2025
Design Awards / Next LA - Jury Bios
DESIGN AWARDS JURORS
Marlene Imirzian, FAIA is the founding principal of Marlene Imirzian & Associates Architects with offices in Phoenix, AZ and Escondido, CA. The firm is known for its design excellence, project performance, and as a leader in integration of sustainable design practices for building. The firm was repeatedly ranked in the top 50 for sustainable design by Architect Magazine. The work is for a wide range of projects including public state and city work, commercial, multi family, higher education, health care, and residential work. Her work has been awarded numerous design awards including local and regional design awards from the American Institute of Architects and has been published internationally. Marlene was honored with Fellowship in the AIA for design in 2013. She has served the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for many years and is past chair of the national AIA Trust, national AIA Committee on Design and AIA Arizona College of Fellows. In addition to practicing architecture, Marlene is a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University where she teaches the Architecture graduate design studio.
Charles Dilworth, FAIA, LEED AP, works in a variety of project types, including civic, higher education, residential and corporate architecture. His approach to architecture centers on resolution of building program and logistics to embody an institution’s organizational and philosophical goals. Notable works include the UC Merced Social Sciences and Management Building, the California Department of Public Health Administration Building, Milpitas CA City Hall, the California Teachers Association Headquarters, and the Google Headquarters and Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
Previous to starting his own firm Charles was Principal in the San Francisco office of STUDIOS Architecture. He received his M.Arch from Yale School of Architecture in 1983, and has been Adjunct Professor at CCA and Visiting Professor at the Taliesin School of Architecture.
David A. Rubin, PLA, CPRP, FASLA, FAAR – Founding Principal, DAVID RUBIN Land Collective
David A. Rubin, PLA, CPRP, FASLA, FAAR is the founding principal of DAVID RUBIN Land Collective, a landscape architecture, urban design, and planning studio committed to practicing socially-purposeful design. David’s visionary contribution to the field in “empathy-driven design” is a hallmark of the studio, earning increasing renown for fusing issues of social justice in cities with excellence in the design of public spaces. His projects have received awards and honors from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the American Institute of Architects, among others. David was appointed by the State Department to the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations (OBO) Industry Advisory Group to advise the U.S. government on best practices in landscape architecture. He is the recipient of the 2024 Garden Club of America Elvira Broome Doolan Medal for Urban Design.
David’s current projects include the Pennsylvania Avenue Master Plan, as well as the Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial Security Master Plans, all in Washington, D.C., the Frederik Meijer Botanic Garden and Sculpture Park Master Plan and Implementation. In addition, recently completed projects include Cummins Global Headquarters Campus, Columbus, IN, and Grand Junction in Westfield, IN, as well as Pennovation Works in Philadelphia, PA, for the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California Berkeley California Memorial Stadium project, Berkeley, CA, and the university’s Southeast Campus Master Plan.
NEXT LA AWARDS JURORS
Jennifer Siegal is a leading voice in sustainable, modular, and off-site design, with nearly 30 years dedicated to reimagining how adaptable systems can shape future environments. As the founder of the Office of Mobile Design (OMD), based in Venice and Ojai, California, she has pioneered mobile and prefabricated strategies that address environmental and social challenges through the integration of industrial processes and site-sensitive innovation. Her work merges visionary thinking with technical precision—often ahead of its time and unconstrained by conventional limits—offering new possibilities for how we build and inhabit space.
Siegal was the first American woman to receive the International ArcVision Prize for Women and Architecture, celebrated for her resilience-focused proposals in disaster recovery and community regeneration. Her speculative work addresses pressing social and environmental challenges while pushing the boundaries of what architecture can be before it is realized. Siegal has also contributed to the discipline through authorship and editorial work, including Mobile: The Art of Portable Architecture and More Mobile: Portable Architecture for Today, which remain foundational texts in forward-looking design. A Loeb Fellow at Harvard and SCI-Arc graduate, Siegal has taught at USC, Woodbury, ASU, and the Frank Lloyd Wright School since 1995. In 2023, she founded the Ojai Design Posse to mentor women in the design fields—further
cementing her commitment to cultivating the future of innovation.
Michael Bulander, AIA, LEED AP is a design principal at HED and has been with the firm for 20 years. He received his master’s degree from the Technical University in Aachen, Germany (RWTH Aachen). He worked with the British-German firm Alsop and Stoermer in London and Hamburg for 6 years before coming to the US. His design work has been focusing on an integrated approach to sustainability. His work experience on small and large projects spans many building types; from Multi-family housing to PreK-12 to Higher Education. He is keen on constantly updating the knowledge repertoire, constantly learning and unlearning. A special focus in his research has been the topic of urban mining, embracing the circular economy, designing for deconstruction and the aesthetic implications of ‘reuse’. The inherent stories-, the patina-, the historic properties of materials in the context of ‘the urge to give form’ is a tension that drives his innovations.
Cory Grosser is a renowned American designer and the founder of Cory Grosser + Associates, a multidisciplinary design studio based in Pasadena, California. His philosophy, called Happy Minimalism™, blends minimalist principles with warmth and optimism, drawing inspiration from the sunny, vibrant atmosphere of his Southern California home.
Born in Rochester, NY, Cory holds degrees in Architecture from SUNY Buffalo and Industrial Design from Art Center College. He launched his career internationally with an exhibition in Milan in 2002 and has since become one of the few independent American designers to collaborate with top global brands. While he is perhaps best known for his furniture and lighting, Cory has also completed interiors and design strategies for several Fortune 500 companies. He believes good design serves both cultural and commercial purposes and has helped brands, CEOs, designers, and philanthropists use design as a strategic tool.
Cory is considered an expert in his field. In 2022, he was named HiP Product Designer of the Year by Interior Design Magazine. He was also featured on Season 3 of the television series America By Design. He has served as a juror in several international design competitions, including the Good Design Awards, the Spark Awards, the Exhibit Design Awards, the Selection Committee for Salone Satellite, Contempo, and the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition. Since 2005, Cory has been a professor at Art Center College in Pasadena, where he teaches and mentors aspiring designers.
