Design, Bitches: Lecture

Principals: Catherine Johnson, AIA and Rebecca Rudolph, AIA

Catherine Johnson and Rebecca Rudolph founded their Los Angeles-based practice Design, Bitches in 2010. Design, Bitches has been recognized with multiple awards from the AIA/LA, Surface, Architect’s Newspaper, shortlisted for the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture, and selected as the 2017 recipient of AIA/LA’s Emerging Practice Award. Catherine and Rebecca co-taught at the University of Oregon in 2016 and lectured at Columbia University, Yale University, CalArts, UCLA and George Washington University, and were the keynote speakers at the New Zealand Institute of Architects Inaugural Festival of Architecture. They have served as jurors of AIA Awards throughout the US and participated in numerous workshops and symposiums including the 7Annual Women in Design Conference, See Me, I am Here Symposium at UNLV, and Readings from the LA Forum Reader. This year they collaborated with Dezeen and Adidas to create Stomping Grounds, a park concept with programmatic adjacencies based on the original Adidas P.O.D. system shoe. Catherine & Rebecca are native Californians. Catherine received her MARCH from SCI-Arc and her BIARC from the University of Oregon; Rebecca received her MARCH from SCI-Arc and a Master of Philosophy from the University of Paris VIII.

Johnson and Rebecca founded Design, Bitches with a bold and irreverent vision to make architecture significant in daily life. Their multidisciplinary firm draws inspiration from the duos’ eclectic expertise in the areas of design, art, and pop culture. Each design transforms a collage of influences into architecture that is beautiful and layered with meaning, but also welcoming—spaces and landscapes where people want to hang out. Their work encompasses and integrates architecture, interiors, branding and graphics to expand the influence of design in a range of environments from the micro to the macro. The lecture will explore questions surrounding inspiration, collaboration, connecting with community and clients, and how material and spatial experimentation contribute to the meaning a place has for us and our emotional connection to it.