The design problems that intrigue me the most are those that address the critical problems of our time. I am interested in creating a better world -- one that is more equitable, more beautiful, and that functions well. The best places are created over long periods of time. They are shaped by many hands. It is important to see yourself as part of a design continuum, drawing on the wisdom of the past while reaching to the future.

Martha Lampkin Welborne

Martha Lampkin Welborne is the Project Director of the Surface Transit Project, an effort focused on exploring affordable alternatives to serve the mass transit needs of Los Angeles residents. The project is funded by the W. Alton Jones Foundation of Charlottesville, Virginia, and is administered by the Tides Center in San Francisco.

Previous to initiating this non-profit effort, Ms. Welborne was an Associate Partner, Director of Planning, and the Managing Director of the Los Angeles office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM). In these roles she led the design of complex urban projects, including work for public, private, and non-profit sectors, and she was responsible for overseeing all business operations for this 50 person office. Prior to her arrival in Los Angeles in 1994, she was with the Boston and Chicago offices of SOM, and she was a Principal at Sasaki Associates, Inc. in the Boston area.

Ms. Welborne's work has ranged from individual building design to large-scale planning projects. She has led the urban design of a several transit and transportation projects around the country, and has also completed master plans for many prominent universities in the United States. In addition, she has prepared development plans and design guidelines for urban commercial cores, suburban properties, waterfront districts, and hospital campuses. Her work also encompasses the assessment of the environmental impacts of urban projects and she regularly undertakes an intensive community participation effort in her projects.

Ms. Welborne has been active in both national and local professional organizations, and has held a number of civic leadership positions. Recently, she served as Chair of the national Regional and Urban Design Committee of the American Institute of Architects. Currently, she serves on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Chapter of the AIA. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the Boston Society of Architects, and on the Board of Directors of the National Architectural Accrediting Board. In addition, she has served on numerous design juries including, at the national level, the AIA's Jury of Fellows, the AIA's Honor Award for Urban Design, and the Progressive Architecture Award for Architectural Research.

Ms. Welborne has also taught architecture and urban design and has given many lectures on her work to organizations and universities around the country. She is currently Secretary/Treasurer of the Architectural Guild of the University of Southern California, is an appointed member of the Visiting Committee for the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT, and serves on the Alumni Council of Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.

Ms. Welborne was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1993. She received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1975, and both a Master of Architecture in Advanced Studies and a Master in City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. In 1991, she was awarded a Loeb Fellowship in Advanced Environmental Studies by Harvard University's Graduate School of Design

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