Our Work

Downtown LA Community Plan

Los Angeles, CA  ·  Community Plan

Our principals led the preparation and adoption of the City of Los Angeles's Downtown Community Plan (DTLA 2040), a comprehensive update integrating land use, housing, mobility, and urban design policy across one of the city's most active urban districts, calibrated to the distinct functional contexts of Downtown's neighborhoods: the Historic Core, the Arts District, the Fashion District, and the emerging residential corridors. The effort involved the rezoning of more than 17,000 parcels, oversight of more than $2 million in consultant contracts spanning environmental review, economic analysis, urban design, and transportation, and a public engagement program that reached over 10,000 stakeholders. The plan received unanimous approval from the City Planning Commission and City Council, and was recognized with an APA Award of Excellence.

The Downtown Community Plan required reconciling competing visions for one of the most intensely contested planning areas in Los Angeles. The Historic Core sought to preserve the architectural legacy of the early twentieth century while accommodating the residential conversion of historic commercial buildings. The Arts District was navigating the tension between the creative economy that had defined it for decades and the residential development pressure that was rapidly transforming it. The Fashion District was reconsidering its industrial heritage in light of changing market conditions. And the emerging residential corridors of South Park and the Convention Center area were absorbing significant new population with inadequate public space, retail, and civic infrastructure.

The plan addressed each context through standards calibrated to its specific conditions — not through a uniform framework applied across the whole of Downtown, but through a series of district-specific regulatory frameworks that shared a common structure while responding to the particular needs of each place.

Key Elements:

• Form-based standards calibrated to seven distinct Downtown districts
• Active frontage requirements designed to the pedestrian environment of each corridor
• Adaptive reuse provisions enabling residential conversion of historic commercial buildings
• Public realm standards tied to development intensity thresholds
• Community engagement process spanning three years and dozens of stakeholder groups

LA Zoning Code Modernization

Los Angeles, CA  ·  Regulatory Reform

Our principals served as lead code writers for the City of Los Angeles's multi-year zoning code modernization. The effort developed new form-based, district-based standards for residential, mixed-use, commercial, and industrial contexts across a 470-square-mile city — introducing a hybrid-modular regulatory framework designed to address the full range of conditions found across a city of four million people.

Hillside Development Standards

Los Angeles Region  ·  Environmental Planning

Our principals developed regulatory standards for development in and adjacent to designated wildlife corridors, integrating habitat connectivity requirements directly into the zoning code. Standards were calibrated to the specific terrain, ecological conditions, and development pressures of hillside contexts across the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding areas.

Venice Local Coastal Program

Los Angeles, CA  ·  Coastal Planning

Our principals led updates to the Venice Local Coastal Program, addressing housing demand, sea level rise, and community character in one of Los Angeles's most complex coastal neighborhoods. Work included parcel-level analysis of existing development patterns, engagement with deeply divided stakeholder groups, and regulatory standards designed to accommodate growth while protecting the qualities that define Venice's distinct urban fabric.

Mixed-Use Corridor Regulatory Framework

Mixed-Use Corridor  ·  Regulatory Design

Our principals designed a hybrid form-based regulatory framework for a transitional mixed-use corridor undergoing rapid change from auto-oriented commercial to pedestrian-scaled mixed use. The corridor presented the characteristic challenges of transitional districts: an existing built environment designed around the car, a market beginning to produce pedestrian-scaled development, and a community divided between residents who valued the existing character and those who wanted something different.

Standards were calibrated to the corridor's existing grain and scale, with tiered frontage requirements, active ground-floor provisions, and height transitions designed to protect adjacent residential neighborhoods while enabling the density the corridor's transit access and infrastructure could support. The framework was designed to guide the transition already underway rather than impose an aspirational form the market was not yet ready to produce.

Housing Production Strategy

Regional  ·  Housing Policy

Our principals developed a housing production strategy grounded in parcel-level analysis of development capacity, market feasibility, and infrastructure constraints. The strategy identified where housing could realistically be produced at scale and designed a regulatory framework to enable it — rather than simply designating additional residential zones without regard to market or physical conditions.