HOUSING 10X: A Platform to Accelerate Innovative Responses to the Housing and Climate Crises

A Platform to Accelerate Innovative Responses to the Housing and Climate Crises

Organized by the Chase L. Leavitt Graduate Building Science Program and the School of Architecture in partnership with the USC Dornsife College and the Sol Price School of Public Policy 

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Los Angeles faces a critical shortage of housing units, a crisis made worse by the loss of over 12,000 structures due to devastating wildfires. Los Angeles already had the fewest number of homes per adult of any major U.S. City and construction of new housing units is notoriously slow, inefficient, and unaffordable to most Angelenos. The metropolitan region now comes to terms with an unprecedented recovery and rebuilding effort with a greater understanding of the risks and costs associated with conventional policies and practices governing buildings, infrastructures and urban landscapes.

This symposium will explore the potential to accelerate and scale up the efforts of architects applying innovative high-productivity construction methods to deliver affordable housing while simultaneously addressing the need to ensure resilience in the face of the increased frequency and scale of climate-worsened disasters. 

The objective of the symposium is to identify the barriers and facilitators to achieving a factor of ten (10x) improvement in housing affordability, construction speed, availability and resource efficiency over standard expectations. Participants will work to envision and map innovative approaches to rebuilding of fire-devastated areas and to increasing the availability of housing units across the region with renewed understanding of the need for resilient design and retrofit strategies at scales ranging from building details to community and regional plans. Speakers include a broad range of subject matter experts at the forefront of addressing these challenges.

Time

10:00 AM

Arrival and Light Breakfast

Time

10:15 AM

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Speakers | Affiliation

Brett Steele | USC Architecture Dean

Kyle Konis | MBS Director

Time

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Panel 1: Community Needs: The People's Perspective

Speakers | Affiliation

Geoffrey von Oeyen | USC Architecture

Sascha Delz | USC Architecture

Scott Uriu | USC Architecture

William Deverell | USC Dornsife

Kyle Konis (moderator) | USC Architecture

Time

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

LUNCH

Time

1:00 PM - 2:20 PM

Panel 2: Changing the Ecosystem

Speakers | Affiliation

Greg Otto

Richard K Green | USC Price

Ryan Blowers | ReMo Homes

Vamsi Kumar Kotla | ReMo Homes

Derek Leavitt | EYRC Architects

Kyle Konis (moderator) | USC Architecture

Time

2:20 PM - 2:30 PM

BREAK

Time

2:30 PM - 4:00 PM

Panel 3: Examples of Success

Speakers | Affiliation

Ghazal Khezri | LOHA

Steve Glenn | Plant Prefab

Brittany Moffett | ARUP

Faiza Moatasim (moderator) | USC Architecture

Time

4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

Reception and Workshop: The 10x Challenge All Participants

Participant Bios

Panel 1

Community Needs: The People's Perspective

This panel begins with addressing the question, what are the social and environmental conditions that housing must adapt to in the context of the regional housing crisis pre and post fire, beginning with a look at LA’s 100+ year effort to deliver mass-produced affordable housing, experience with disaster and recovery and with an eye towards mitigating future disaster scenarios. How are architects and communities engaged in responding to the present crisis? What formal and informal actions are Angelenos taking to respond and adapt to an unsustainable city, and what can be learned? What lessons can be applied from LA’s history and how can design, and technological innovation be leveraged to address current and future challenges? 

1. William Deverell

Divisional Dean for the Social Sciences

USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts & Sciences

William Deverell is Divisional Dean for the Social Sciences at USC Dornsife and a Professor of History in the USC Van Hunnick Department of History. He is the co-director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West. He writes and teaches about the 19th and 20th century American West, and co-directs the Institute’s “West on Fire” Initiative.

