David was born in Daly City, California, and moved to Los Angeles when he was six months old. David’s great-grandmother lived in Venice, and his grandparents lived in Malibu. Young David spent his childhood shuttling among construction sites. He and his younger brother, Brad, were conscripted to help build sets at Paramount Ranch’s Western Town, the filming location their grandfather William Hertz purchased and started running in the early 1950s. Sadly, the ranch burned down in the 2018 Woolsey Fire, and the Hertz brothers have joined on the initiative to rebuild the legendary movie town. David enrolled in the Southern California Institute of Architecture, or SCI-Arc, in 1979 and graduated in 1983. David apprenticed under world-renowned architect John Lautner and had a yearlong internship with Frank Gehry after graduating.

David started his studio in 1984 and developed a product called Syndecrete, a concrete alternative that weighed half as much as the traditional version but had double its compressive strength. He used Syndecrete to create sculptures, furniture, and flooring and applied it as a building material. He also relied on Syndecrete for the 1995 Venice, Calif., house which became a home to his family. The Showtime series “Californication” used it as the main residence for David Duchovny’s character, Hank, and fans named the house the Californication house.

“My travel informs my architecture, but my architecture can also create a travel-like experience”