Education

Masters of Architecture, Summa Cum Laude (1999), University of California, Los Angeles
Bachelors of Science in Architecture, Summa Cum Laude (1993), Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Bachelors of Science in Structural Engineering, Magna Cum Laude (1989); Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA

Bio and Affiliation

Greg is a licensed architect, landscape architect, and educator in the state of California. He has been practicing and teaching for over 26 years with projects spanning a wide array of scales, typologies, complexities, and disciplinary orientations. His work and research seek to holistically combine the techniques and strategies of architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism to create unique, sustainable, forward-thinking, equitable environments that build upon and enhance the specific qualities of a place. His research explores new initiatives and thinking around transdisciplinary design, with current work focusing on resilient environments that create synergies between natural systems, culture, infrastructure, and development.

Greg’s work has been recognized and published nationally and internationally within all three disciplines – architecture, landscape, and urban design, and exhibited in both the Venice and Rotterdam Biennales, as well as other venues, and has received recognition from prominent organizations including the Young Architects Forum Award from the Architectural League of New York, AIA, ASLA, and AIACC. He has led education sessions at both the ASLA and AIA National Conventions focusing on the Wildland Urban Interface, and the fire, flood, debris flow weather cycles experienced in Southern California on a recurring basis. This research seeks to engage these unique challenges of climate change within the West & Southwest United States, Australia, Central and South America, and globally. Most recently, he has published a book on the subject entitled 'The Wild', through a grant from LA County Dept. of Arts and Culture and the LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design.

A new book entitled "Wildlands in the Expanded Field: Designing in the Pyrocene" will be available from Routledge Press in 2023.

Additional areas of research involve alternative housing planning strategies and typologies, particularly those focused on issues of equity, affordability, and innovative ownership models. Specific lines of inquiry include community land trusts, land cooperatives, co-generational & co-cultural living, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, and homeless student housing.

Greg is a Partner and Design Principal at GGA+ in Pasadena, CA and the Founder of The Wild: A Research Lab, a 501(c)(3) non-profit research lab focusing on the impacts of the climate crisis in urban environments. He also serves on the Board of Community Design Group, a non-profit providing research, education, and outreach around issues of design and the built environment to underserved communities, and is a founding Board member of the ASLA SoCal Climate Action Committee. Previously, Greg served as a Board Member and Co-President of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design.

Learn more at:

Greg Kochanowski design: LACUSC, Los Angeles, CA
Greg Kochanowski design: ANW, Pasadena, CA
Greg Kochanowski design: The Resort, Playa Vista, CA
Greg Kochanowski design: SWSA, San Antonio, TX
Greg Kochanowski design: Terrazas del Sol, Commerce, CA
Greg Kochanowski design: DOCO, Sacramento, CA

Awards and Honors

  • Citation Award (2022), AIA Pasadena Design Awards - Terrazas Del Sol, Commerce, CA

  • Citation Award (2021), Westside Urban Forum Design Awards, Project: Harlow

  • Honor Award - Millennium Project (2020), AIA Los Angeles Design Awards, Project: Grand Park

  • Award (2019), Los Angeles Business Council, Project: Sacramento Downtown Commons

  • Honor Award/People’s Choice Award (2019), Westside Urban Forum Design Awards, Project:  A Resilient Infrastructure for L.A.

  • Honor Award (2018), AIA San Diego Design Awards, Project: 6th Street Mixed-Use

  • Merit Award (2018), AIA San Diego Design Awards, Project: Front Street Tower
     

  • Merit Award (2017), Preservation Excellence, Los Angeles Conservancy, Project: Columbia Square, Hollywood, CA

Professional Accomplishments and Exhibitions

Conference and Lectures

  • California Polytechnic University, Pomona, Department of Landscape and Architecture (2020), Lecture: "The Wild"

  • ASLA National Conference (2020), Lecture / Educational Panel: “Fire Across the Pacific: Australia, California, and the Climate Crisis”

  • 16th International Conference on Sustainability (2020), Pontifical Catholic University, Santiago, Chile, Lecture: “Fire, Flood, Slide: The Other Impacts of Climate Change”

  • AIA National Conference (2019), Lecture / Educational Panel: “Fire, Flood, Slide: The Other Impacts of Climate Change”

  • Collective Impact (2019), Buro Happold, Lecture 

  • Landscape Architecture Podcast  (2019), Interview: https://www.larchitect.org/greg-kochanowski/

  • ASLA National Conference (2018), Lecture / Educational Panel: “Fire, Flood, Slide: The Other Impacts of Climate Change”

  • Harvard University, Graduate School of Design (2017), Lecture/Workshop: "Structures & Life Cycles of Practices"

  • ASLA National Conference (2017), Lecture / Field Session: "Silicon Beach and the Planned Community of Playa Vista"

Exhibitions

  • 12th International Architecture Exhibit (2010), Venice Biennale / Venice, Italy, Exhibition: Project: Duck and Cover - Mixed-Used Development

  • Internationale Architectuur (2009) Rotterdam Biennale/ Rotterdam, Netherlands, Exhibition: Project: Duck and Cover - Mixed-Used Development

  • Image Exhibition (2008) Bergamont Station, Metro Los Angeles Expo Line-A, Santa Monica, CA

  • ‘Enlightened Development’ Exhibition at A+D Museum, Los Angeles, CA, (2007),  Project: Avenue 26 mixed-use development

  • ‘Lower Mill Estate – Scenarios for Alternative Living’  Exhibition, Victoria and Albert Museum London (2005), Project: Flex-Deck-Spec House, Gloustershire, UK

Publications

  • Archinect (2021), Interview, Wildlands Research

  • Greening Gardens Podcast (2021), Interview, Wildlands Research

  • New York Times (2021), Interview: “How to Calm Your Climate Anxiety”

  • Landscape Architecture Magazine (2021), Interview: “Fire at the Doorstep”

  • The Wild (2020), Los Angeles Forum for Architecture & Urban Design, Los Angeles County Dept. Arts & Culture

  • Flaunt Magazine (2018), Article: “The Future is Totally Wild”

  • Ground Up, Issue 07, “Consequence” (2018), University of California Press, Article: “The Wild”

  • Not Neutral (2017), Article: “The Wild”, Article: “Remapping the Grid”

Clients and Employment History