ARCHITECTURE PHOTOS COURTESY MARMOL RADZINER
Introducing SHLTR™ Talks
With lively SPOTLIGHT conversations at
the Center for Architecture + Design
Starting October 28, 2025, SHLTR™ introduces SHLTR™ Talks with SPOTLIGHT, a new series of design conversations with an extraordinary roster of architects, interior designers, and makers who define the Bay Area’s creative identity. In three evening programs, each guest will present recent work before engaging in a one-on-one conversation with SHLTR’s editor-in-chief, Zahid Sardar to spotlight inspiring ideas that can be applied widely.
Restoration As Innovation
Building on the Legacy of Mid-Century Masters
The inaugural SPOTLIGHT talk on October 28 features architect Leo Marmol, FAIA, founding partner of the celebrated architect-led design-build firm, Marmol Radziner. He will talk about the consequences of preservation in cities like San Francisco, where heritage ideals often collide with housing goals. Adaptive reuse, he emphasizes, can reconcile opposing goals without erasing the past.
Marmol’s decades of experience restoring modernist landmarks such as Hank Schubart’s Jackson House and Richard Neutra’s iconic Kaufmann House, have led to practicing preservation as a sustainable strategy and a creative act. Learn how restoration can be a lower-carbon, higher impact alternative to new construction.
Don't Miss SHLTR™ Talks SPOTLIGHT, on Oct 28, 6-8pm at the Center for Architecture + Design. Title Sponsor: IRG Stone. Wine Sponsor: Una Lou, produced by Scribe. Tickets: $20. Proceeds benefit the Center for Architecture + Design.
DREW ALTIZER
Award Winning Venue
SHLTR™ Talks SPOTLIGHT series will be hosted at the Center for Architecture + Design, an award-winning, adaptive-reuse venue designed by the renowned firm Aidlin Darling Design. It is a perfect backdrop for an evening of inspiring conversations dedicated to innovative design.
About Leo Marmol
Leo Marmol, FAIA, is a founding principal of the design-build firm Marmol Radziner, based in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Using a multidisciplinary design approach — that focuses equally on architecture, construction, landscape architecture, interior design and fabrication — the firm’s award-winning restorations include landmarks by modern masters such as Richard Neutra, Albert Frey, R.M. Schindler, and John Lautner.
About Zahid Sardar
Zahid Sardar, Editor-in-Chief of SHLTR™ magazine, has reported on Bay Area design nationally and internationally for over three decades. An author and curator, he was the Architecture + Design Editor at the San Francisco Chronicle magazine for 20 years.
SHLTR™ Talks thanks our sponsors of the first SPOTLIGHT Series
