Faculty Profiles
The faculty at LAIAD has been selected
for their commitment to innovation in
education and their passion
for design.
Collectively, the faculty have teaching experience in many excellent architecture programs, have won dozens of significant design awards, and their work has been widely featured in major publications in the US and abroad.
William Taylor
Carl Smith
Alan Guillen
Jacob Zindroski
S. Minah Yeo
William M. Taylor, FAIA
Founding Director/ Design Faculty
William Taylor earned his Master of Architecture degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art and his Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
Before founding LAIAD in 2001, William has taught architectural design since 1983, with positions at Harvard University, the University of Houston, and at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where he developed an innovative new program for basic architectural design. William is also a founding principal of StreetStudio.LA and is involved with a variety of local and international projects.
William has persistently explored the relationship between form and idea and his work at LAIAD is an outgrowth of a 30-year effort, in both teaching and practice, to develop and promote a design methodology based on idea and order rather than visual composition. In recognition of his work at LAIAD, William was recognized with the AIA Los Angeles Educator of the Year award in 2005. His design work has been featured in magazines such as L’Arca, Arkkitehti, and A+U and been included in international exhibitions including the Venice Biennale, the Milan Triennale, the Centre Pompidou, and the Museum of Finnish Architecture, where it is part of the permanent collection.
Carl Smith, AIA
Co-Director/ Design Faculty
Carl Smith received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cal Poly Pomona in 1997. He was a founding member of Telemachus Studio in 1995 and began his professional career in a long-term collaboration with William Adams, FAIA. Throughout his design career, Carl has always maintained focus on the connection between design and construction. Today, Telemachus Studio is a multidisciplinary design firm with numerous built and ongoing projects throughout Southern California and beyond. Carl is a licensed architect and licensed general contractor.
Alan Guillen, Architect
Adjunct Design Faculty
Alan Guillen earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCIarc) in 2008 and has been a part of the LAIAD faculty since 2009. Alan is a licensed Architect working at R&A Architecture and Design located in Culver City. At LAIAD, Alan has instructed courses on various computer applications as they relate to design, practice, and focusing on implementation of the architectural design language through various mediums of representation.
Jacob Zindroski
Design Faculty
Jacob Zindroski received a Master of Science in integrative technologies and architectural design research from the University of Stuttgart and a Bachelor of Architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCIarc). He is an experienced professional with an emphasis in additive research with a demonstrated history in robotics, 3D printing, 3D modeling, and design engineering. At LAIAD, Jacob teaches 3D modeling and computational methods as they relate to design.
S. Minah Yeo
Design Faculty
Joining LAIAD in 2023, S. Minah Yeo has been practicing commercial interior design for over 20
years. She received her Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from Woodbury University in 1998
and Master of Science in Integrated Design, Business and Technology from University of Southern California (USC) in 2021. Minah is a professional member of IIDA and a Certified Interior Designer, Commercial (CID) in the state of California, and currently working as an architectural lighting designer.
