Feeling the Heat in Hollywood: Professionals, Surveillance, and the Landscape of Los Angeles

James Heard is an architect, historian, and educator based in Somerville, Massachusetts. He received his B. Arch at Virginia Tech and S.M.Arch.S. with a focus in History, Theory, and Criticism at MIT. His master's thesis, “’Professionals in a Soviet America’: Federal Housing Policy, the Popular Front, and Architects in Los Angeles, 1919—1947,” explores the intersection of housing policy discourse and activism in Southern California. He is the recipient of a Graham Grant for the 2021—2022 exhibition The Architects Collaborative: Tracing a Diffuse Architectural Authorship, 1945—1995, along with Gabriel Cira and Emma Pfeiffer. He is a member of the Boston chapter of The Architecture Lobby and was the organization's former National Design Coordinator.