Over the course of his 55+ year career, Art Danielian, FAIA has truly made his mark on the field of residential architecture. Not only has he achieved exemplary accomplishments within the profession, but he also has a demonstrated history of giving back to the homebuilding industry and providing mentoring to the next generation of architectural students and industry professionals.
Art grew up in Pasadena, California, and served in the US Army before attending USC School of Architecture. During his time at USC, he immersed himself in the field and worked for several prominent structural engineering and architecture firms. Two notable projects that Art worked on while at USC included the Apollo launching structure and the Space Needle. At the end of his third year, Art received a scholastic scholarship and caught the attention of Ed Fickett, FAIA, one of the nation’s pioneers in master planned residential communities who also served as head of the selection committee. Ed offered Art a part-time position and eventually joined the firm full time upon graduation. This is where Art got his start in residential design and ultimately found his passion.
After venturing out and starting his own architectural firm early in his career, Art Danielian pioneered such innovative residential housing concepts such as the wide and shallow lot configurations, combo / condos, and various improvements of the ‘z-lots’ all of which had a substantial and positive impact on community character in master planned communities throughout Orange County. Art also assisted with the Charter for the City of Irvine. After being honored with numerous awards within California and advanced to the College of Fellows of the AIA in 1982, Art expanded his architecture services throughout the United States and then to the rest of the world – creating innovative housing designs and communities that homebuyers love to live in.
Art became a recognized expert in innovative housing design, bringing a multitude of ideas to the homebuilding industry. He was one of the first architects to embrace a market-driven design model, working with each of his builder clients and market researchers to truly identify their market profiles – creating homes with tremendous absorption rates that were well-loved by their buyers. For nearly 20 years he represented the AIA and led the architecture and design panels at the International Builders Show and was a regular speaker at industry conferences and events. Throughout the years Art has been honored with the Max C. Tipton Award, the Rodney Radom Memorial Award, and in 2002, Art Danielian was the first architect to be inducted into the California Homebuilding Foundation Hall of Fame. This honor was bestowed upon him due to “contributing immeasurably to the community, advancement of the profession, and for elevating the architect’s role in the homebuilding industry.” In 2019 Art was named a Legend of Residential Marketing by the National Association of Home Builders and the National Sales & Marketing Council. In 2020 he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the USC Architectural Guild and the USC School of Architecture.
Art’s architecture firm, Danielian Associates, celebrated 54 years in business this year. The firm attributes its success navigating the ups and downs of the economic housing cycle due to its market-driven design philosophy and diversified practice. To date, the Danielian Associates Team has provided planning and architecture services to 44 states and 15 countries worldwide – creating well over one million units of housing. The diverse range of products Art and his team have designed include production housing, custom homes, multifamily housing, mixed-use, urban infill, affordable housing, senior communities, clubhouses, transitional housing for US military veterans, master planned communities and much more.
Art believes in hard work and being tenacious. His high energy and passion for design are contagious in the office. Art continues to work full time, focusing primarily on international projects while the firm is now under the leadership of his son, John Danielian, AIA.