2. Geoffrey von Oeyen 

Associate Professor of Practice

https://arch.usc.edu/people/geoffrey-von-oeyen

3. Faiza Moatasim

Assistant Professor

https://arch.usc.edu/people/faiza-moatasim

4. Scott Uriu

Adjunct associate professor

https://arch.usc.edu/people/scott-uriu

(Moderator) Kyle Konis, Ph.D, AIA

Panel 2: Changing the Ecosystem

This discussion seeks to 1) examine existing barriers and opportunities in the US housing market, housing policy, finance, and urban planning as well as 2) examine emerging innovation in design, materials and manufacturing infrastructure and 3) explore novel approaches to synthesize high-performance building systems to realize the 100+ year dream of delivering rapid and affordable housing using industrialized construction methods (beginning with a brief assessment of why so many ventures fail, why the industry base for manufactured housing is so small in the US, and a look into past public / private partnerships and their level of success or failure.... with an eye towards the applicability of manufactured housing to the present recovery effort here in LA and broadly across the US in the coming years as climate, labor, energy and material cost, mobility, technological advances etc. act on business-as-usual practices).

Selected panelist will make a brief 10-minute presentation followed by moderated panel discussion and Q&A.

Greg Otto

Greg Otto founded Buro Happold's Los Angeles office, where he was director until early 2014, focusing on digital modeling and collaboration technologies, and their application within the practice. Educated as an architect and engineer, Otto’s focus has been on multidisciplinary, collaborative work between the two disciplines, and the potential for innovation that this brings. In addition to commercial work, he has been an adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design and Stevens Institute of Technology. Otto is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Concrete Institute, American Institute of Architects, American Institute of Steel Construction and the California Society of Professional Engineers. He is also on SCI-Arc’s Board of Trustees and is advisory board member to the University of Texas' College of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering.

Richard K Green

Professor

Director and Chair of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate

Chair, Wilbur H. Smith III Department of Real Estate Development

Richard K. Green, Ph.D., is the Director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. He holds the Lusk Chair in Real Estate and is a Professor at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and the Marshall School of Business.

Prior to joining the USC faculty, Dr. Green spent four years as the Oliver T. Carr, Jr., Chair of Real Estate Finance at The George Washington University School of Business. He was Director of the Center for Washington Area Studies and the Center for Real Estate and Urban Studies at that institution. Dr. Green also taught real estate finance and economics courses for 12 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was Wangard Faculty Scholar and Chair of Real Estate and Urban Land Economics. He also has been principal economist and director of financial strategy and policy analysis at Freddie Mac. More recently, he was a visiting professor of real estate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and he continues to retain an affiliation with Wharton. He is or has been involved with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the Conference of Business Economists, the Center for Urban Land Economics Research, and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. Dr. Green also is a Weimer Fellow at the Homer Hoyt Institute and a member of the faculty of the Selden Institute for Advanced Studies in Real Estate. He was recently President of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.

Dr. Green earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his A.B. in economics from Harvard University.

His research addresses housing markets, housing policy, tax policy, transportation, mortgage finance and urban growth. He is a member of two academic journal editorial boards, and a reviewer for several others. His work is published in a number of journals including the American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, Land Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Real Estate Economics, Housing Policy Debate, Journal of Housing Economics, and Urban Studies. His book with Stephen Malpezzi, A Primer on U.S. Housing Markets and Housing Policy, is used at universities throughout the country. His work has been cited or he has been quoted in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and the Economist, as well as other outlets. He recently gave a presentation at the 31st annual Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Symposium, where his work was cited by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The National Association of REALTORS, the Ford Foundation, and the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy have funded grants to support some of Dr. Green’s research. He consults for the World Bank.

In 1995, Dr. Green was honored as “Teacher of the Year” by the University of Wisconsin Graduate Business Association, and soon thereafter was inducted into that University’s Teaching Academy.

https://priceschool.usc.edu/faculty/directory/richard-k-green/

Vamsi Kumar Kotla (Co-Founder and CEO) ReMo Homes

Vamsi Kumar Kotla is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder of ReMo Homes, a company manufacturing steel-framed homes and ADUs engineered for climate resilience, energy efficiency, and rapid deployment—while remaining cheaper to own, insure, and operate. With a background in computer science from USC and an MBA from Loyola Marymount University, he has led ventures across e-commerce, medical tourism, and construction. Since entering the construction industry in 2003, he has expanded from small commercial projects to multi-family housing before launching ReMo Homes in 2022 to address the housing crisis with scalable, eco-friendly solutions. 

