Rachel Allen (born 1970) is an American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. She is the principal and president of RADAR, Inc. (previously Rachel Allen Architecture) founded in 2002. Examples of the firm’s wide range of clients include

Grand Central Market Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor Places * Grand, Oklahoma, USA * Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre * Grand County (disambiguation) ...

, Califia Farms,

California State Parks California State Parks is the state park system for the U.S. state of California. The system is administered by the California Department of Parks and Recreation, a department under the California Natural Resources Agency. The California State ...

, and Supreme.

Early life

Allen was born and raised in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. She attended high school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart located in the original Flood Mansion, a fact she has cited as influencing her early interest in architecture.

Career

Allen began her architectural career in San Francisco at the age of 16, hired on the basis of handmade drawings from classes taken at the De Young Museum of Art. She went on to graduate summa cum laude from Princeton (A.B. and M. Arch. degrees) and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She was hired out of school by

Gehry Partners Frank Owen Gehry ( ; ; born February 28, 1929) is a Canadian-American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become attractions. Gehry rose to prominence in the ...

where she worked for five years and is a winner of the American Academy’s prestigious

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Recipients must be American citizens. Prizes have been aw ...

in Architecture. Allen has taught architecture at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

SCI-Arc Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is a private architecture school in Los Angeles, California. SCI-Arc was founded in 1972 when it was initially regarded as both institutionally and artistically avant-garde. It consists of ...

Woodbury University Woodbury University is a private university in Burbank, California. Founded in 1884 with initial campuses in Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown and Central Los Angeles, Woodbury University is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Sout ...

School of Architecture in Burbank, California, and the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC). She is a member of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

(AIA), the

Urban Land Institute The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a global nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI aims to help its members and their partners build more equitable, sustainable, heal ...

, and a graduate of Goldman Sachs 10K Small Businesses Program. Allen’s firm has designed single and multi-family residential projects in Carpinteria, Echo Park, Highland Park, Eagle Rock, and Riverside. RADAR has also designed commercial and institutional projects in Berkeley, Los Angeles, Miami, and Mexico. In 2019 her firm was awarded the Southern California Development Forum (SCDF) award for Urban Innovation for

Libros Schmibros Libros Schmibros is a lending library located in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, a predominantly Latinx neighborhood. The diversity among the residents means there is great "language diversity within Boyle Heights" as there are many bilingual individ ...

, a free lending library in Boyle Heights.

Personal life

Allen is married to Chicago-born conceptual artist Guerino (Gary) Cannone and has one daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Rachel 1970 births Living people 20th-century American architects Architects from Los Angeles Princeton University alumni American women architects Architects from California Architects from San Francisco 21st-century American architects