I grew up in the 1950s and ’60s on the southwest end of Beverly Hills, near Roxbury Park. It was a wonderful neighborhood to grow up in. We could walk everywhere… to the park, to Wilshire Boulevard for shopping at Saks, I. Magnin’s, and Haggerty’s department stores, to school. We would often walk to many […]

John Lautner was one of the most important American architects of the twentieth century, and perhaps one of the most misunderstood...

The decade of the 1950s established Southern California’s reputation for creativity in architecture. The city’s residential architecture gained international fame, largely due to the Case Study program sponsored by Arts+Architecture magazine. Through Sunset magazine, however, California design spread even more widely and popularly. The region’s growth was also gaining attention nationally; its burgeoning population led […]

Architect and historian Alan Hess has written nineteen books on Modern architecture and urbanism in the mid-twentieth century. They include The Architecture of John Lautner, Googie Redux: Ultramodern Roadside Architecture, Julius Shulman: Palm Springs, Viva Las Vegas, The Ranch House, and Oscar Niemeyer: Houses. Hess has been active in the preservation of post-World War II […]

Like the Conservancy itself, the Modern Committee began as a small group of passionate and concerned citizens and, over time, grew into a powerful voice for preservation in Los Angeles. The Modern Committee started life as the Fifties Task Force, a volunteer subcommittee of the Conservancy formed in 1984 in response to the rapid destruction […]

Helen Fong was a true pioneer. Very few women, let alone Chinese-American women, were practicing architects in postwar America...

2526 18th StreetSanta Monica, CA 90405Tel: (310) 452-7505Fax: (310) 452-1494Contact: David Kaplandavid@kckarchitects.comkckarchitects.com Kaplan Chen Kaplan provides a full range of architecture and planning services, including site and facilities analysis, programming, master planning, community workshops, concept documents for planning approvals and fundraising, historic preservation consulting, architectural design and construction documents, as well as construction phase services. We view design as a collaborative process in which client and user are integral components. Our projects stress the importance of place by providing for natural light and connection to the surrounding environment. We rely on clarity of plan as well as interest in its complexity to encourage exploration and discovery. We are interested in communities and neighborhoods, including issues of environment and conservation of resources through sustainable design. Our work acknowledges history and tradition, while embracing contemporary requirements.