Join Woodbury School of Architecture for a Distinguished Alumni Lecture by alumni Mark Lahmon ’97, Founding Principal of Lahmon Architects and Mark Hershman ’97, Partner of Shubin Donaldson. This lecture will be held at Bestor Architecture.

Mark Lahmon

In 2015 Mark Lahmon founded Lahmon Architects as a firm specializing in publicly funded housing. The firm’s service is sought after in the Los Angeles housing industry for award winning design with performance-based cost efficiencies. Through design, outreach and leadership Lahmon Architects actively contributes to the city-wide challenge of providing affordable housing. Lahmon Architects provides well-designed multi-family communities of distinct character. Combined with programming that maximizes human connections these environments fortify residents’ health and confidence, empowering their upward mobility.

10 years prior to Lahmon Architects, Mark was a founding partner at PSL Architects, which also specialized in affordable housing. To date, Mark is responsible for the design and construction of over 30 affordable housing and mixed-use buildings providing over 1,500 affordable units, receiving awards at local and national levels.

Mark gained valuable insight into construction as a carpenter for 7 years in Southern California. He graduated from Woodbury University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Architecture and started his professional career at the offices of OMA and Frank Gehry before landing at KFA. It was at KFA where his experience in multi-family housing projects ranging from the adaptive reuse of numerous historic buildings to the new construction of publicly funded housing began.

Mark Hershman

A native Southern Californian, Mark Hershman graduated from Woodbury University in 1997. After his study abroad at Sorbonne University in Paris, France, he began his professional career studying with Anthony J. Lumsden, FAIA. Joining ShubinDonaldson in 2000, Mark was integral to the many ShubinDonaldson’s early signature projects that helped define the future of “creative” commercial interiors, which has now become the norm.

In 2017, he was elevated to Partner, becoming the first to join the Founding Partners in driving the vision of the firm forward. During his 20-year tenure with ShubinDonaldson, Mark has led the firm into new territory, branching into ground-up mixed-use, multi-family projects and advancing the conversation regarding adaptive reuse into more significant campus developments that are redefining the Los Angeles landscape.

Mark is continually scouting for new opportunities and pushing questions relating to the role of technology and new methods of living and working. His relentless attention to craft, detail, and the design process has made him a lynchpin at the core of SD’s reputation for innovative, award-winning design.