Designing for Design
June 2006
Jennifer Luce was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. She received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Carleton University in Ottawa and then went on to Harvard for a Master of Design Studies.
In 1990 Ms. Luce opened her firm at Luce et Studio. She gathered a team of talented individuals with a diversity of skills–architecture, landscape and graphics, and industrial design– to produce award-winning architecture. The research before delving into a project, the innovative approach of using industrial materials and the creative ideas evolving from this collaboration have brought lots of excitement to the San Diego community. At last count Ms. Luce and Luce et Studio had won twelve AIA Awards.
In June Ms. Luce will be receiving an Honors Award for Interior Architecture at the National AIA Conference in Los Angeles. In 2005 Luce et Studio won an unprecedented 3 Honors Awards for remodeling a two-story home in Cardiff; renovating a building for Extraordinary Desserts, a bakery and cafe in Little Italy: a new design studio in Farmington Hills, Mich. for Nissan Design America. After the three jurors visited the local projects, the firm was given three Divine Detail awards for startling innovations they discovered in the designs.
Luce relishes challenge on all projects–large or small, residential or corporate. The attention to detail is brilliant. Magic and warmth are woven into the use of industrial materials to provoke one’s senses. The use of space and relationships with the natural environment satisfies the most discriminating clients. What sometimes starts out as a small project often evolves into an ever-bigger project. A perfect example of this is the Nissan Design America. First hired to design an exploratory studio for Nissan, the project expanded into a three-year makeover.
Current projects include the Nugent House in Napa Valley, the Lemke House in La Jolla, Georges at the Cove restaurant in La Jolla (2007 ) and the Bianchi House in Pacific Palisades (2007).