Architect has urban designs personally, professionally.When Karin Karin is a common feminine given name in various Germanic languages (geographically including Germany, Scandinavia, and Holland), Japanese, and in some French-speaking areas. Liljegren was just a young girl in Wayne, N.J., she used to tell her morn that she was going to the mall. But instead, she would take the bus into Manhattan and explore the city's landmarks and cultural institutions. New York's urbanity rubbed off on her, and by high school Liljegren was already working at an architecture firm and taking classes with a career in mind. "I took a precollege program in architecture at Syracuse University Syracuse University, main campus at Syracuse, N.Y.; coeducational; chartered 1870, opened 1871. Syracuse is noted for its research programs in government and industry; facilities include the Center for Science and Technology, the Newhouse Communications Center, and around the age of 17 and then I knew--this is what I want to do," she said. Liljegren, senior associate and director of adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse is the process of adapting old structures for new purposes. When the original use of a structure changes or is no longer required, as with older buildings from the industrial revolution, architects have the opportunity to change the primary function of the projects, recently added director of hospitality projects and interior design to her duties at Santa Monica-based Killefer Flammang Architects, which she joined right after receiving her master's at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX . "My first position at the company was measuring existing buildings that were going to be used for new projects," she said. "The first one that I measured was a medical building in downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or ." And downtown has remained a key location, professionally and personally. "I've been focused on downtown L.A. and I've been in charge of most adaptive research projects in the last 10 years," Liljegren said. "'Being a part of this revitalization re·vi·tal·ize tr.v. re·vi·tal·ized, re·vi·tal·iz·ing, re·vi·tal·iz·es To impart new life or vigor to: plans to revitalize inner-city neighborhoods; tried to revitalize a flagging economy. downtown has really drawn me to downtown because of its need and urbanity. I'm really drawn to the cultural aspect of downtown and I like to bring that into my architecture and design." Making sure that her projects foster personal connections is also important. "When you're designing for people, you're designing for an experience," she said. "What it should feel like inside and how that correlates to what you're building for. Which has brought me to interior architecture and design. The thing that I like the best now is that I can design total environments." Liljegren lives downtown with her 5-year-old son, Arik. In her free time, she makes sure that she and Arik are participating in the local culture and happenings. "I immerse im·merse tr.v. im·mersed, im·mers·ing, im·mers·es 1. To cover completely in a liquid; submerge. 2. To baptize by submerging in water. 3. myself into my downtown culture--knowing everything that's going on downtown," she said. "I like to expose my son to as much culture and diversity as I can, whether it's becoming friends with the homeless guy on the corner or going to all the events at the public library." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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