From the beaches to the mountains, from the food to the music to the architecture—Los Angeles has established itself as an unparalleled haven of creativity. What really brings color to the city is its people, who thrive in residential environments that are informed by their lifestyle trends and local aspirations: in L.A. you find architecture that creates living experiences based on community needs.
To help you choose a designer equipped to deliver on the unrealized client and consumer desires, our team has curated a list of the best residential multifamily architects in Los Angeles, California. These firms were selected for their accreditations, certifications, and professional affiliations. We also considered the recognition each firm has received in the form of industry awards, client reviews, and press features. To make your search easier, we have laid out the range of services the firms offer, their specializations, and the length of time they have been in the industry.
TCA Architects
801 South Grand Avenue, Suite 1020 Los Angeles, CA 90017
Inspired by cultural narrative and evolutionary design, TCA Architects is dedicated to creating experiences that champion community and promote forward-thinking change. From a complete evaluation of the opportunities and constraints of each site, TCA explores various ideas through design illustrations in order to generate a “Big Idea.” The overall fabric of a project and its spatial relationship—including façades and a range of construction materials– are then identified. Afterward, clients can experience the resulting architecture through sketches, 3D models, and photorealistic renderings.
Eric Olsen, AIA, LEED, AP is a partner at TCA and the Principal-in-Charge of the firm’s Los Angeles office. With more than 24 years of experience in master planning, mixed-use, TOD, and high-density and affordable housing, Eric leads TCA LA’s project teams and provides overall office management. Under his leadership, the TCA LA office has completed landmark mixed-use and high-density housing projects, such as G-12 and Olive DTLA in downtown LA and the Camden in Hollywood. His work has been recognized by the AIA, the NAHB, and the Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC), among others.
The G-12 is one of the firm’s multi awarded projects in Los Angeles. Its distinct design represents two of the area’s existing block building typologies. The firm used contrasting materials of grey aluminum panels and white cement panels on the facade to reinforce the look of intersecting architectures. The seven-story building was completed in 2017. It was named Grand Winner Best Mid-Rise Apartment Community at the 2018 NAHB Pillars of the Industry Awards and has earned the 2018 Best in American Living Award for Multifamily 4-7 stories.
Nadel Architects Inc.
1990 S. Bundy Drive, Suite 400 Los Angeles, CA 90025
Nadel Architects is a leading architectural firm that offers comprehensive design and planning services certified by the American Institute of Building Design (AIBD), LA Business Council (LABC), and the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Headquartered in Los Angeles, it has satellite offices in Las Vegas and Phoenix. The firm’s collaborative work environment empowers both its team and its clients. It approaches each project as an immersive experience, integrating structure and landscape in a way that speaks to its surroundings.
Patrick Winters is the firm’s president and principal. He sits on the Board of Directors for the firm. With 36 years of architectural experience, he currently represents Nadel’s multifamily sector and specializes in the design and construction of high-quality mixed-use and urban infill projects with a major focus on sustainability. His experience with historic preservation and adaptive reuse enables him to design creative solutions to best fit the needs of the community and achieve the highest possible level of sustainability in each project. In addition, he has authored and developed many of the strategies through which Nadel has creatively responded to the needs of its clients while staying on top of the current trends.
The Rise Hollywood is a seven-story, 561,600-square-foot mixed-use project located in Hollywood. The project consists of 369 apartments, 13 live/work units, and 2,570 square feet of creative office space in six levels over two parking levels with space for 567 cars and 410 bicycles. Community amenities include a rooftop deck, inner open courtyard, pool, fitness center, clubhouse, barbecue grills, fire pits, dog runs with a dog wash unit, outdoor seating with TVs, and a 2,000-square-foot penthouse unit that can be leased for special events. Nadel’s award-winning projects have earned the company accreditation from the American Planning Association (APA), the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA), and the California Council Society of American Registered Architects.
KTGY
433 S. Spring Street, Suite 750, Los Angeles, CA 90013
KTGY is an international full-service architecture, branding, interiors, and planning firm that combines design and technical excellence to deliver neighborhoods of the future. KTGY’s architects, designers, and planners apply modern sustainable practices and impeccable design standards as problem solvers with a distinctive ability to translate an intricate program into a simple solution that meets the goals of clients and communities. Enriched by the depth and diversity of the KTGY team members, its studios are staffed by collaborative leaders who deliver according to the caliber of the AIA, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), and the Multifamily Pillars of the Industry.
