Archpaper.com". Archpaper.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  25. ↑ "Water + Life Museum and Campus". Lehrer Architects. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
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