William Fain

William Fain is the Managing Partner and Director of Urban Design and Planning for Johnson Fain, a firm of 60 architects, planners, and interior designers, headquartered in Los Angeles. He is a native Californian and earned a Bachelor of Architecture from UC Berkeley and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Fain worked as an urban designer in the New York City Office of Midtown Planning and Development. Continuing in the public sector, he was senior architect and urban designer for the Boston Redevelopment Authority while at Harvard and later for New Community Development Corporation in Washington, DC. He joined Pereira Associates as Director of Urban Design and with his Partner, Scott Johnson, transitioned the firm to Johnson Fain.

During his career, Fain has won two separate fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and Humanities and was the recipient of a Rome Prize Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, Italy. He has taught at Harvard University and SCI-Arc. He has practiced architecture and urban design for over 45 years. His career has focused on advancing the practice of urban design as a bridge between public interest and private enterprise. His projects have won several National AIA and Progressive Architecture Awards including San Francisco’s Mission Bay, Beijing’s new Central Business District, the Greenways Plan for Metropolitan Los Angeles (which was exhibited at MOCA), and the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City.