The Big SHFT: David Hertz, Repurposed

David Hertz is widely recognized as one of green design’s leading innovators. At the Studio of Environmental Architecture, the LA-based design firm he founded, Hertz focuses primarily on custom residential projects with particular experience in climate responsive, environmentally sustainable homes. He is perhaps best known for the seminal Wing House, an imaginative Malibu residence constructed from the recycled parts of a decommissioned Boeing 747.

 

For Hertz, the Malibu home brings his professional practice full circle. When he was a 17-year-old surf rat living on a Malibu beach, he would sneak into construction sites explore different approaches to home design. That’s how he met famed California modernist John Lautner, who took him on as an apprentice and set his architectural career in motion.

 

Hertz will be speaking at Modernism Week in Palm Springs later this month about his work on the Wing House.