Made in LA: Architect David Thompson

The homegrown West Coast Modernist discusses his firm’s approach, their notable residential projects and how growing up on the Sunset Strip shaped him.

QUOTES

“As architects we’re on a constant learning process. We learn from everything—we learn from every step we make, and every project we’re a part of, and every client and every problem that we’re solving on every project,” he says. “That’s the beauty of the medium of architecture. As architects we never stop learning.”

On growing up in Los Angeles: "It was super inspiring and an incredible place to be as a young person. I think it set me up for the life that I’m living both as an artist and architect, and as a person. It was a great foundation."

“LA is a pioneering place for all kinds of arts and incredible thinkers and people here who have really shaped the world. In that way, that’s what we’re trying to celebrate about LA as well.”

“I grew up on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood,” says architect David Thompson, who’s lived in LA since age four, and was steeped in design at a young age courtesy of his architect father.

Sleepovers in a Schindler house in Silverlake (Howe House) were common, as was gazing over the twinkling expanse of the Hollywood Hills from his bedroom windows.

Growing in his young mind is what Thompson describes as a “subtle kind of fiber,” which would blossom after architecture school in New Orleans and a return to Los Angeles.

There he got to work designing, eventually opening his own firm, Assembledge+, which is known for its award-winning new Modernist residences and studied renovations that add faithful new chapters and volumes to existing Mid Century works. There’s also commercial projects, notably restaurants offering keenly felt residential and sensory experiences.

“Hollywood has been my developmental playground for my whole life, so it’s kind of perfect that we’re smack dab in the middle of Hollywood,” Thompson says of Assembledge+, which is located steps from Sunset and Vine, and a couple of blocks south of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In this far-reaching interview, Los Angeles architect David Thompson joins Titans of Trade to discuss his firm’s approach and his award-winning Laurel Hills residence; as well as the cultivation of his design eye, and the unique West Coast Modernist aesthetic his firm is known for. “California has always been on the radar in the world,” he points out. “We are continuing a Modernist sensibility that has been cultivated here for many years, and carrying on that torch.”

Take the firm’s Laurel Hills Residence. This open-air residence, consisting of three volumes linked by glass hallways, was built by Thompson for his family in Studio City— and has captured over a dozen awards in the U.S. and beyond. “It resonates with a lot of people,” the architect says of its appeal. “All of our work, we consider it to be a warm Modernism. It’s quite accessible to people [and they] understand it.” Typical of an Assembledge+ project, the floorplan stays linked to the landscape—and so do the materials, which present a tactile experience that furthers one’s connection with their surroundings. “If there’s a subtle engagement with nature on a daily basis that just kind of happens, I think inspires you as a human,” the architect points out. Thompson also talks his firm’s historic renovations, where Mid Century California homes are updated and expanded with a current stamp that’s still truthful to the original premise of the project.

“We are trying to put ourselves back into the shoes of the designers and architects of the time—but we realize also that we’re a part of that thread of history that’s going into this project,” describes Thompson.

“We’re breathing new life into it and bringing it up to modern day, so hopefully that historical thread will stay with it for much longer, and then we add a layer of that history to the project and to the place.”