Site + yield studies
Early exploration of massing, access, circulation, parking, open space, unit organization, and the opportunity within a site.
Multifamily architecture
Housing shaped by experience, economics, and identity.
Multifamily architecture in Los Angeles and Southern California, including apartment, infill, mixed-use, affordable, and senior housing design.
Why this matters
Good multifamily design must work at several scales at once: the development, the building, the home, the street, and the daily experience of residents.
Apel Design's housing work spans infill multifamily, larger residential programs, affordable housing, and mixed-use contexts. That range matters because unit planning, code, parking, circulation, identity, durability, and development feasibility are never independent questions.
The studio brings the sensitivity of custom residential design to shared housing and the discipline of multifamily planning back into every residential commission.
Capabilities
What the work requires.
Unit + building planning
Efficient plans, natural light, privacy, shared circulation, amenities, service zones, and a coherent relationship between repetition and variety.
Entitlement coordination
Design information organized to support conversations among ownership, planning, engineering, specialty consultants, and public review.
Identity + resident experience
Architecture, arrival, common space, material, landscape, and interiors considered as part of how a building is understood and lived in.
Selected evidence
Experience you can see.
The work below comes directly from our portfolio. We identify projects by name and city or neighborhood where appropriate; private street addresses are not published.
Los Angeles
Gardner Residences
Multifamily form, street presence, and a strong residential identity.View project ↗
West Hollywood
Sweetzer Residences
Urban housing organized at a human, residential scale.View project ↗
West Hollywood
San Vicente Residences
Approved housing with affordable homes, organised around a garden court.View project ↗
Los Angeles
Van Ness Residences
Housing design informed by urban context, circulation, and resident experience.View project ↗
Los Angeles
Wilton
A building scaled to a historic street, broken into gabled bays.View project ↗
Hollywood
Romaine Residences
Urban multifamily experience within a dense Los Angeles setting.Explore the library ↗
Los Angeles
Ashton Residences
Residential planning, facade rhythm, and efficient building organization.Explore the library ↗
Los Angeles
Loma Linda Residences
Housing experience connecting unit planning, access, and exterior character.Explore the library ↗
San Fernando Valley
Amigo Residences
Multifamily design responsive to site, program, and neighborhood scale.Explore the library ↗
Los Angeles
Hoover Housing
A multifamily residence where the facade carries the street, on a dense urban block.Explore the library ↗Selected projects
Housing designed across Los Angeles and West Hollywood.
Seven multifamily buildings, from a completed residence to proposals in design. Where a project is a proposal, its images are design visualizations.
Project pages: Sweetzer Court, West Knoll Garden, Fountain Curve.
How we work
A clear path through complexity.
Test
Study the site's planning, access, program, and development possibilities.
Organize
Resolve units, cores, circulation, services, parking, and open space as one system.
Differentiate
Give the building a legible identity without sacrificing planning discipline.
Coordinate
Carry decisions across ownership, consultants, approvals, documentation, and delivery.
A strong fit for
Teams looking for design intelligence and practical clarity.
- Multifamily developers
- Property owners evaluating infill sites
- Affordable and supportive housing teams
- Senior living and assisted living operators
- Out-of-area developers seeking a Southern California design partner
Inside the units
The unit is where multifamily design is judged.
Loft, studio and flat layouts studied for daylight, storage, ceiling height and how a small plan actually lives. Shown as design visualizations.
Questions
Useful answers before we begin.
What types of multifamily projects does Apel Design work on?
The portfolio includes multifamily residential, mixed-use, affordable housing, and related commercial and hospitality work across Los Angeles County.
Can the studio help evaluate a site before full design begins?
Yes. Early studies can explore planning, access, massing, circulation, parking, open space, and program relationships before a project moves into a larger design phase.
Does Apel Design only work in Malibu?
No. The studio is based in Malibu, while its multifamily portfolio extends through Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley, and other Southern California communities.
Related capability
Accessibility and clinical knowledge run through all of this work.
Healthcare, senior living, affordable and multifamily projects share the same requirements: accessible routes, usable bathrooms, adaptable units and buildings that work for people whose needs change. Michael B. Maclaren, AIA, who performs architectural services in association with Apel Design, has been a registered nurse for more than twenty-five years.