Background
“I'm intrigued by the intersections where art, urbanity, history and philosophy connect and intertwine” says Erikson, an architect whose roots are as a Sami, the indigenous Shamanic peoples of Arctic Scandinavia. Currently involved as an organizer/sponsor for Powerhouse: The Engaged Regionalism of Architect Judith Chafee exhibition at the Zane Bennett Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, and as architect/developer for the proposed Blue Mesa Center for the Arts in Midtown, Santa Fe. Previous projects he has been architect/developer for have been the recipients of numerous awards, including the Simone SRO Hotel, the first very-low-income SRO housing project in LA since zoning was initiated in the 1930’s that received an award from the National body of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) as well as an award for the Naumer House in Glorieta, NM from the Santa Fe Chapter of the AIA, a gut rehab of Santa Fe artist Carlos Naumer’s house and studio that was built with the Jacal construction first utilized by Ancestral Puebloans. He is also currently preparing for publication an article titled High Desert Architecture.
Dr. Glenn Robert Erikson is the founder and CEO of Integral Studios and Integral Design and Development. A licensed Architect (NM, CA), Contractor (CA) and Real Estate Broker (NY) with a Bachelor's in Architecture, a Master's in Real Estate and Finance and a Ph.D. in Urban Studies, Dr. Erikson has been a general partner for 36 Commercial, Residential, Artist Loft and Mixed-Use real estate development projects in California, Vermont, New York and now New Mexico. He has designed, built and leased more than 2.5MM square feet of development projects, and a total nine projects for which he has been on the design teams have garnered Design Awards.
A former Adjunct Professor at Baruch College, City University of New York (CUNY) where he taught graduate level Urban Economics for 17 years, and the final thesis paper class for 3 years. He has published a number of articles, including: "Strategizing Urban Policies for the Anthropocene," "An Urbanist Manifesto," and "Forging New Urban Policies for the 21st Century." He is a former member of following Non-Profit Committees and Boards: World Policy Institute, Architecture Omi, Westbeth Center for the Arts, Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn, Westside Urban Forum (LA), NY/AIA Planning and Urban Design Committee, 4th Universalist Unitarian Church of NYC, Artopolis, and Fly Fishers International.
He was also a Partner and/or Executive Architect while performing as Project Director for Acquisitions and Development at Time Equities, Inc., a $6B in assets NYC real estate firm for 17 years. After moving to New Mexico in 2019, he became the 2024 President of the Santa Fe Chapter of the (AIA), followed by a term as the 2025 President of the New Mexico State Chapter of the AIA. He currently owns and manages approximately 300,000 square feet of residential and commercial space.
Dr. Erikson is married to Karina Naumer, a Drama Educator and Potter, and has a daughter, son and 2 grandchildren. Dr. Erikson is a former marathon runner, has scaled a dozen mountains up to 14,500 feet, and sailed both coasts from San Diego to Anchorage and from the Bahamas to Newfoundland. He continues to be an avid fly fisher, annually salmon fishing in Arctic Labrador plus trout fishing at family camps on the Delaware River in NY and Hebgen Lake, MT.
Education
Glenn earned his Bachelor's in Architecture in 1974 and a Master of Science in Real Estate and Finance in 1981, both from the University of Arizona. Later in 1999 he was awarded a Ph.D. in Religious and Urban Affairs from Summit University of Louisiana in 1999.
Career
Upon completing his studies at the University of Arizona he initially worked for Judith Chafee, FAIA in Tucson, where he worked on two residential projects and later moved to San Diego and worked at the office of Deem/Lewis & Partners. He served in a variety of roles, including Project Manager, Interiors Designer and Project Designer, working on 6 award winning commercial projects with the firm. Upon receiving his license, he began work at Subbiondo & Associates, where he was the architect for OrangeGate Plaza, a four building, 600,000 SF office complex where he initiated the first use of both pre- and post-tensioned concrete in one building in the US. He then began work at Center Financial Group in Los Angeles as an Investment Banker in order to be able to fund his first development, Morton Park Apartments. He then joined Alan Goodman and formed Los Angeles Land Company (LALC), where he held the firm’s architecture, real estate and construction licenses and developed 16 shopping centers and mixed use projects in Southern California. In 1989 he had a falling out with Goodman, sold his partnership assets in LALC and began his own firm, the Erikson Partnership (later Erikson Leviton and Associates).