As Chairman, Jill D. Williams takes an active role in setting a design vision rooted in her dedication to sustainable, thoughtful design. This top leadership position includes working closely with the firm’s CEO Tricia Esser, the Board of Directors, and Managing Principals of the firm’s offices and studios worldwide. The Los Angeles design studio is led by Managing Principal and Board Member, David Senden. Their efforts have resulted in multifamily projects that have won Best in American Living (BALA) Gold and Silver Awards.
The work of KTGY ranges from small boutique commissions to extremely complex projects that alter the fabric of cities. This mid-century modern podium-style apartment community in Pasadena emphasizes connectivity and open space. Its multitude of rooftop decks and private patios provide usable open space and take advantage of the surrounding views.
Killefer Flammang Architects
3573 Hayden Avenue, Culver City, CA 90232
Killefer Flammang Architects (KFA) provides architecture, design, and master planning services accredited by the LABC and the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing (SCANPH). KFA helped to spark the resurgence of the historic hub in downtown Los Angeles, having designed the first three buildings under LA’s Adaptive Reuse Ordinance and rehabilitated over 40 historic buildings throughout the city. The firm has received numerous awards for its diverse, forward-thinking architecture, including the AIA California Council Firm Award.
As a founding partner of KFA, Barbara Killefer has overseen the design and construction of housing and community projects for nearly 40 years, from the adaptive reuse of historic buildings in downtown Los Angeles to the recently completed Los Angeles LGBT Center. She served on the board of the Los Angeles Conservancy and was recently elevated to Fellowship by the AIA (FAIA) for leading the firm’s transformative work in downtown LA’s historic core.
With visionary leadership by Barbara and Wade Killefer, FAIA, and the current president of the AIA LA, KFA developed Pico Eleven. Inspiration for the building came from the beach houses commonly found along the California coastline. Designed to achieve Platinum certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the building includes solar panels, energy-efficient appliances, and passive solar strategies, The façade consists of reclaimed oak siding, which will weather to a soft gray over the first few years.
AC Martin
444 South Flower Street, Suite 1200, Los Angeles, CA 90071
AC Martin is a California-based architecture, planning, interior architecture, and research firm that uses an integrated design approach to create enduring environments for the 21st century. The same principle—to create enduring environments that positively affect people’s lives— guides the firm in creating historic California landmarks. AC Martin’s approach is constantly evolving and growing. With accreditation from the AIA, LEED, and the DBIA, it pushes the boundaries of design using a methodology that is sustainable and technologically advanced.
Christopher C. Martin is the third-generation leader of AC Martin and a founding member of the Los Angeles Business Improvement District. His work has contributed to the economic vitality of downtown Los Angeles. As a civic leader, he has devoted a significant portion of his time to critical issues facing the City and County of Los Angeles.
Chris led the firm in producing the Modera Hollywood that houses 248 luxury apartment units. This mixed-use project offers a clean, sophisticated design palette with tall transparent retail spaces at the ground level and a series of contemporary floating wood masses that create a visual movement to break up the building exterior.
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects
4106 West Jefferson Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90016
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA), FAIA, is an award-winning architecture and urban design firm of twenty-five talented designers, with offices in Los Angeles and Detroit. LOHA seeks to elevate the human condition via the built environment, operating on the belief that architecture functions within a layered context of political, environmental, and social structures. The firm works with a diverse group of stakeholders to deliver large-scale neighborhood plans, large mixed-use developments, supportive housing, and university residential complexes. LOHA has built over 100 projects across three continents and has been recognized with over 100 awards such as the AIA California Distinguished Practice Award and the AIA LA Firm of the Year Award.
Lorcan O’Herlihy, FAIA, founder and design principal of LOHA, embraces architecture as a catalyst of change. Each project exhibits Lorcan’s mindset that artistry and social connectivity are key to building vibrant spaces. The Architectural League of New York selected him as one of the eight “emerging voices” in the United States in 2006. Driven by O’Herlihy’s passion and creative vision, LOHA has built a robust portfolio of work that includes the John R 2660.
The project team wrapped the building in a rhythm of thin vertical boards of western red cedar and floor-to-ceiling windows. The wooden pieces bring texture and the glass brings openness for the ground-floor retail. The team played with horizontals and verticals expressed through a series of horizontal bands reinforced by a metal coping detail at each floor level.
Perkins Eastman
523 West Sixth Street, Suite 600 Los Angeles, CA 9001
Perkins Eastman (PE) creates residential environments that merge community ideals and convenience. From affordable developments to luxury high-rise buildings and new planned communities, PE’s approach encompasses planning, architecture, and interiors. Designing in many countries for individuals of all ages and abilities, the firm keeps people at the heart of its process while leveraging data, research, and technology to make informed decisions. PE facilitates cross-collaboration in its studios, and identifies mutual goals, and builds trusting relationships with its clients and staff. Certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), AIA, and LEED, it is committed to creating places that have limited impact on the natural environment and accommodate the needs of the people who inhabit them.
