#interview with Ralph Mechur, AIA of Ralph Mechur Architects
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| Ralph Mechur, AIA of Mechur Architects |
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This podcast and blog are sponsored by:
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| Santa Monica High School: project of Massetti Consulting |
Massetti Consulting, LLC is a California Limited Liability Company and Certified Small Business Enterprise, with a focus on Program, Project and Construction Management. We are true advocates for our clients and offer personalized dedication to your projects. We are a small firm with big firm experience.
Massetti Consulting is well versed in conceptual project development, funding/financing strategies, design professional procurement and oversight, constructability reviews and backcheck and value engineering support
Massetti Consulting is well versed in conceptual project development, funding/financing strategies, design professional procurement and oversight, constructability reviews and backcheck and value engineering support
listen to podcast with Ralph Mechur, AIA here
Ralph Mechur, AIA of Ralph Mechur Architects
Ralph Mechur Architects2800 Airport Ave., #1ASanta Monica, CA 90405(cell) 310-721-1254
(tel) 310-398-2940
www.rmechurarchitects.com ralph@rmechurarchitects.com
Community
Ralph is guided by the belief that a community can, and should, be built with the basic
agreement that everyone deserves access to a safe home, a quality education, and a strong
community.
Ralph's work on City boards and commissions, non- profit organizations and the Santa
Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education has been recognized by
community and regional leaders, including the California State Assembly and Senate,
the Los Angeles City Council, the Church in Ocean Park in Santa Monica, and from the
AIA as a Citizen Architect.
Ralph has led numerous successful school bond and advocacy campaigns that have raised
community awareness about the importance of public education and raised hundreds of
millions of dollars for programs and facilities to support public education, keeping the Santa
Monica public schools among the best in the State and Nation.
Ralph's practice, established in 1992, has maintained a focus on housing and social
agency projects, including providing pro-bono services for several projects that align
with his focus on providing space for everyone to have shelter and opportunities for
success.
Housing
Few things are more important than ensuring people have the dignity of a safe home to live in.
As the City of Santa Monica has become a regional center of recreation and commerce and a
desirable place to live, it has also become unaffordable to most low-income and middle-
income people, having a severe jobs/housing imbalance, and a significant population of
homeless individuals and families.
Ralph's focus on solutions to the housing crisis as a community leader and practitionerhave
led to policies and examples that can lead to the creation of a more inclusive, equitable, and
afiordable community.
In 2006, Ralph designed the OPCC/Annenberg Access Center, which provides essential
services to over 200 homeless individuals daily, including food, health care, counseling,
job placement, laundry, and showers.
Since 2017, Ralph has served on the Board of Directors of the Community Corporation of
Santa Monica, where he helps oversee the development of new affordable housing projects
and the maintenance of over 2,000 units across Santa Monica and neighboring areas.
His connection to Community Corporation dates back to the 1980s when he designed its
first ground-up project—a 43- unit development across five sites in an older neighborhood
for low-income individuals and families.
Education
In 2001, Ralph co-founded the Community for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS), an
advocacy group that successfully secured a $6 million annual agreement with the City
of Santa Monica, in exchange for community use of facilities. These funds help
maintain and expand existing programs and smaller class sizes that had been lost due
to reductions in State funding to its public schools. Currently the City provides over $10
million annually.
Ralph was a Board member of the Santa Monica- Malibu Education Foundation(SMMEF)
from 1989 through 2007. Ralph led efforts to raise several million dollars, establishing
endowments for academics and the arts that continue to fund annual enrichment programs
districtwide.
Ralph served on the Santa Monica-Malibu Board of Education from 2007 — 2020. By
focusing on the value of architecture and the importance of the built environment, he
helped move the district from following the typical ‘container classroom’ approach in K-
12 school design and teaching, to one that embraces innovation in design and
teaching. Under his leadership, the district adopted sustainability guidelines and a
districtwide Sustainability Plan and Educational Specifications ensuring that
modernized and new facilities will emphasize sustainable design and flexibility of
leaning spaces.
Ralph is guided by the belief that a community can, and should, be built with the basic
agreement that everyone deserves access to a safe home, a quality education, and a strong
community.
