CHAVA DANIELSON
DSH // architecture, AIA
SAY IT LOUD - CALIFORNIA Exhibitor​
California Based Designer
Who or what inspires you professionally?
My current colleagues on the Board of Directors of the AIA Los Angeles are a remarkable group. We are young and older; wise, ambitious and impatient. We represent the most diverse Board to date, and the very best our profession has to offer.
CHAVA DANIELSON
Bio:
Chava Danielson, AIA is Principal of DSH // architecture with specialties in design and project advocacy. She focuses on imparting beauty and sensitive programming to recharge underserved neighborhoods through educational, therapeutic and residential projects. She holds an M.Arch from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, is Secretary of the Board of Directors of the AIA Los Angeles, also serving on the AIA CC Board. She teaches Design Studio at the USC School of Architecture.
​
How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?
An early memory is walking by the Danziger studio in our neighborhood as a child. There was an air of mystery - particularly in the winter when the rear studio was both hidden but lit to the street. Whatever was going on was certainly wonderful.
​
What do you do?
I am an Architect - Principal of a small-scale firm - and a design studio instructor. Many of our clients are non-profit organizations and our work is often child-centered. Demonstrating the possibilities of design is an important part of what I do.
​
What excites you in the work you do?
To take an overlooked program in an overlooked neighborhood and transform it into something truly unexpected is a remarkable act of creativity.
​
Who or what inspires you professionally?
My current colleagues on the Board of Directors of the AIA Los Angeles are a remarkable group. We are young and older; wise, ambitious and impatient. We represent the most diverse Board to date, and the very best our profession has to offer.
​
What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?
Introducing people to the joys of re-envisioning our world, our cities, our spaces
​
Featured Project Name:
Larchmont School @ Lafayette Park
​
Featured Project Location:
Los Angeles
​
Featured Project Completion Date:
2014​
​
Role in Featured Project:
Design Principal
​
Featured Project Description:
Transformation of a mid-century building into a 21st century high school campus in the heart of the city: modern, sustainable, flexible, open to its environment and supportive of a diverse, involved community of stakeholders. Designed by Welton Becket & Associates in 1957, this once-elegant building is now a design-centered, innovatively-programmed school campus comprising light-filled classrooms of operable windows offering views both across the building interior and outward, engaging the city.
​