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LeanArch:
Adding whimsy to sophisticated design |
He doesn’t wear a cape, but architect James Meyer, AIA, principal of Los Angeles firm LeanArch, has a superhero thing going on nonetheless. Having started his solo practice in 2000 with small projects like bathroom remodels and room additions, Meyer says he began his fledgling firm with a passionate concept. “There was a lot of building going on in L.A., and I knew that if we kept to the idea that we were a firm that could be counted on to do reliable, fair, ethical service and good design, we would grow,” he says. “I told my office, ‘This is the hall of justice, and we’re the superfriends battling bad design. Everyone has their own superpower to bring to the mix.’ ” Now with a team of 11 and a full roster of residential and commercial projects completed and on the boards, Meyer’s nontraditional approach is just one facet of a serious business with sophisticated design leanings.
Click here to see images of six projects by LeanArch.
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For Meyer, who grew up in Los Angeles’s beach communities and has found his way back there after world travel and stints working for SOM in New York City, as well as Johnson Fain Partners and Lubowicki Lanier Architects in Los Angeles, a whimsical approach to serious architecture keeps the work interesting. Whimsy doesn’t get in the way of the practical, however. Meyer sought from the onset to establish solid relationships with contractors to make sure projects were properly completed. He enjoys the hands-on approach so much he decided to establish a building division at LeanArch in 2006 and got his general contractor’s license. He runs that division as a separate part of the business, at times even bidding on design work LeanArch already has in hand. “The construction side has helped us breathe a lot of vitality into the work,” Meyer says. It’s also helped him get back to the sustainable techniques he learned in college, at California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo. “While at SOM, I learned a lot about working at a huge firm on really big projects, where everything was so machined and refined,” he says. “But with LeanArch, I wanted to get back to the sustainable techniques Cal Poly really pushed—rammed earth and hay-bale construction and such. Part of me shied away from that type of building at the time as too California. Experience with the opposite of all that has really made me see its value.” Meyer has a three-tiered approach to sustainability. First come the smart design techniques that don’t cost the client any money—orientation, wind and sun exposure, and such. Next, he tries to be responsible with the finishes and materials he uses. Then, he tries to incorporate alternative energy sources for his projects, including flash furnaces and solar panels. He also tries to make sure the projects he designs won’t become obsolete in years to come, going so far as to put in accessible hookups for electric vehicles in some of them. Do his clients have electric cars? “Not yet, but we figure they will one day,” he says. “We want to be sure the provisions are there.”
Meyer says his colleagues in New York used to make fun of his easygoing So Cal ways. He doesn’t mind. The architect, who is also a guitarist (his current band is called Bride Primer), says he started LeanArch in college as a fictitious firm that would have “approachable, rock ’n’ roll architects.” His now very real firm has that, but it also has a principal who starts his day at 4:30 a.m. and often works past dark. “I’m fortunate,” says Meyer. “It’s never a chore.”
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