Sustainable Building Consulting
David Hertz FAIA Architects, Inc., and S.E.A., the Studio of Environmental Architecture,
builds on 25 years as an acknowledged leader in the practice of sustainable
architecture. Recently commended as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects,
David is an award-winning architect, educator and early pioneer in environmental
Architecture and green building. Our Company’s origins are rooted in a firm belief in
environmental responsibility. In 1983, David developed Syndecrete, one of the first
sustainable building materials, which were used in the first LEED Platinum commercial
building and the first LEED Platinum residential building in the U.S. David is a
founding member of the USGBC U.S. Green Building Council and a LEED accredited
professional. David’s work has been widely published and exhibited world wide for
it’s innovative and forward thinking approach to sustainable architecture and design.
S.E.A.’s role as consultant builds upon experience and success with it’s own
green building projects and offers solutions to improve the environmental
performance through cost effective and aesthetically
pleasing solutions that balance the built environment with the natural environment.
We accomplish this by providing our clients with realistic programs, innovative
thinking and strategies presented as holistic, integrated systems. Sustainable
buildings are equated with healthy buildings, resulting in greater occupant
satisfaction, reduced employee absenteeism, greater resale value and increasingly
lucrative lease contracts.
A key to project success is to ensure that all parties understand life cycle costs as
well as first costs. In a departure from many traditional economic models, sustainable
design/building sees the greatest return on investment over the lifetime of the
building or project.
David Hertz was appointed to the City of Santa Monica’s Task Force on the
Environment and consulted on the Cities green building ordinances.
David has been teaching at UCLA for the last 15 years on Ecology and Architecture
DAVID HERTZ, FAIA, LEED.AP
David Hertz is founder and president of S.E.A, formerly, Syndesis Inc.
David is a native Angeleno born in 1960 and resides in Venice, California, with his wife and three kids.
David Hertz became interested in architecture as an adolescent. And, at an early age, became interested in human habitation and the juncture between the natural and built environment. Serving as an apprentice to artists and working in construction trades gave David a tacit knowledge of construction and fabrication. With combined studies at UCLA, he enrolled at SCI-ARC (The Southern California Institute of Architecture), where there was a real interest in ecological design at the time. While there he obtained a strong foundation in pragmatic environmental design. Before graduating, in 1983, with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from SCI-ARC, David worked in the office of Architect, John Lautner FAIA (formerly an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright). After travel and study in Europe, David returned to serve an internship in the office of Frank O. Gehry and Associates FAIA before opening his own firm in 1984.
David Hertz and the work of Syndesis has been widely exhibited and published and has received numerous awards for architectural and materials design work, including the 1990 Progressive Architecture Magazine’s Young Architects Competition, the Architectural League of New York’s Young Architects Competition and Forum, and the 1993 Design Leadership Award sponsored by Inc. Magazine and Corporate Design. Recently, his work was featured in several architectural tours including CABoom, Venice Art Walk, AIA Home Tour, and the Reinvention Conferences. It has been published in architectural publications such as Dwell and Global Architecture. In 2001 the Los Angeles chapter of the AIA nominated David Hertz for the College of Fellowship.
Many of David Hertz’s furniture pieces are displayed in significant private and museum collections. In May 1995 the Syndecrete® product was included in an exhibition entitled “Mutant Materials in Contemporary Design,” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and was subsequently acquired as part of the Permanent Design Collection. In 1998 Syndecrete was exhibited at The Smithsonian Museum of American History in an exhibition entitled “Inventing for the Environment.” Most recently, Syndecrete and David’s architecture were featured in the exhibit “Liquid Stone” at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. In 2003, David won an award for Excellence in Concrete from the Oregon Chapter of the American Concrete Institute. Syndesis has won many additional national, state and local awards, including the AIA Service Award for Craftsmanship and the Sunset Magazine and AIA California Western Home Award.
David Hertz has been an active participant in the environmental and design communities for over two decades with participation in numerous organizations including service on numerous professional committees such as the L.A. Chapter of the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment, the Environmental Affairs Committee of the Construction Specifications Institute, the Environmental Committee of Concrete Organizations, and the California Energy Commission’s High Performance Wall Systems Collaborative. In 2004, he became a LEED Accredited Professional, administered by the U.S. Green Building Council.
David’s personal involvement includes membership and pro-bono services for many non-profit environmental and social service organizations including Architects, Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR), Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), The Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), and Heal the Bay.
David has served on the faculty of the SCI-Arc Professional Development Program and is currently on the Academic Advisory Committee for UCLA’s Extension Program while teaching sustainable design courses. He currently teaches a studio focused on prefabrication at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.