David C. Martin
David C. Martin, FAIA, is an award-winning architect who has been recognized for his innovative, inspirational, and cutting-edge projects.
As design principal of Los Angeles-based firm AC Martin, David furthered his family’s legacy of major involvement in the civic vitality of Southern California. When he joined the firm in 1966, he ushered in the third generation of the family business. Over a 50-year career, his body of work spanned commercial facilities, academic institutions, spiritual spaces, and community buildings, many featuring engaging plazas and public art. David’s final project with the firm was Wilshire Grand Center, a 75-story hotel and office complex in the heart of downtown Los Angeles that incorporates all of the qualities he values in an architectural experience—inspiring, imaginative, creative, functional, has a spirit, and is both a good place to work and an exciting place to play.
His drawings and watercolors have been exhibited throughout the United States, including “On Site: Travel Sketches by Architects” at Hunter College, “line.dot-Drawing the Design Process at the Martin Design Studio” at UCLA, and “Form Follows Software: A Revolution in the Architectural Process” at USC, University of Arizona, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
David is a member of the Board of Councilors of the USC School of Architecture and a member of ArtCenter College of Design’s Board of Trustees. He is a past president of the Southern California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and a former board member of AIA California and the Los Angeles Conservancy. David and his business partner and cousin, Christopher C. Martin, FAIA, received the AIA Los Angeles Chapter’s Gold Medal of Honor for their major contributions to the built environment in the City of Los Angeles. He was inducted into the USC Alumni Hall of Fame in 2019.
He is the author of Legacy, which traces the history of AC Martin’s third generation through his eyes, and Joy Ride, a chronicle of his travels through Mexico.
He holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Southern California (USC) and a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University. While at Columbia, he spent four months on a traveling fellowship researching the great urban spaces of the world.