JFAK Architects

A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hearing Alice Kimm (the mother of one of my classmates and one of my sisters, too) talk about her work in architecture.
In the past, when I thought of architecture I thought of maximizing space and staying consistent with lines. I remember walking around my neighborhood growing up and hearing my dad point out when a house had a poor combination of arches and square windows (or things like that), and I remember hearing my dad talk with the contractors about dividing me and my sisters shared bathroom into two separate bathrooms (they talked a lot about conserving and maximizing both spaces).
However, after hearing Mrs. Kimm speak, I have a newfound respect for the living, breathing soul of the buildings around me. When Alice Kimm described the buildings she's done or refurbished, she talked a lot about being inspired by the function of the space and tailoring the architecture of the space to its function. She talked extensively about light, contrast, and use of interesting shapes. Because of Mrs. Kimm, I've started looking more critically at the spaces I walk into; I notice the use of lighting, I notice the different interesting design features, and I take note of how I feel walking into different spaces. I never realized how many different factors go into making a building come to life.
One interesting take away from Mrs. Kimm's presentation was her opinion on architecture in Los Angeles; to Mrs. Kimm, many of the buildings in LA aren't very interesting, don't highlight the function of the building, and don't really represent LA as a culture and a city. I think it will be interesting to see if the LA skyline changes in the next 20 years because of revolutionary architects like Mrs. Kimm who see architecture as a form of art that represents a people.