Ralph's work on City boards and commissions, non- profit organizations and the Santa
Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education has been recognized by
community and regional leaders, including the California State Assembly and Senate,
the Los Angeles City Council, the Church in Ocean Park in Santa Monica, and from the
AIA as a Citizen Architect.
Ralph has led numerous successful school bond and advocacy campaigns that have raised
community awareness about the importance of public education and raised hundreds of
millions of dollars for programs and facilities to support public education, keeping the Santa
Monica public schools among the best in the State and Nation.
Ralph's practice, established in 1992, has maintained a focus on housing and social
agency projects, including providing pro-bono services for several projects that align
with his focus on providing space for everyone to have shelter and opportunities for
success.
Housing
Few things are more important than ensuring people have the dignity of a safe home to live in.
As the City of Santa Monica has become a regional center of recreation and commerce and a
desirable place to live, it has also become unaffordable to most low-income and middle-
income people, having a severe jobs/housing imbalance, and a significant population of
homeless individuals and families.
Ralph's focus on solutions to the housing crisis as a community leader and practitionerhave
led to policies and examples that can lead to the creation of a more inclusive, equitable, and
afiordable community.
In 2006, Ralph designed the OPCC/Annenberg Access Center, which provides essential
services to over 200 homeless individuals daily, including food, health care, counseling,
job placement, laundry, and showers.
Since 2017, Ralph has served on the Board of Directors of the Community Corporation of
Santa Monica, where he helps oversee the development of new affordable housing projects
and the maintenance of over 2,000 units across Santa Monica and neighboring areas.
His connection to Community Corporation dates back to the 1980s when he designed its
first ground-up project—a 43- unit development across five sites in an older neighborhood
for low-income individuals and families.
Education
In 2001, Ralph co-founded the Community for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS), an
advocacy group that successfully secured a $6 million annual agreement with the City
of Santa Monica, in exchange for community use of facilities. These funds help
maintain and expand existing programs and smaller class sizes that had been lost due
to reductions in State funding to its public schools. Currently the City provides over $10
million annually.
Ralph was a Board member of the Santa Monica- Malibu Education Foundation(SMMEF)
from 1989 through 2007. Ralph led efforts to raise several million dollars, establishing
endowments for academics and the arts that continue to fund annual enrichment programs
districtwide.
Ralph served on the Santa Monica-Malibu Board of Education from 2007 — 2020. By
focusing on the value of architecture and the importance of the built environment, he
helped move the district from following the typical ‘container classroom’ approach in K-
12 school design and teaching, to one that embraces innovation in design and
teaching. Under his leadership, the district adopted sustainability guidelines and a
districtwide Sustainability Plan and Educational Specifications ensuring that
modernized and new facilities will emphasize sustainable design and flexibility of
leaning spaces.
Ralph's Three Classic Buildings:
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| Kimbell Museum, Dallas, Texas by Louis Kahn |
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| Schindler House, Los Angeles, California by Rudolf Schindler, Architect |
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| Gehry House, Santa Monica, California by Frank Gehry, Architect |
So, I met Ralph a long, long time ago, probably 1985, when he was working at the office of Appleton & Associates, which later became Appleton, Mechur & Associates. My late ex-husband, Steve O'Leary (the original Steve-O) had first started working there as a student when we first started dating and that was back in the days when the office was in a garage off of a street in Westwood, maybe it was even on Westwood Blvd., you will have to correct me but then it moved to a really cool bow-truss building in Venice, just a few doors down from the Firehouse Restaurant where there would be many a lunch spent there during the 90's. In fact, Ralph told Steve about a woman architect who was looking to hire someone to do some drafting for her and I worked for her a few months after architecture school, things got slow so I moved down to San Diego and then started working for her again after 10 months of doing consulting stints for architects who just needed to get work drafted, ALL HAND DRAFTING!!! And doing some very good socially conscious projects with Diane M. Caughey, Architect who Ralph knew from UCLA.
Besides working with Ralph at Appleton, Mechur, I also worked with him on his own projects after he started his own firm and I had a baby and he referred some pretty interesting projects later on also, one that I will look for the drawing but also I describe it in the podcast and YouTube video.
Thank you Ralph!
Thank you again to Massetti Consulting for sponsoring the podcast and blog!
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