Brian Tichenor

M.Arch, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) B.F.A., University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)

M. Brian Tichenor, AIA, is a founding partner of Tichenor & Thorp Architects Inc., a multidisciplinary design practice in Los Angeles, California. The firm is widely recognized for original, artful designs that beautifully integrate large-scale residences and their surrounding landscapes. The firm’s approach to designing from the outside in is explored in the firm’s first book: ‘Outside In: The Houses and Gardens of Tichenor & Thorp’, published by Vendome Press in 2017.

His firm is currently engaged with a number of large-scale commercial projects including the new LA Times Headquarters, along with the NantWorks El Segundo and Culver City campuses, and the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute for Medicine at Mariposa. The NantWorks project in Culver-City consists of seven buildings which sit upon reclaimed oil fields in the north Baldwin Hills. Through utilization of methane capture, solar infrastructure, and co-generation, the whole campus, much of which is high energy-consumptive DNA sequencing and R&D labs, will be energy self-sufficient: a complex network of bioswales and greywater reclamation are also being implemented.

One of many ways that Tichenor’s work stands out is the beautiful water color renderings he does for the firm’s projects. His renderings have been widely published and exhibited at the Cooper Hewitt Museum and Max Protech Gallery, among other prestigious venues. Tichenor has been represented by Gilbert Bohlin in Los Angeles, Sears Peyton in NYC, and participated in several group shows. Tichenor’s work can be found in numerous private collections from Los Angeles to Wyoming, New York City, Sydney, Palm Springs, and Rancho Santa Fe. His work includes a number of site-specific commissions.

Beyond his work at the firm, Tichenor is a Fellow of the Garden Conservancy, The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens and The Society of Architectural Historians. In 2017, he delivered a lecture on the esteemed California landscape architect, Ralph Cornell at the Huntington Library. With his partner and wife Raun, he was the featured speaker at the ADAC conference in Atlanta, GA. This year, he is scheduled to be speaking at the Newport Beach Decorative Arts Society and the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA).

Before the founding of his own firm, Tichenor began his career as a project designer and manager for Moore Ruble Yudell. Additionally, in a joint venture partner with landscape designer Nancy Goslee Power, he completed more than 100 gardens worldwide. Tichenor holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from UC Santa Barbara, and his Master’s in Architecture from the University of California, Los Angeles.