Areas We Serve · Los Angeles
Ninety-nine projects across twenty-eight neighbourhoods, each with its own rules, its own review and its own idea of what a house looks like.
Local perspective
Los Angeles is a collection of neighbourhoods that happen to share a city hall. A flat lot in Beverly Grove, a hillside parcel above Hollywood, a house inside the Hancock Park historic district and a coastal lot in Pacific Palisades are four different problems: different setbacks, different height limits, different review bodies, sometimes different agencies entirely. What is routine in one is prohibited in the next.
That is why the pages below are specific rather than general. If you already know the neighbourhood, go straight to it. If you do not, the list is arranged by part of the city, which is the map most people actually need. Architectural services are performed in association with Michael B. Maclaren, AIA. Licensed construction is provided by Creative New Dimensions Inc, CA General Building Contractor, Class B, CSLB #1056632, in conjunction with Apel Design for Design-Build.
The neighbourhoods
Twenty-eight neighbourhoods, grouped as the city is actually read. The number beside each is the count of studio projects there. Names that link have a page of their own.
Relevant experience
The right scope follows the property and ambition. These paths show the most relevant starting points.
How we work
Apel Design can begin with a site, an existing building, a feasibility question or a clear creative ambition. The team brings together architectural design, planning and entitlement experience, interiors, consultant coordination, preconstruction and field knowledge according to the needs of the project.
Architecture is performed in association with Michael B. Maclaren, AIA. Licensed construction is provided by Creative New Dimensions Inc, CA General Building Contractor, Class B, CSLB #1056632, in conjunction with Apel Design for Design-Build.
Questions
With the parcel rather than the name. What a site permits is set by its zoning, its slope, whether it sits in a historic district or the coastal zone, and which agency reviews it. Tell us the address and that question can be answered before anything is designed.
Yes. A hillside lot is governed by the Baseline Hillside Ordinance, which ties floor area to slope. A house in a historic district is reviewed against a preservation plan before a permit issues. A coastal parcel needs a coastal development permit. A flat lot in the middle of the city has none of those and a different set of constraints instead.
Architectural services are performed in association with Michael B. Maclaren, AIA.
Licensed construction is provided by Creative New Dimensions Inc, CA General Building Contractor, Class B, CSLB #1056632, in conjunction with Apel Design for Design-Build.
