Kay Kaiser, 2025

2025 Posthumous Legacy Award

Kay Kaiser, longtime architecture critic for the San Diego Union-Tribune, focused her efforts to elevate the discussion of architecture on the lofty goal of helping San Diego find its architectural identity during a time when seemingly all of San Diego was trying to understand and live up to the city’s moniker of “America’s Finest City.”  During Kay’s tenure debates over the construction of the Convention Center were commonplace, Post-Modernism was waning while Deconstructivism was emerging, and our own AIA chapter pondered whether we were “Brats” or “Debutantes.” 

Kay’s use of pithy and straightforward comments was meant to help local architects up their game.  Her invective and often witty analogies encouraged, cajoled and often chided, but rarely mocked or ridiculed the designers of the 1980s and 1990s who were in a position to change this city. 

Locally famous for turning a phrase, Kay once observed: 

Architecture’s last five years have produced walls and roofs that have been so  

unnaturally manipulated that they bring to mind pirouetting poodles in a circus dog act. 

On a kinder note, she penned an eloquent description of the roof of James Alcorn’s First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, calling it: 

A geometric dance of interlocking timbers, trusses and roof-mounted stained glass. 

Her words are as wise today as they were when she wrote: 

While it is important to think big, this race for world-class status can make us miss the details we need to be happy while wandering through the high spine of our city.  If we can take the time to choose each new piece of San Diego and make sure it fits, in not too long a time other people will call us world-class.  That’s the way it should be.  Start thinking what you want. 

This award is a tribute to Kay’s commentaries and critiques, which raised our collective consciousness towards creating a special identity for San Diego and making our buildings, our surroundings, our community and our world a better place in which to live.  It is more than appropriate that Kay Kaiser receives this posthumous AIA San Diego Legacy Award. 

Robert Des Lauriers, 2024

2024 Posthumous Legacy Award

Architect Robert E. Des Lauriers was one of San Diego's leading architects in the post-war period from the late 1950s through the 70s. While Des Lauriers designed many houses, commercial offices, and other buildings throughout San Diego, he developed a reputation for his designs of places of worship for all denominations, and become known as "Mr. Church." 

2nd Lt. Bob Des Lauriers in the cockpit of his B-17 in England during World War II. 

Robert grew up in Los Angeles and moved with his parents to Hawaii shortly after high school graduation – and just two months prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  Robert joined the Army Air Corps and became a B-17 pilot.  He spent six months flying 33 missions from his base in the UK over Germany. 

After earning a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1949, Robert settled in La Mesa with his family.  He initially worked alongside Frederick Liebhardt and Jim Bird for local designer, Alfred Mueller, before spending a year with Paderewski, Mitchell & Dean.

Robert launched his own firm in 1958.  One of his earliest projects was Carlton Hills Lutheran in Santee, which he designed using a hyperbolic paraboloid roof structure, a dramatic, saddle-shaped roof made from two-inch-thick concrete to create a distinctive, eye-catching silhouette. This design showcased his ability to merge structural ingenuity with symbolic resonance and earned an AIA Award of Merit in 1959.  Robert understood how to infuse drama into his designs, which was particularly well suited for religious architecture, and the contemporary-modern style became his signature. The firm eventually completed 67 religious projects, 150 residential, 187 Navy, 18 public schools and extensive projects.  

Clairemont Lutheran Church in San Diego (1966). Photo ©Darren Bradley

Active in the community, Robert served as President of the AIA San Diego in 1961, President & Fellow in the Society of Military Engineers, Vice President of CA Specifications Institute, Member of the Council of Religious Architects.  He also served on many community and state councils, boards, and associations. 

Robert Des Lauriers’ contributions to sacred architecture helped define an era of openness and modernity in Southern California. His work remains a significant part of San Diego's architectural heritage, embodying the spirit of post-war modernism and the enduring importance of sacred spaces.

Richard “Dick” Welsh, 2023

2023 Posthumous Legacy Award

The late Richard “Dick” Welsh has had an absolutely outsized influence on the trajectory of architecture in San Diego (and beyond). As a community college instructor realizing that his students, despite their abundant qualifications, were unable to get into architectural programs in California, Dick launched the NewSchool of Architecture in 1980 with the vision of providing students with an accessible and high-quality architectural education. While NewSchool’s beginnings were humble, its faculty and staff shared in Welsh’s vision to provide students with a challenging and inspiring education.