Under his leadership, ReMo has garnered significant investor and government support, hosted ReBuild 2022 at SoFi Stadium, showcased at HUD’s Innovative Housing event in D.C., and secured a $3M CA Energy Commission award.

Ryan Blowers (Co-Founder and CTO) ReMo Homes

With 24 years of experience in aviation repair, design, tooling, prototyping, and overhaul, Ryan has worked across aerospace, defense, and advanced manufacturing. A graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Aeronautical Sciences, his career spans SpaceX, Hermeus, ReHeat, the U.S. DoD, and more.

In 2022, Ryan co-founded ReMo Homes to apply aerospace-level precision to modular housing. As head of manufacturing, he designs disaster-proof, net-zero homes, integrating robotic-assisted production and digital manufacturing to create housing that is as resilient as spacecraft and as adaptable as military infrastructure.

Derek Leavitt, AIA (B.Arch ’00)

Derek Leavitt joined EYRC Architects in 2023 as the Director of Housing. He is a seasoned architecture, construction, and real estate professional with 25+ years of experience in the industry.

He co-founded Modative in 2006, a Los Angeles-based integrated design, development, and construction firm where he played a pivotal role in the successful completion of more than 60 housing projects. In 2017, when California state ADU laws underwent a significant change, Derek and his team were quick to adapt, positioning Modative at the forefront of Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) policy, design, and construction. 

In 2020, Modative joined forces with United Dwelling, where Derek served as the President of Small Homes Holdings, the real estate development sister company to United Dwelling. At United Dwelling, Derek was critical in providing strategic and operational leadership as part of the Executive Team, overseeing acquisition processes and managing modular factory-built multi-family development projects.

Derek holds a degree in Architecture from the University of Southern California with a minor in Business Administration and is a licensed architect and general contractor in California. In 2019, Derek served as the President of the Building Industry Association LA/Ventura Chapter.

Derek is passionate about innovating solutions to address the pressing housing crisis in California and beyond.

Panel 3: Examples of Success

Each panelist will make a brief 20-minute presentation of their work showcasing existing (built, or in progress) examples of housing (or related research studies, guidance etc.) which addresses the goal of 10x improvement over business-as-usual expectations for affordability, energy consumption, embodied carbon, indoor environmental quality, resilience and other key performance goals. 

1. Ghazal Khezri, Director, Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects (LOHA)

Since joining LOHA in 2015, Ghazal has played a substantial role as a designer and project manager for a number of projects, most notably 3434 Wesley and 1136 La Cienega. Prior to joining LOHA, she worked on international projects as an associate / designer with award-winning architecture firms including Coop Himmelb(l)a and Hodgetts + Fung. Her contributions to the firms span a variety of project types including educational, and residential projects to museums, airports, and sports facilities. She sees architecture as a way to strengthen communities and give character to neighborhoods, as well as a vehicle for expressing an organization’s culture while establishing new cultures.

She holds Architectural Design and Architectural Engineering bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University and has served as a guest Juror at Angewandte, University of Innsbruck, Tehran University and University of Southern California. In 2013 she led a team of SCI-Arc students to execute a large-scale, multimedia installation for Coop Himmelb(l)a in the SCI-Arc Gallery. Ghazal is a licensed architect in California.

https://loharchitects.com/about/ghazal-khezri

2. Steve Glenn

Founder, CEO, and Chair of the Board of Plant Prefab, Inc.   