Co-CEOs Shawn Basler, AIA, Nick Leahy, AIA, and Andrew Adelhardt III lead the 1,000-person international firm. Shawn is responsible for maintaining the firm’s global growth; Nick serves as a design leader for the entire firm, focused on craft and design execution; Andrew draws on more than 25 years of experience practicing law in the industry when he works to support the company’s business practices and efficiencies.
Prominent among PE’s residential designs is Eliot on 4th which sits on a site with a mixed-modal street that creates a park-like setting with existing mature trees and lush landscaping. Unique townhouse units with spacious patios and direct street access promote connections with the surrounding neighborhood while an enclosed private courtyard offers communal areas for socializing, entertaining, and exercising.
AO Architecture
144 N. Orange Street, Orange, CA 92866
AO’s Multifamily Studio delivers multifamily projects that capture and contribute to the spirit of its surroundings while providing cost-effective solutions for its developers. Accredited by NCARB, LEED, the AIA, and the Council on Sage, the firm produces efficiently planned residential projects motivated by the relationships it fosters.
Jack Selman’s excitement for design has evolved to include a passion for the business of architecture, from building client relationships to merging business goals with design excellence. Jack leads the firm’s 10 studios and offers client and team counsel on everything from design direction to continuity in the process.
Under Jack’s guidance, the firm has received many Multifamily Pillars of the Industry Awards and Best In American Living Awards from the NAHB for its multifamily projects. A great example of the firm’s work is the Desmond at Wilshire. This upscale apartment project, inclusive of 50 live-work units, gives contemporary expression to the area’s Art Deco history. An engaging curve draws the user into the leasing lobby, while other building façades feature playful and unexpected angles. Through historically sensitive and bold design, this project links the past and the present.
Warren Techentin Architecture
2801 Hyperion Avenue, Studio 103, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Warren Techentin Architecture (WTARCH) is a multi-disciplinary office that believes architecture and urbanism must embrace design strategies that fulfill the needs of its clients while also considering the larger design context, community, and environment. WTARCH integrates materials and construction techniques into architecture to balance immediate and future needs for energy, maintenance, and upgrades. The firm connects the outside and inside, employing passive methods of heating and cooling. Its impressive collection of work has garnered local, regional, and national awards from the AIA.
Warren Techentin, FAIA, is a licensed Architect and the founder and principal of WTARCH. Warren’s designs are informed by his long-standing interest and study of urbanism and performative infrastructures, and their effect on form, space, and color. Previous to WTARCH, Warren held positions in well-known firms in New York, Boston, Paris, Tokyo, and London. He has been an Executive Board Member and a past President of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, holding expertise in single-family residences and multi-family housing. Warren’s design process blends new technologies to create responsive environments and sustainable systems. This is reflected in the Elysian Fields project.
A diversity of live/work type units, each unit has some form of double-height space that gives it an air of grandiosity. The central courtyard planter becomes the social condenser for the building and hides within it the rainwater filtration system. The building envelope acts as a second skin providing solar shading, with its bold colors and form channeling LA’s eclectic character.
Relativity Architects
421 Colyton Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Relativity Architects is a young, Los Angeles-based firm that fuses the physical built landscape and the cultural art world through creative urban design, architecture, interiors, rehabilitation, and graphic and art design commissions. Founded in 2013 by partners Tima Bell, Assoc. AIA, and Scott Sullivan, AIA, NCARB, the award-winning firm seeks to materialize inventive solutions into influential, evocative, and functional design projects and culturally relative architecture. Relativity Architects is a frequent collaborator with pioneering artists, consultants, and designers in the development of their projects across a diverse range of typologies, including motion picture and production studios, hospitality, institutional, affordable housing, multi-family, commercial, master planning, and residential. Both Bell and Sullivan earned Master of Architecture degrees from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).
RA’s commitment to architectural innovation, design collaboration, and construction excellence is demonstrated in the La Puente Park Apartments. RA’s modernization of the 1969 development included a new façade, unit interiors, accessibility upgrades, and freestanding community building with new landscape throughout. Through stripping the dated and worn façades, the apartments now feature clean, warm, and contemporary materials. The dense mass of buildings on the site is broken up through a varied use of stucco and siding. The existing form of the buildings allowed for the addition of wooden screening elements that provide softened privacy buffers for residents’ bedroom windows.