Concerned about the impacts of increasing commuting times on both the environment and lifestyle, he searched for a way to create a building that combined both living and working in one unit, thus eliminating the need for commuting. Unfortunately, this type of use was specifically outlawed in the zoning code. However, the building code allowed Artist-In-Residence units in certain converted industrial buildings downtown, at that time an undesirable residential area. He found a commercial site in Venice with an Artcraft overlay, and approached the Planning department with his idea, and was able to obtain a variance for the first live-work project to be approved in Los Angeles, the Electric ArtBlock. This project quickly leased up, demonstrating the economic viability of live-work. The success of this first of its kind project encouraged hundreds of additional units to be built, in both Venice and Downtown LA.
Another concern was that the city-wide room count for Single Room Occupancy Hotels for the homeless in Los Angeles had declined from 20,000 in the 1930s to less than 10,000 by 1990, in the face of growing demographic pressures. So he began planning work on the Simone Hotel, the first new construction single room occupancy (SRO) hotel for the homeless in Los Angeles. For this project he obtained the largest density bonus the State had up to then allowed, 300%, as well as a parking reduction from over 100 stalls to just seven (the homeless on Skid Row don’t have cars). However, obtaining state financing proved difficult, so he transferred the project to the Skid Row Housing Trust, which completed the project. This project received a National AIA design award, the jurors extolling the project's novel approach to obtain increased density and reduced parking to create a viable very-low-income housing project. Again, Erikson’s formula proved successful in initiating over a thousand new SRO units over the coming decades.
Due to the Savings and Loan collapse and resultant recession, Erikson left Los Angeles in 1992, in 1995 went through a divorce and then began his PhD program in Summit University. In 1998 he moved to New York, where he worked for Time Equities as a Director of Acquisitions and Development. There he worked on numerous projects, primarily in New York, Seattle and Berlin, Germany. In 2004 Erikson and his partner, Bruce Forer (now deceased) formed Integral Design and Development and purchased a number of commercial and residential rental projects in the Utica, NY metropolitan area. Erikson designed the Hillside Terrace Lofts in New Hartford, NY, a 150 unit townhouse/apartment complex waiting lower interest rates in order to start construction. In 2000 Erikson moved to Santa Fe, NM where his first project, the gut rehab of the Naumer House resulted in a design award from the Santa Fe Chapter of the AIA. Currently he is involved as an organizer/sponsor for Powerhouse: The Engaged Regionalism of Architect Judith Chafee exhibition at the Zane Bennett Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, and as architect/developer for the proposed Blue Mesa Center for the Arts in Midtown, Santa Fe.
During his career, Erikson took time to climb over a dozen peaks above 9,000 feet, including 3 climbs over 14,000 feet. He has run in three marathons and covered 20 miles a week for over 20 years. He has boated off shore from Anchorage, AK to San Diego, and from the Great Exumas to Newfoundland. He loves to fly fish, maintaining a cabin on a trophy trout section of the Delaware River in NY while he has been on teams that won first, second and third in the annual One Bug contest on that river, and has also fly fishes for trout every year from a family cabin on Hebgen Lake, MT and Atlantic Salmon in Arctic Labrador.
Connections
Dr. Erikson is the son of Erik G. Erikson, an electrical engineer who worked on the early warning radar systems for the UK during WWII, then for NORAD while at Bell Labs and later directed Teletype Corporation. He is married to Karina Anne Naumer, a Drama Educator and Potter. They have a son, Erik S. Erikson, a software engineer in New Jersey and a daughter, Annika Liv Erikson who works in London, UK and is the Founder and CEO of Articheck.
