Enlightened Development

Advisory Board member, Developer and Urban Planner Dan Rosenfeld wrote this title wall prose:

Enlightened is one of the highest compliments in our vocabulary. It evokes the greatest cultural and political breakthroughs in the long history of Western Civilization and the highest spiritual aspirations of the East. Its root word is the most essential ingredient of good design: light.

Partnerships between developers and architects are often compared, in this city, with relationships between film producers and directors. These relationships assume, from the start, that even the smallest building, like a feature film, is too large to be created alone. Every built environment requires a “team.” Part of what distinguishes the work in this show is that each building team has been carefully attuned to the social fabric—the physical and historical contexts, neighborhood cultures and human aspirations—of our community. In that sense, this work belongs to us all and, if it is good, it is because the developers and architects have tapped into some vein of natural truth. None of the developers recognized in this show have requested this honor. We are, however, humbly appreciative of the distinction, and would like to remind our architects that their oft-quoted aphorism, “it takes a good client,” is always, always reciprocal.

Once again, we thank the architects and design professionals—and the investors, lenders and builders—who have left their many fingerprints on this body of work. And we thank Los Angeles and the neighborhoods and communities we serve.

Dan Rosenfeld, Principal
Urban Partners LLC