David Hertz

David Hertz is founder and president of Syndesis Inc., a multi-disciplinary architecture, design and manufacturing firm specializing in creating sustainable strategies and environmental products. Syndesis is most noted for its development of Syndecrete®, an innovative pre-cast lightweight concrete architectural surfacing material which incorporates recycled aggregates extracted from society’s waste stream. David is a native Angeleno born in 1960 and resides in Venice, California with his wife and three kids. David received his B Arch in 1983 from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-ARC), apprenticed with architect John Lautner, and served an internship in the office of Frank Gehry and Associates before opening his own practice in 1984.

David Hertz and the work of Syndesis have been widely exhibited and published nationally as well as internationally and have received numerous awards for their architectural and materials design work, including the 1990 Progressive Architecture Magazine’s Young Architects Competition, the Architectural League of New York’s Young Architects Competition and Forum, the 1993 Design Leadership Award sponsored by Inc. Magazine and the Corporate Design Foundation, the 1994 Environmental Pride Award sponsored by L.A. Magazine, and the 1994 American Institute of Architects Service Award for Craftsmanship. Many of David Hertz’s furniture pieces exist in significant private and museum collections, including the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Building Museum. In May 1995 the Syndecrete® product was included in an exhibition entitled "Mutant Materials in Contemporary Design," at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and was subsequently acquired as part of the Permanent Design Collection.

David Hertz has been an active participant in the environmental and design communities for the past decade with participation in numerous organizations including service on numerous professional committees such as the L.A. Chapter of the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment, the Environmental Affairs Committee of the Construction Specifications Institute, the Environmental Committee of Concrete Organizations, and the California Energy Commission’s High Performance Wall Systems Collaborative.

David’s personal involvement includes membership and pro-bono services for many non-profit environmental and social service organizations including Architects, Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR), Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), Rebuild L.A. (RLA), Heal the Bay, and the Sierra Club.

David serves on the faculties of the SCI-ARC Professional Development Program and U.C.L.A.’s Extension Program teaching sustainable design courses.

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