The work attempts to bridge found qualities of current culture with a sense of the transformative power of place. Using basic elemental forms places are created with the intent of engaging one’s intellectual and imaginative experience. Although the idea of magic places has all too often been co-opted by the relentless “Disney-izing” of theme parks around the world, ancient animistic cultures frequently believed that certain objects had the power to affect the quality of peoples’ lives. This work represents a tentative step towards recapturing some of this transformative power in the making of architecture.

Jeffrey Daniels is principal of Jeffrey Daniels & Associates in Los Angeles and Director of the Architecture, Interior and Environmental Design Program at UCLA Extension. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and an M.Arch from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1976 to 1977 he worked for the Taller de Arquitectura of Ricardo Bofill in Barcelona Spain and from 1978 to 1980 he worked in the office of Frank Gehry & Associates in Santa Monica, California. In 1980 he left to form his own firm, Grinstein/Daniels, as principal in charge of design. In 1993 he formed Jeffrey Daniels & Associates. In that same year he also came to UCLA Extension to head the AIED Program.

The architectural works designed by Jeffrey Daniels include the David Hockney Residence, the offices for Virgin Records, New York, the Painting Studios for the California Institute of the Arts, restaurant interiors for Chaya Brasserie, Chaya Venice, Typhoon and Opus as well as the award winning Kentucky Fried Chicken and his own residence. Mr. Daniels’ work has been featured in numerous publications and books and during 1997 formed part of an exhibition on Los Angeles architecture at the Gammel Dok Architecture Center in Copenhagen.

Currently in stages of planning and construction are new residences in Los Angeles and a unique housing project called Project New Hope Apartments which is a special facility for those in the terminal stages of AIDS and their caregivers.

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