VENICE ARCHITECT HONORED FOR 'MOBILE' IDEAS ABOUT HOUSING.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

VENICE - Woodbury University professor Jennifer Siegal, named one of the nation's best and brightest by Esquire Magazine, is leading a movement to rethink mobile homes and portable architecture.

Inspired by the rush of Los Angeles freeways and the kinetic power of trucks that transport everything from food to concrete, Siegal is pushing her peers to re-examine how mobile homes are designed and built.

``The power of design is extraordinary,'' Siegal said, sitting in her sunny, open-air studio just blocks from the ocean. ``It's been pushed aside, or treated as an afterthought all too often.''

Siegal and her four-person firm, Office of Mobile Design, are working to design the trailer park of the future: affordable, wired, environmentally sensitive and easy on the eyes.

``I am constantly amazed at how ugly most mobile homes are,'' Siegal said. ``The building materials are ugly, they are poorly constructed and they are blights on the landscape. There needs to be an alternative.''

Siegal's first mobile-home village will soon sprout on a 2.5-acre plot of land in downtown Los Angeles not far from Union Station. The specially designed units will be stacked to allow a roof garden on one side and a shaded garage on the other.

``It's all about living easier on the land,'' said Siegal, who uses only ``smart'' materials like bamboo, gels, plastics and polymers in her designs. Air pockets rather than traditional insulation will keep the homes warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Siegal is particularly incensed that the people who most often find themselves living in trailers are those on the fringes of society, especially in Southern California, where home prices are exorbitant.

``Everyone deserves better homes and better schools, and there is no reason that they shouldn't have them,'' Siegal said. ``Good design should be available to everyone.''

Esquire's list of America's Best and Brightest, included in the magazine's December ``Genius'' issue, includes Siegal among 38 men and women ``who are going against the grain, producing miracles in defiance of convention,'' according to Editor in Chief David Granger.

Siegal certainly fits that bill, having fought for most of the last decade to persuade fellow architects that portable architecture merits reconsideration.

``It has been difficult to convince people that it doesn't have to be this way, the way it's always been,'' Siegal said. ``Recognition from Esquire and other publications is vindication for me and my ideas.''

Siegal's colleagues praise her determination and tenacity in pursuing her vision.

``Just like all progressive ideas, they took a while to catch on, but once they did, the movement became a wildfire,'' said Annie Chu, a Los Angeles architect. ``Jennifer was really at the forefront of it all.''

An associate professor at Burbank-based Woodbury since 1997, Siegal praises the university for allowing her the freedom to pursue her muse while providing the financial security that comes with a full-time teaching position.

``Woodbury gave me a blank slate really allowed me to grow into my shoes,'' Siegal said. ``They gave me the green light to create, to conjure up an idea and implement it, often with my students input and help.''

In return, Siegal has made a significant contribution to Woodbury, which prides itself on its commitment to putting innovative ideas and techniques to use, said Heather Kurze, the dean of the the school of architecture and design.

Heather MacDonald, [phone]

heather.macdonald(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Architect Jennifer Siegal shows off the model she designed for a mobile computer classroom. Siegal has been named one of Esquire magazine's Best and Brightest for her ideas.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer