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

Cocktails & Conversation is a series of dialogues about design that joins an architect with a critic, journalist, or architectural historian to discuss current architectural topics and process. This program will feature Trey Trahan and Lila Allen as they discuss Trahan’s career and inspirations over a custom cocktail that the audience can make from the comfort of their home.

The formal program is planned to start at 6:30 PM EDT, but we will be starting at 6:00 PM EDT for an informal open networking session where our guests and attendees can converse via chat. Please join us at 6:00 PM if you can.

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.

Enjoy the talks, then buy the book!
From 2012 through 2018, the AIANY Architecture Dialogue Committee’s Cocktails and Conversation series has hosted some of architecture’s most interesting and provocative practitioners to discuss what informs their designs. These conversations have been collected into a book intended to inspire and delight its readers. You can purchase a copy here.