METROPOLIS Celebrates the Arch30 Los Angeles Cohort

Los Angeles’s next generation of architects, representing many of the city’s leading architecture practices, came together for the latest installment of the METROPOLIS Arch30 program, an inspiring day focused on leadership, personal growth, and the future of the profession. 

The Arch30 program recognizes rising architectural professionals nominated by leading firms across the country for their talent, leadership, and potential to shape the future of architecture. The Los Angeles cohort brought together emerging leaders from Brooks + Scarpa, CO Architects, Corgan, DLR Group, HDR, HGA, HKS, HMC Architects, HOK, KTGY, Perkins Eastman, Perkins&Will, RIOS, SmithGroup, and SOM. Together, they formed a diverse cross-section of the city’s architecture community, representing a range of practices, disciplines, and perspectives while sharing a common interest in advancing the profession. 

The inspiring workshop was made possible with the support of Airfixture, Arktura, Bradley Corp., Kwik-Wall, Tate, and Zurn Elkay Water Solutions.

New Voices Shaping the Built Environment 

Led by METROPOLIS Editor at Large, Verda Alexander, the Arch30 workshop offered participants an opportunity to step away from the demands of project work and reflect on their individual paths as emerging leaders. Through facilitated conversations, interactive exercises, and peer-to-peer dialogue, attendees explored how personal values, professional ambitions, and a sense of purpose can inform the way they lead. 

A central component of the workshop was an Ikigai exercise, a Japanese framework focused on discovering one’s “reason for being.” Participants reflected on the intersection of their passions, strengths, values, and the needs of the world around them. In small-group conversations, architects shared experiences and perspectives on what motivates them, what kind of work they hope to pursue, and how they can translate those aspirations into meaningful professional impact. 

Connecting Los Angeles’s Emerging Leaders 

Beyond the workshop itself, the Arch30 program created space for participants from across the Los Angeles architecture community to connect with one another. Bringing together professionals from some of the region’s most influential firms fostered an exchange of ideas that extended beyond individual practices and project types. 

The diversity of the cohort was particularly reflective of Los Angeles itself, by bringing these varied perspectives into the same room, Arch30 offered a forum for emerging leaders to consider not only their own careers, but also the collective future of architecture in the region. 

The program concluded with a networking reception, providing Arch30 honorees and program partners an opportunity to continue conversations from the day’s workshop, build new professional relationships, and share ideas about the challenges and opportunities shaping architectural practice today. 

METROPOLIS Arch30 Los Angeles Honorees