September 2, 2015  by

Re | LA

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The City of Angels.  Tinseltown.  Lalaland. Los Angeles. Often, there a misconception that this city lacks a sense of history. This is compounded by the fast paced and ephemeral nature of the movie industry that, to the outside observer, dominates the identity of the city. However, it’s a very real city made mythical by the movies in our collective consciousness.  Frank Lloyd Wright once said, “Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles.”  It is a place where the misfits, rebels and dreamers come to redefine and REINVENT themselves.

That brings us to the theme for the 2015 Design Conference: REINVENTION

The Design Conference is a long-running RTKL program that brings together the best and brightest from all our offices for a three-day conference in one of our office cities. This year, it’s Los Angeles’ turn to host the annual event, and we think it’s the perfect place to reflect on this theme.

While our history is short compared to that of New York, London or Paris, when you look beneath the surface you will find examples that prove it’s rich in depth and detail. The ability to reinvent and change is what makes LA unique.

As Callison and RTKL come together as a single new entity, we are now facing the challenge and opportunity to reinvent ourselves. Even this event is seeing a transformation as the very first CallisonRTKL Design Conference. This year, all the various branches of Callison and RTKL offices each selected one representative to attend, for a total of 18 attendees.

The overarching goal of this conference is to work on two different levels: reinventing oneself as an individual and as a collective. Before we can reinvent ourselves, we need to know who we currently are, to understand our strengths, weaknesses, passion and story. Recognizing how to reinvent as a collective will allow us to create a shared vision of the future.  While we understand that reinvention doesn’t happen overnight, the goal is to have the participants leave with a sense of renewal and a toolbox that will help propel their careers and the larger organization to the next level.

Stay tuned for more updates. We will continue to blog about the progress of the conference with live posts during the event (September 16-18).

Flickr – Gnaphron

CallisonRTKL

CallisonRTKL

For more than five decades, Callison and RTKL have created some of the world’s most memorable and successful environments for developers, retailers, investors, institutions and public entities. In 2015, our two practices came together under the Arcadis umbrella, expanding our sphere of influence and the depth and breadth of our resources. Our team is comprised of nearly 2,000 creative, innovative professionals throughout the world who are committed to advancing our client’s businesses and enhancing quality of life.
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