Top Firm: Koning Eizenberg Architecture: Hank Koning and Julie Eizenberg Emphasize Affordability and Livability in Every Project They Design (2004 Leadership Awards‪)‬

If Hank Koning, FAIA, were living in a single-room occupancy (SRO) hotel on Skid Row, here s what would be on his wish list: What I want is pretty simple but I want a window that s big, and it has to be double hung so the top and bottom can open, of I won't get good ventilation," he says. "I want to feel safe, so I'd like an elevator that has a glass back so people can't do drugs. OK, you could stick a camera in there but it would last about a week, and the nice glass elevator feels like someone cares. And I'd want to have the lounge near the street, so I can see what's going on." Play acting--phantom living in the design, he calls it--is part of every project Koning Eizenberg Architecture takes on, whether it's a hip boutique hotel of an SRO, a multimillion-dollar home for a Tinseltown hotshot or subsidized apartments for the disabled. In fact, the slightly iconoclastic Santa Monica, Calif., firm, founded in 1981 by Koning and his wife, Julie Eizenberg, AIA, has made a name for itself designing just such extremes in project types. Unusually versatile for its size--there are 18 on staff--KEA's award-winning portfolio also includes affordable middle-class housing, schools, community centers, a children's museum, and mixed-use projects. Currently, the firm has more than $177 million worth of projects on the boards or in construction.