Studio Spotlight: Los Angeles

As dynamic as the metropolis it calls home, the Perkins Eastman Los Angeles (LA) studio thrives on projects that foster cross-disciplinary collaboration. “It’s about different people and approaches coming together,” says Co-Managing Principal Derek Hamilton, referring to the cooperative spirit that has shaped the studio’s trajectory—one marked by steady growth and strategic mergers and acquisitions.

Perkins Eastman’s 2011 union with Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn expanded its expertise in urban design and planning, while the 2015 acquisition of LBL Architects deepened its healthcare credentials. Together, this joining of talent set the stage for the LA studio’s establishment and rapid evolution into a powerhouse of design and planning that same year. The 2021 merger with Pfeiffer Partners Architects (its celebrated roots dating to the founding of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates in New York in 1967 and the establishment of HHPA’s Los Angeles office in 1987) further broadened the firm’s portfolio, adding performing arts, higher education, libraries, historic preservation, and civic design to its repertoire.

Across Studios and Disciplines

“I appreciate the dynamic of how we’re now working together,” says Principal Vaughan Davies, an original member of the LA studio. The studio is designing projects for senior living, healthcare, and higher education clients, among others, and leading and collaborating on urban design and planning projects in Southern California, Vancouver, Seattle, Oakland, and further afield in Nashville. “We want our people to feel they are part of one unified West Coast studio and the greater Perkins Eastman family,” he adds. This approach allows the LA studio to take on complex challenges and deliver transformative results in a wide range of practice areas.

Perkins Eastman Los Angeles

Founded: 2015

Staff: 62

Practitioners: architects, designers, interior designers, planners, project managers, urban designers

Completed Projects: 1,000-plus (includes work completed by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn, LBL Architects, and Pfeiffer Partners Architects prior to merging with Perkins Eastman)

Recent Awards: 2024 Engineering News Record Southern California Best Renovation/Restoration: University of Southern California Dick Wolf Drama Center; 2024 AIA New York State, Urban Planning and Design: Nashville Imagine East Bank Plan; 2022 United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) Merit Award: Gonzaga University Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center; Healthcare Design 2021 Showcase Award of Merit: MarinHealth Medical Center; 2019 AIA/ALA Library Building Award: Colorado College Tutt Library; 2018 AIA/LA Design Awards Presidential Honoree 25-year Award: Los Angeles Public Library Rehabilitation and Tom Bradley Wing; 2018 AIA Richmond Design Merit Award: Science Museum of Richmond; 2017 USITT Merit Award: Chapman University Musco Center for the Arts

One such project is the Reconnecting Pasadena vision concept plan to repurpose a 50-acre freeway stub in the heart of the city’s downtown. The LA and Oakland studios are leading this historically significant revitalization effort and benefiting from the expertise of colleagues based in Perkins Eastman’s New York, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC, studios.

Another advantage of the LA studio’s cross-disciplinary emphasis is the opportunity for staff members to broaden their experience. Senior Associate Jim Sarratori has spent much of his career working on higher education, renovation, and cultural projects. With the Pfeiffer merger, however, he has recently taken on the role of project architect for a large senior living project, Livelle Mulholland life plan community in nearby Woodland Hills. The studio’s expertise in urban and campus planning has informed the project’s “Main Street” and extensive outdoor amenities, reflecting Perkins Eastman’s dedication to creating vibrant environments that enhance well-being and support aging in place. “By virtue of its new approach, this project is bringing a lot of different practice areas together,” Sarratori says.

Adaptive reuse projects also benefit from multiple perspectives. The recently completed University of Southern California Dick Wolf Drama Center, for example, occupies and expands a 1931 church in a National Register Historic District. The vibrant new hub for education and performance underscores the studio’s expertise in arts and culture, higher education, and adaptive reuse. “It’s all about convergence—a historic building with a major arts component to it, and it’s also adaptive reuse and certified LEED Platinum,” says Principal and Executive Director Stephanie Kingsnorth.

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A Unified Studio

Associate Principal Shehani Fernando came to Perkins Eastman in 2019, bringing a wealth of California-specific healthcare industry expertise to the LA studio. As the principal in charge and lead medical planner for the Outpatient Pavilion and Ambulatory Surgery Center at the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center campus, she serves as an advocate for person-centered healing environments that are also operationally efficient. Fernando is a trusted advisor on her projects and with the LA team. “I love being able to educate clients and mentor staff,” she says.

Fostering a supportive and creative studio culture is vital to successful project delivery, says Cydney Anderson, a senior associate. “This emphasis on creating space for human connection aligns seamlessly with Perkins Eastman’s Human by Design ethos, which prioritizes our humanity as a firm, as individuals, and within the communities we serve,” she adds.

In addition to project design reviews and pinup sessions, notes Hera Brunel, a senior associate, happy hours and community volunteer events provide opportunities for staff members to
express themselves and get to know one another. By welcoming new staff members and practices into the fold, the LA studio tackles design challenges with creativity, empathy, and focus,
advancing its broader mission to positively impact people’s lives. N