Cocktails & Conversation: Trey Trahan, FAIA, and Lila Allen

Speaker:
Trey Trahan, FAIA, Founder and CEO, Trahan Architects

Interviewer:
Lila Allen, Writer and Editor

About the Speakers:

Victor F. “Trey” Trahan, III, FAIA, is the founder and CEO of Trahan Architects, established in 1992 in New Orleans with a belief that bringing humility and awareness into the design process helps create authentic spaces that elevate our lives.

Trahan has led the expansion of the firm from its New Orleans roots to open a second office in New York City. The firm was recently ranked the #1 Design Firm by Architect Magazine, the official publication of the American Institute of Architects. He has been visiting critic and distinguished lecturer at the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Southern California, and the MIT School of Architecture and Planning.  Trahan has established several innovative conservation projects, including Fundo Tic Toc in Patagonia, Chile, which is part of a protected property acquired from the late Douglas Tompkins, a conservationist and founder of The North Face.

In both his personal and professional life, Trahan is continually exploring how to cultivate generosity and inclusiveness in our relationships with each other and with our environments. His approach to architecture begins with the conviction that a building can create something that goes beyond its walls—that when we build we are shaping our landscapes, communities, and cultures.

Lila Allen is a writer and editor focused on design, art, and architecture. She is the former managing editor of Metropolis magazine and has written for The New York Times, The Architect’s Newspaper, AD Pro, and TED Ideas. Allen also contributed to the book Design for Children, which was published by Phaidon in 2018. In 2019, she curated the exhibition Terra Incognita, exploring the experimental works of American ceramicists, at the Plant Seven design center in North Carolina.