Barbara Bestor

Last updated
Barbara Bestor
Born1966
Education Harvard University
Southern California Institute of Architecture
OccupationArchitect
Known for Beats Electronics, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea
Spouse(s)Tom Stern (divorced); Adam Silverman (divorced)
Children2

Barbara Bestor (born 1966) is an American architect based in Los Angeles, California. She is the principal of Bestor Architecture, founded in 1992. [1] Examples of her work include the Beats Electronics Headquarters in Culver City, [2] Blackbirds, small lot housing in Los Angeles, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea in Los Angeles, [3] the revitalization of Silvertop, originally designed by John Lautner [4] and the Toro Canyon House in Santa Barbara. [5] In 2017 she was elected to the AIA's College of Fellows. [6]

Contents

Early life

Barbara Bestor grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where her father was an anthropologist and her mother was a college administrator. [1] [7] She interned for Cambridge Seven Associates through college, with a study-abroad year at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, eventually graduating from Harvard University in 1987. [1] [7] [8] She then received a master's degree in architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles in 1992. [1] [8] [9]

Career

Bestor began her architectural practice in Los Angeles in 1992. [1] In her early career, she renovated many private residences in the Los Angeles area. [1] She also designed the Actors' Gang theater in Hollywood with fellow architect Norman Millar. [1] In 2001, she taught architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. [1] She returned to Los Angeles a year later, in 2002. [1] She has taught architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles. [10]

Bestor has taught at the Woodbury University School of Architecture in Burbank, California, where she is also the executive director of the Julius Shulman Institute. [8] [11] She was the founding Chair of the Graduate program. [8] [11] In 2014, with Catherine Gudis, Thomas Kracauer, and Shannon Starkey, she curated an exhibition about the environmental graphic designer Deborah Sussman at Woodbury. [12] She has been a TEDx speaker. [11] In 2017 the exhibition Albert Frey and Lina Bo Bardi: A Search for Living Architecture, designed by Bestor Architecture, opened at the Palm Springs Art Museum. [13]

Bestor has designed private residences in Echo Park, Pacific Palisades, Mount Washington, Silverlake, Los Feliz, Topanga Canyon, and Santa Barbara. [1] [10] [14] [15] She has also designed stores and restaurants in Los Angeles, New York City, and Tokyo. [1] [10] [16] In 2011, she was the recipient of the LA Restaurant Design Award from the American Institute of Architects for her design of the Pitfire Pizza in LA. [9] She was also nominated for the James Beard Foundation Award for the same restaurant that year. [9] The Floating Bungalow house in Venice, CA was featured in MOCA's 2013 survey of contemporary Los Angeles architecture. [17] In 2015, the Beats By Dre Headquarters was recognized with a National AIA Honor Award for Interior Architecture. [18] In 2017 two new projects opened, the Ashes & Diamonds Winery and Event Center [19] and the Silverlake Conservatory of Music. [20] Since the opening of Blackbirds [21] Bestor has explored a variety of housing solutions for Los Angeles, ultimately receiving second place in the city's Low Rise competition. [22]

Personal life

She has two daughters from a previous marriage. [23]

Bibliography

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Emily Young, Building a Name for Herself, The Los Angeles Times , March 14, 2002
  2. ↑ Zeiger, Mimi (July 22, 2014). "Beats By Dre's Splashy New Headquarters" . Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  3. ↑ Hodge, Brooke (May 15, 2008). "L.A. Interiors Bestor In Show" . Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "Silvertop".
  5. ↑ Lennon, Christine. "Grand Canyon". Archived from the original on 25 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "College of Fellows - AIA".
  7. 1 2 Kimberly Stevens, House Proud: A Simple Playhouse At Cut Corners, The New York Times , March 20, 2003
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Woodbury University School of Architecture: Faculty webpage". Archived from the original on 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
  9. 1 2 3 Southern California Institute of Architecture: Alumni Archived December 9, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  10. 1 2 3 A Conversation With Architect Barbara Bestor Archived 2014-12-08 at the Wayback Machine , TheAgencyRE, July 11, 2014
  11. 1 2 3 TED: OlympicBoulvdWomen: Speakers & Performers Archived December 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ Christopher Hawthorne, She Loves L.A. Archived 2014-12-08 at the Wayback Machine , Metropolis Magazine , March 2014
  13. ↑ The Many Surprising Parallels Between the Architecture of Lina Bo Bardi and Albert Frey, Metropolis, 14 September 2017
  14. ↑ Lawren Howell, What Makes Mona Moore the Coolest Shoe Store in Los Angeles, Vogue , November 4, 2009
  15. ↑ Alison Cavatore, Barbara Bestor-Designed Property Listed for $3.25 Million, Haute Living, August 31, 2012
  16. ↑ Erin Feher, Ladies of de LaB Dig Deep Into the LA Design Scene, California Home Design, 12/12/13
  17. ↑ Hawthorne, Christopher (June 29, 2013). "Review: MOCA's revamped architecture show a model of insularity" . Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  18. ↑ Johnson, Sara. "Institute Honor Awards: Interior Architecture". No. January 9, 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "New Winery Hopes to Make Old School Wine Cool Again with a Modern Tasting Room". 16 August 2017.
  20. ↑ "Flea Takes Us on a Tour of the New Silverlake Conservatory of Music (VIDEO)". 28 October 2016.
  21. ↑ "Blackbirds: Barbara Bestor's Housing Experiment Lands in Echo Park". 21 July 2015.
  22. ↑ "A Less Atomized, More Communitarian Los Angeles? Low-Rise Winners Point the Way". 16 May 2021.
  23. ↑ Jacobs, Alexandra (10 April 2015). "Aahs for the Bride and Oohs for the House". The New York Times.
  24. ↑ Google Books
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