Principal of the Year: Kate Diamond, FAIA, design principal, RNL Design

Photo by Paul Napolitano

This Diamond is really shining. In fact, RNL Design in Los Angeles hasn't been the same since Kate Diamond joined the office in 2002.

"Kate has had a big impact on raising the design quality not only in this office, but firm-wide," said Patrick M. McKelvey, AIA, a RNL Design principal who joined the Los Angeles office shortly after it opened in 1989. "She's very involved in the design of all of the projects in the Los Angeles office and other offices. She also leads and challenges our younger designers to do better."

Diamond, 51, has had an impressive impact on RNL's bottom line, too. The Denver-based architecture firm increased its revenue by 213 percent between 2003 and 2004, which made it the fastest-growing architecture firm in California. RNL Design forecasted $7.3 million in revenue in 2005.

"We're seeing much more opportunities in the private sector-mixed-use, residential projects-and that plays heavily into her strengths and her experience and is going to have a huge impact on what we're doing," McKelvey said.

Diamond's current projects in the West include Spire, a 42-story condominium project in Denver; a 150-unit assisted-living community in Westwood; Fontana Central Library; and the Orange County Water District Laboratory in Fountain Valley.

She also serves on the National Peer Review Council for GSA's Design Excellence Program and as a Regent on the California Architectural Foundation.

Mentoring students is one of her top passions.

"Mentoring forces you to really think of the way you do it yourself and clarifies your thinking enormously," Diamond said. "Then, of course, there is the enormous pleasure of seeing someone you have taught go out and do something really good and know that you are helping them grow professionally.

"I'm also very likely to learn something from the people that I'm mentoring."

Before joining RNL Design, Diamond had her own practice-Los Angeles-based Siegel Diamond Architecture, a business she had for 16 years.

In the past decade, Diamond has frequently taught at the University of Southern California's School of Architecture and has guest lectured at various schools of architecture across the country.

In 1996, Diamond was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. From 1993-94, she served as the first woman president in the then-99 year history of AIA's Los Angeles chapter.

She also has contributed to the City of Los Angeles through her service on the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Westwood Design Review Board, and served as president of the Association for Women in Architecture from 1985-87.

Her own architectural education was completed at the Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology and her first professional experience was gained as a lieutenant in the Israeli Air Force.

-By Paul Napolitano

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