Spencer Glesby

Researcher

Spencer Glesby is a freelance researcher of art, architecture, and cinema based in Los Angeles. A second-generation Californian, Spencer has a AB in the History of Art + Architecture from Harvard University. Interested in the intersections of space, identity, and memory, Spencer has worked as a curatorial and research assistant to MoMA curator Thomas Lax and architectural historian Sophie Hochhäusl, and currently provides research and script supervision for the youtube channel Be Kind Rewind, which focuses on Best Actress Oscar wins. Originally from Santa Barbara, Spencer now lives in the Fairfax Historic District, about 5 blocks from his great-grandparents’ old house.

Cole Neuffer

Researcher

Cole Neuffer is currently a graduate student at the Rice School of Architecture and holds a Bachelor of Arts in architecture from Barnard College of Columbia University. After college, she worked in New York City for two years and has also interned in Tokyo, the city where she was born before moving to the United States. In 2019, she spent the summer in Los Angeles interning at Frederick Fisher & Partners and visiting iconic works such as the Eames House and the Getty Center. She found a new appreciation for LA’s unique architectural scene and hopes to return to the west coast to continue exploring the city.

Amena Sheikh

Researcher

Amena is a recent graduate at the University of Cincinnati, receiving a degree in Architecture and Fine Arts. She has experience working in several areas of design and architecture, including experiential and exhibit design, as well as commercial and corporate design in the up and coming areas of Cincinnati and Washington D.C. She enjoys designing immersive and interactive exhibits that are captivating and modern, and has worked on projects all over the world during her semesters of working abroad. Amena has a passion for all sorts arts and design, particularly the printed arts and media as well as the different, unique architectural styles that overlap and influence other styles in different eras of time. Amena currently works at the Union Terminal, a national historic landmark that has undergone massive amounts of historic preservation to return it to its former glory from the 1930s, and currently houses a natural history and science museum and a functional train station.

Sam Rashba

Researcher

Sam’s interest in architecture and design has led him to work in the art department for film and television. He was accepted into the 2018 Art director’s Guild Trainee Program, and has spent the past couple of years learning from top production designers and building his experience for ADG Union entry as an Assistant Art Director and Set Designer. He is a 2018 graduate of the AFI Conservatory’s production design track where he expanded and refined his design skills. His thesis film The Motions was accepted into 11 festivals around the world and won the top prize in the Student film category at the Rhode Island International Film Festival and the Williamsburg International Film Festival. You can see Sam’s design portfolio at his website www.samrashba.com.

In the summer of 2015 he studied Architecture through Harvard’s Graduate School of Design Career Discovery program, where he greatly expanded his ability to think and create spatially. He graduated cum laude from Harvard College some months prior as a Visual Art major, where he did a studio thesis project articulating a ‘filmscape’ of concept art and research for the novel The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafón as if he were pre-visualizing the story for a film adaptation. While in college he was also an art director for the Harvard Lampoon, where he oversaw the design and publication of 8 issues while also regularly contributing as an illustrator. In addition to his film work Sam continues to make art as a freelancer, selling prints and originals of his illustrations. You can see his work on his art Instagram at rashba_illustration. He is thrilled to contribute as a researcher to Fort LA’s mission of documenting and sharing the rich history of architecture throughout Los Angeles.

Isaac Macleod

Researcher

Isaac Macleod is a student of architecture at the University of Cincinnati. Isaac first became interested in historic architecture while researching the legacy of urban renewal in his hometown, Cincinnati. Reading about careless demolitions and subsequent declines in urban areas gave him a strong appreciation for historic preservation, a stance bolstered by environmental concern. While completing three semesters of work/study in San Francisco, Isaac contributed to multiple adaptive re-use developments and projects involving historic housing. Isaac will graduate in May of 2020 with a Bachelor’s in Architecture and a certificate in historic preservation and hopes to be an advocate for historic architecture.