David Montalba, FAIA, SIA, LEED AP (born 1972 in Florence, Italy) is a Swiss-American architect based in Santa Monica, California. He is the founding principal of Montalba Architects, established in 2004.

Early life and education

Montalba was born in

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

and raised in both Lausanne, Switzerland and Carmel and San Diego, California. He attend

Southern California Institute of Architecture Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is a private architecture school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1972, SCI-Arc was initially regarded as both institutionally and artistically avant-garde and more adventurous than t ...

(SCI-Arc) where he earned his Bachelor of Architecture in 1996 and completed his Master of Architecture at UCLA in 2000.

Career

Upon graduating from UCLA, he started his career with Fehlman Labarre Architects and has worked with design driven practices in Los Angeles including

Frank Gehry Frank Owen Gehry, , FAIA (; ; born ) is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions. His works are considered ...

, Rios Associates, and Pugh Scarpa, before establishing Santa Monica-based Montalba Architects, Inc. in 2004. He is also an adjunct professor at UCLA's Graduate School of Architecture. He has served as a Board Member and Treasurer of the Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects and an advisor to the AIA's Academic Outreach and 2x8 Exhibition Committees. David has also served as a Board Member of the

A+D Museum A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

in Los Angeles and a registered member of NCARB.

Awards and recognition

Montalba has received 30 awards from the notable American Institute of Architect (AIA) including the 2008 National Young Architect Award, Institute Honor Award in 2011 and 2019, 2013 AIA LA Presidential Honor Award for Building Team of the Year and in 2016, he was elevated to the College of the Fellows of the AIA. He was named one of the Top 20 Under 40 winners by ENR California in 2012 and listed as one of the 40 Under 40 architects by

Building Design + Construction A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and funct ...

in 2012. In 2020, AN Interior named him one of the Top 50 Architects of the year.

Selected projects

Hospitality * SOHO House - Malibu, California *

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Palo Alto - Palo Alto, California * Whitepod, Zen Suite – Monthey, Switzerland * Whitepod Suites-Chalets – Monthey, Switzerland * Nobu Ryokan - Malibu, California * Nobu Malibu - Malibu, California * Equinox - Vancouver, British Columbia * Equinox, Huntington Beach – Huntington Beach, California Commercial *

Headspace Headspace may refer to: *Headspace (company), an online healthcare company specializing in meditation *Headspace (organisation), an Australian non-profit organization for youth mental health *Headspace or ullage, the unfilled space in a container ...

SM Campus - Santa Monica, California * Sony Music Headquarters – Beverly Hills, California * Tom Bradley International Terminal – LA Airport - Los Angeles, California Retail * The Row Melrose – West Hollywood, California * Monique Lhuillier – New York City, New York * Carolina Herrera – Beverly Hills, California * Gabriele Colangelo – Beijing, China

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montalba, David Living people University of California alumni Swiss architects University of California, Los Angeles alumni 1972 births