Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena: Interactions with History

The extraordinary range of projects of Escher GuneWardena Architecture – small, conceptually rigorous projects; innovative urban design proposals; and work in the fields of contemporary art and architectural history – reflects the broad cultural interests of the firm’s principals, Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena, as well as the unique conditions of Los Angeles, which has been a stage for 20th-century architecture and is, today, a hub for contemporary art.

Their presence in the world of contemporary art is confirmed by their numerous collaborations with artists such as Sharon Lockhart, Mike Kelley, and Stephen Prina. Work on historic structures includes restoration of John Lautner’s Chemosphere, Phase 1 restoration of the Eames House (in collaboration with the Getty Conservation Institute), Gregory Ain’s Greene House, the Paul R. Williams’ House, and the iconic Lovell Health House by Richard Neutra testify to Escher GuneWardena's sensitivity to, and expertise in, 20th century architectural history. Current restoration projects include John Lautner’s own house in Silver Lake, and Neutra’s Galka Scheyer house in the Hollywood Hills.

Clocks and Clouds, a monograph of the firm’s work, was released by Birkhäuser in June 2017, in conjunction with their retrospective exhibition at the Art, Design, and Architecture Museum at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Escher and GuneWardena have been guest professors at Cal Poly Pomona, University of Oregon, University of Southern California (Escher) and EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne.

Frank Escher trained at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH, Zürich), is the editor of the monograph John Lautner, Architect, was the administrator for the John Lautner Archive (1995-2007), and serves on the board of the John Lautner Foundation, the advisory boards of Julius Shulman Institute and the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design. He serves on the Conservation Committee for the Rudolph Schindler Kings Road House.

Ravi GuneWardena, FAIA, originally from Sri Lanka, studied architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and art history in Florence, Italy, and served on the Hollywood Public Art Advisory Panel for the CRA/LA. He is a teacher of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana and is a former director of the LA branch of the school. He was elevated to the AIA (American Institute of Architects) College of Fellows in 2023.

Frank Escher and Ravi Gunewardena, principals of EscherGunewardena Architecture, will examine a lineage of 20th century architectural history that positions Los Angeles as a laboratory for experimental residential design. The lecture will interrogate the historical and cultural forces that informed the work of exemplary architects such as Richard Neutra, John Lautner, Rudolf Schindler, Paul R. Williams, and Gregory Ain.

Drawing on their dual perspectives as researchers and conservation architects of seminal structures by these architects, Escher and Gunewardena will illuminate both canonical achievements and the lesser-known narratives embedded within these projects and reflect on Los Angeles’s enduring legacy as a site of radical spatial innovation and its impact on 20th-century architectural discourse.