Building Along the Boulevards in Our City: Transportation as a Catalyst for Development - Johannes Van Tilburg

Transportation finally comes to Los Angeles. Johannes Van Tilburg, architect and planner, will discuss his work in the region as it relates to the slowly developing Light-Rail and Subway Transportation System. “We are focusing our planning along the existing and developing transportation lines,” Van Tilburg says.

Van Tilburg is an 11th generation architect/builder who was born in the Netherlands and graduated from the College of Arts and Architecture in The Hague. He immigrated to the United States in 1965 and founded Johannes Van Tilburg and Partners, Architects, AIA, in Westwood in 1971. The success of the firm led to the 1992 founding of Van Tilburg, Banvard and Soderbergh, Architects, AIA (VTBS Architects). In the same year, Van Tilburg was elected to the College of Fellows, American Institute of Architects.

A nationally recognized pioneer in mixed-use urban design, land planning, and the creation of livable communities, VTBS Architects has won design, planning, and beautification awards from the AIA, building associations, and local and state civic agencies. VTBS is based in Santa Monica with offices in San Jose and Denver.

Van Tilburg was one of the first to design for, and invest in, Santa Monica’s fledgling Third Street Promenade, now a landmark of urban renewal and a redevelopment model for cities nationwide. He is a member of the board of directors of the Bayside District, a volunteer organization overseeing the Third Street Promenade. 

Van Tilburg is strongly committed to the greater Los Angeles community, to education and to the arts. Among other initiatives, his firm designed the first AIDS Hospice in the City of Los Angeles, pro bono, for Barlow Hospital. Van Tilburg continues to teach as a visiting lecturer in the architectural departments of USC, UCLA, Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the Southern California Institute of Architecture. He recently was appointed as Honorary Consul of The Netherlands for the Los Angeles office.

Admission is free. Event will take place in the Roth Nelson Room. Sponsored by the Artists and Speakers Committee. For more information, e-mail Christine Sellin at csellin@callutheran.edu. Limited parking is available in the Roth Nelson Room parking lot. Additional parking is available in the parking lots on Mountclef Boulevard north and south of Olsen Road. Street parking is by permit only Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.