Steve Glenn is the founder, CEO, and Chair of the Board of Plant Prefab, Inc. Plant Prefab is a Certified B Corporation™ and Benefit Corporation building technology company dedicated to sustainable design, materials, and operations. The company’s patented Plant Building System™ utilizes advanced digital modeling and fully customizable Plant Panels™ and Plant Modules™ to help architects, developers, general contractors, and individuals design and build multifamily and custom single-family homes 20 to 50 percent faster than site-based methods. The system provides better quality control, design flexibility, and time, cost, and material efficiency than traditional methods of offsite or on-site construction. Plant recently opened a $40M, 270,000 square foot facility which can produce over three million square feet of single and multifamily housing a year. It is the first automated factory in the US purpose built to create both panels and modules. Plant is particularly focused on affordable housing and has two projects with over seventy units in production. 

Previous to Plant, Glenn founded and was the CEO of LivingHomes, a design and development company focused on modern, prefabricated homes that combined world-class architecture with an unparalleled commitment to healthy and sustainable construction. The first LivingHome, designed by Ray Kappe, FAIA, was installed in eight hours. It became the first home ever to receive a LEED for Home Platinum rating. Over thirty LivingHomes have been certified LEED Platinum or Gold, making the company one of the most experienced designers of homes at the highest level of LEED certification. LivingHomes have garnered significant industry recognition including the AIA’s top sustainable award, Architizer’s Jury and People Choice Awards, Green Builder Magazine’s Home of Year, Business 2.0 “World’s 11 Coolest Products”, Business Week’s “Architectural Wonders of the World”, and the Sustainable Quality Awards Grand Prize. LivingHomes was purchased by Plant Prefab.

Previously, Glenn worked with the William Jefferson Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) and managed the development of a $220 million program in Mozambique, the first program CHAI launched in Africa. Glenn is founder and former Chairman and CEO of PeopleLink, a leading provider of enterprise ecommunity solutions, which raised $35 million from AT&T Ventures, GE, Goldman Sachs, idealab and others. Glenn was a founding partner of idealab, a business incubation firm that raised $1 billion and that founded or invested in a number of successful companies including GoTo/Overture (OVER), NetZero/United Online (UNTD), CitySearch (TMCS), Tickets.com (TKTS), eToys and CarsDirect. Glenn worked for Walt Disney Imagineering as co-director of the Virtual Reality Studio. Glenn co-founded Clearview Software, which was sold to Apple Computer where Glenn later served as a marketing specialist. He holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from Brown University, completed the Design Discovery Program at Harvard Graduate School of Design, and was a Coro Fellow and an Unreasonable Fellow. 

Glenn serves on the Board of Ciclavia, the Advisory Board of Van Wickle Ventures (Brown University), and the WELLS Home Advisory Council. Glenn co-founded and chaired the Sustainable Business Council, and was a co-founder and former board member of Hope Street Group and the Brown University Entrepreneur Forum. He has twice served as a Judge for the US Energy Department's Solar Decathlon competition.  

Glenn was named the Clean Tech CEO of the Year by Clean Tech Week; Environmental Entrepreneur of the Year by LA City Council/Faith2Green; Inman Best of PropTech Construction Innovator Award; and Greatest Person of the Day by Huffington Post. Glenn holds three patents.

3. Brittany Moffett (MBS ’16)

Senior Resilience Engineer, ARUP

Brittany Moffett is a Senior Resilience Engineer based in Arup's Los Angeles office. Her work is a blend of on-the-ground insight implementing resilience projects and broader analyses that help inform policy. Brittany's projects span scales, from unearthing challenges faced by Los Angeles’s affordable housing sector in decarbonizing to providing technical energy support to trusted community resources transforming to serve as safe havens during escalating climate hazards. She’s had the privilege of collaborating with organizations like HUD, NRDC, SCE, Enterprise, NYSERDA, as well as various City and County departments. Brittany is a double Trojan with a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering and a Master's degree in Building Science from School of Architecture.

4. Sascha Delz

Assistant Professor, USC

https://arch.usc.edu/people/sascha-delz

4:00 PM – 5:30 PM: Reception and Workshop

Reception and informal workshop to synthesize and document (digital survey kiosk, white boards etc.) activities and outcomes of the symposium.