{"id":479664,"date":"2026-06-16T06:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T06:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/479664\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T06:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T06:54:14","slug":"lorcan-oherlihy-founding-principal-of-loha-dies-at-66-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/479664\/","title":{"rendered":"Lorcan O\u2019Herlihy, founding principal of LOHA, dies at 66 | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lorcan O\u2019Herlihy, the Irish-born, Los Angeles-based architect whose influential body of work<\/a> helped reshape conversations around housing, urbanism, and the social role of architecture, has died at the age of 66.<\/p>\n

His firm, Lorcan O\u2019Herlihy Architects\u00a0[LOHA]<\/a>, shared the news in a statement, saying O\u2019Herlihy died peacefully in Malibu with his wife\u00a0Cornelia Hayes O\u2019Herlihy, and sons, Daire and Darcy, by his side. The cause of death was glioblastoma, according to\u00a0Architectural Record<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith heavy hearts and deep gratitude for the life he shared with all of us, we share the news of the passing of Lorcan O\u2019Herlihy, founder of LOHA,\u201d the firm wrote. \u201cLorcan was a visionary architect, a teacher, and a mentor whose work transformed cities and urban housing into humane, socially-engaged spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Shipping containers rise to form Lorcan O\u2019Herlihy’s new supportive housing development for South LA<\/p>\n

Born in Dublin in 1959, O\u2019Herlihy moved to Los Angeles with his family as a young child before returning to Ireland for part of his upbringing. He later studied architecture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo<\/a> and continued his education at the Architectural Association<\/a> in London, where he pursued history and critical thinking. His early professional career included work with Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates<\/a>, I. M. Pei and Partners<\/a>, and Steven Holl Architects<\/a>, with O\u2019Herlihy contributing to the team behind the Grand Louvre Museum Pyramid before establishing his own Los Angeles practice in 1994.<\/p>\n

Over the next three decades, LOHA became one of Los Angeles\u2019s most admired architecture firms, especially known for multifamily housing<\/a>, supportive housing, affordable housing, and urban infill projects that treated housing not as background fabric, but as a site for formal invention and civic ambition. The firm\u2019s work often explored the edges between public and private life, using courtyards, paseos, terraces, stairs, outdoor corridors, and pocket parks to create new forms of social connection within dense urban conditions.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects design efficient spaces for Los Angeles density<\/p>\n

Among the firm\u2019s best-known projects are Formosa1140<\/a> in West Hollywood, Habitat825 near the Schindler House, Mariposa1038<\/a> in Koreatown, MLK1101 Supportive Housing<\/a>, SL11024<\/a>, and Isla Intersections<\/a> in South Los Angeles. LOHA also expanded its work beyond Los Angeles, opening a Detroit office<\/a> in 2016 and contributing to projects including City Modern in Brush Park and other urban revitalization efforts.<\/p>\n

I believe that architecture is a social act and that the role of the architect is to do work of consequence<\/p>\n

In a 2017 Archinect conversation connected to the LAX >< DET Mini Sessions<\/a>, O\u2019Herlihy described the core belief that guided his practice. \u201cI believe that architecture is a social act and that the role of the architect is to do work of consequence,\u201d he said. \u201cThe goal of our field is not so much about how to design a building as an isolated object, but how to use architecture as a tool for engaging in development, politics, and social structures, in order to amplify our urban landscapes and elevate the human condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same conversation offered a clear expression of O\u2019Herlihy\u2019s interest in the relationship between Los Angeles and Detroit, two cities that shaped the later trajectory of his office. In Los Angeles, he said, the challenge was \u201chow to strategically design projects on dense infill lots.\u201d In Detroit, it was the opposite condition, \u201cthe inverted figure-ground relationship of a dramatically underdeveloped neighborhood fabric.\u201d He emphasized that working in Detroit meant designing not simply for newcomers, but for \u201cthe people who are already there.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Lorcan O’Herlihy’s Trancas House 2.0 emerges as an example of fire-resilient design<\/p>\n

That commitment to the civic and social dimensions of architecture was also visible in O\u2019Herlihy\u2019s discussion of Formosa1140<\/a>, where LOHA worked with the City of West Hollywood to create a public pocket park on private land. Rather than treating the residential building as an isolated object, the project used open space to extend the public realm. O\u2019Herlihy described that kind of negotiation as central to his work, arguing that architects should understand buildings as tools for social and civic interaction.<\/p>\n

LOHA\u2019s work has been widely recognized, with the firm completing more than 100 projects across three continents and receiving more than 200 awards. O\u2019Herlihy was named an Emerging Voice by the Architectural League of New York in 2004 and was elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 2009. His personal honors included the AIA California Maybeck Award<\/a> and the AIA Los Angeles Gold Medal<\/a>. LOHA\u2019s firm honors include the AIA California Distinguished Practice Award, AIA Los Angeles Firm of the Year, Architect Magazine\u2019s top design firm in the United States, and Fast Company\u2019s number one Most Innovative Company in architecture<\/a> for 2025.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

LOHA Adopts Collective Ownership<\/a><\/p>\n

In March, just months before his passing, LOHA announced that it was adopting a collective ownership model<\/a>. The firm described the change as a formalization of how it had long operated, \u201cthrough dialogue and shared authorship.\u201d The expanded ownership group includes Brian Adolph, Abel Garcia, Ghazal Khezri, Jason King, Nicholas Muraglia, Kevin Murray, and Geoffrey Sorrell, who the firm said have helped shape LOHA\u2019s work and culture over many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve built a creative, committed team that is dedicated to doing great work,\u201d O\u2019Herlihy said at the time. \u201cIt\u2019s important to me that ownership reflects the people who drive the studio forward every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

In light of O\u2019Herlihy\u2019s passing, this structural change reads as an especially meaningful act of continuity for the practice he founded. The firm\u2019s statement on his death said LOHA will carry forward his vision, guided by \u201ccare for people and place, honesty in work, and a quiet belief in the power of good design.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the buildings themselves, O\u2019Herlihy\u2019s influence rests in his insistence that architecture could engage the broader forces shaping city life. His work demonstrated that housing could be experimental, formally ambitious, socially attentive, and deeply urban all at once. Across Los Angeles, Detroit, and beyond, he helped expand the idea of what multifamily housing could contribute to a city.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis life was too short, but full,\u201d LOHA wrote, \u201cand the work he leaves behind will continue to speak for him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lorcan O\u2019Herlihy, the Irish-born, Los Angeles-based architect whose influential body of work helped reshape conversations around housing, urbanism,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-479664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}