Christopher Hawthorne is an American journalist and television director who served as the architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times from 2004 to 2018.
[1][2] In 2018, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed him as the city's first Chief Design Officer.
[3] In 2018, he directed the documentary That Far Corner for the KCET series Artbound about architect Frank Lloyd Wright's work in Los Angeles.
[5][6] In 2020, in his role as Chief Design Officer he launched the Low-Rise design challenge, aiming to promote housing affordability, new paths to homeownership, and innovative models of sustainable residential architecture.
[7][8] In 2021, his office announced the creation of standard Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) plans to help address the housing shortage facing the City of Los Angeles.