This vision of a “New School” was based on New York’s New School of Social Research that integrated architectural practice and education in a meaningful way. Further, Dick Welsh envisioned the NewSchool of Architecture becoming an “Urban Lab” – with the school located in an active urban environment so that the students learn from what was going on outside the school as well as inside the studio and classroom, where new ideas about the design of the built environment are explored and shared with the broader community. Indeed, when the school moved from Chula Vista to its present East Village site, professional offices hiring students looked down into the studio space. One could literally practice and learn without leaving the building.

NewSchool has educated and graduated thousands earning their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture, who go on to earn prominent positions in prestigious firms.

While NewSchool is rarely mentioned in the same rank as the “Name” schools, it was – and is – their equal! The school that Dick started 44 years ago, along with its students, its faculty, and its staff have planted – and continue to plant many seeds – in the form of the people and projects that have blossomed to improve our region.

Laura Shinn, AIA, AICP, 2022

2022 Posthumous Legacy Award

In addition to being a licenced architect and certified planner, Laura dedicated her life to uplifting her communities as an educator, advocate and mentor. Laura graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture in 1985. Later, she completed two Masters programs in both Architecture and City and Regional Planning at Ohio State University.

For more than 20 years, Laura advanced design in Columbus. She served on the German Village Commission, was a Planner at The Ohio State University, a Director at the Neighborhood Design Center, and was active in AIA Columbus serving on the Board of Directors.

Most recently, Laura served as the Director of Planning at San Diego State University, where she was responsible for campus strategic and master plan management, capital program development, CEQA Actions, facilities planning, and design, and facilities data and records oversight. Laura also collaborated closely with SDSU’s Office of Parking and Transportation to plan for all modes of transportation to and around the campus.

A registered architect and certified planner, Laura helped lead all aspects of the massive SDSU West development, a prominent capital project for the San Diego region.

As President of the San Diego Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2021 - Laura Shinn championed climate action and equity & diversity in the profession. She served as the Chair of AIA San Diego’s Urban Design Committee and had been instrumental in that group’s expansion into a think tank comprising various allied organizations. Laura was also one of the original members of the Women in Architecture knowledge community in San Diego.

Laura's tragic passing in 2021 left shockwaves in our community. While Laura will always be deeply missed, her legacy remains an inspiration and serves as an example of a lifetime of passion and service to the built environment and the communities they serve.

Marvin Malecha, FAIA

Few individuals possess the academic architectural credentials of AIA San Diego’s Inaugural Legacy Award honoree, Marvin J. Malecha, FAIA. In his over 50 years in architecture, Marvin served as a philanthropist, educator, leader of the AIA and globally recognized architect. 

Marvin studied physics at St. Thomas College in St. Paul, Minnesota, continuing his education by completing his Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Minnesota and later a Master of Architecture at Harvard University.

Marvin Malecha was President and Chief Academic Officer of the NewSchool of Architecture and Design from 2016 until 2020.  Prior to this, he served as Dean of the College of Design at North Carolina State University and Dean of the College of Environmental Design at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.  He was recipient of the Topaz Medallion, the highest award given by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.  In 2015, Malecha was conferred the title Professor Honoris Causa by Ion Mincu University in Bucharest, Romania, the only American teacher to be designated an honorary member of the European Association of Architectural Educators.

He maintained an interest in professional architectural practice throughout his career, contributing to many projects throughout the U.S, from churches to houses and seemingly everything in between. Marvin was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and Chancellor of the College of Fellows. In 2009 he was named AIA’s National President. Marvin wrote extensively on the topic of design thinking and was the author of several books. A skilled and prolific sketch artist, his drawings are in numerous collections.  

An integral part of AIA San Diego, Marvin served as the emcee for the Lifetime Achievement Awards for the past three years. Marvins passing in 2020 was felt around the world, and through his tireless dedication to the profession, his legacy will live on in many generations to come.