ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Samuel Mengelkoch is a Principal at Structural Focus, where he has gained over 20 years of experience in building analysis, design, and construction administration for new, existing, and historic buildings. Sam has led staff engineers through many complex adaptive reuse, rehabilitation and seismic retrofit projects, including the Rancho Los Alamitos Adobe, the Harbor House in San Pedro, ROW DTLA Building 2, and the Landmark Building at the Proper Hotel at 710 Wilshire in Santa Monica. Sam is also President of the Southern California Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), organizes Structural Focus' internal Earthquake Response Program, and continues to aid the development of post-earthquake Accelerated Building Reoccupancy (ABR) Programs in Southern California.
Roberto Vazquez focuses on some of the most significant adaptive reuse and new construction projects in downtown Los Angeles and throughout Southern California. He previously spent 14 years at Omgivning successfully managing various projects, from large-scale, mixed-use, and adaptive reuse projects to historic renovations and office to multifamily housing conversions.
Roberto enjoys blending his creativity and design talents with his strong technical skills. This experience with existing buildings and Los Angeles City, County, and California codes has made him one of the most knowledgeable resources in the region. Additionally, Roberto has a long history of advocacy efforts tied to adaptive reuse policy, and has led those efforts with legislators, developers, planners, engineers, and fellow architects. As an expert in his field, Roberto has contributed to countless publications, media appearances and speaking events
Wayne Chang is CFO and Principal at Structural Focus. Wayne has over 25 years of experience including seismic evaluation, structural design of new buildings, adaptive reuse, and retrofit design. Projects include the designs of new office facilities, renovations/ strengthening of hotels, design modifications of production spaces, and repairs/evaluations of industrial buildings. Wayne is actively involved in Existing Buildings, Codes and Standards, and the Disaster Emergency Service Committee with the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California.
Ms. Holly Harper joined Los Angeles City Planning’s Urban Design Studio after fifteen years in the non-profit sector, focused upon urban forestry and active transportation. She received her BArch from SCI-Arc, is a licensed architect and worked to build the City's first green street (2007) in collaboration with the City of Los Angeles' Bureau of Street Services, located on Oros Street and in Steelhead Park along the Los Angeles River.
Holly is the principal author of the current update to Los Angeles’ 1999 Adaptive Reuse Ordinance, to now apply everywhere outside of downtown. She currently lives northeast of downtown and has been car-free for nearly twenty years.
