Find the real opportunity.
Read the property, regulations, access, utilities, neighborhood, constraints, and likely approval path before committing to the wrong program.
Multifamily + commercial
We understand what
makes development work.
From the first site test through entitlements, architecture, technical coordination, constructability, and field operations: the building is considered as one connected undertaking.
01Test the siteFeasibility · yield · risk
02Secure the pathLand use · approvals · permits
03Resolve the buildingArchitecture · systems · interiors
04Protect deliveryCost · constructability · field knowledge
Development intelligence
Design starts before
the façade.
The first question is not simply what a building should look like. It is what can be built, approved, financed, operated, maintained, and delivered on a particular site, and how those realities can produce better architecture.
Apel Design connects development feasibility, land use, architecture, interiors, consultant coordination, and construction knowledge early, while the consequential decisions can still be improved.
“The strongest project is not the one with the most ideas. It is the one in which the site, approvals, economics, systems, and architecture reinforce the same idea.”
Make every square foot work.
Balance unit quality, rentable efficiency, common space, circulation, structure, parking, code, and building systems without losing identity.
Keep design connected to reality.
Consider cost, construction type, sequencing, materials, procurement, consultant scope, permit risk, and field conditions throughout design.
Multifamily
Housing with discipline.
Buildings with character.
Multifamily work demands repetition without sameness, efficiency without indifference, and technical rigor without surrendering the experience of coming home.
A residential scale for a multifamily program.
Projects like Sweetzer ask the architecture to organize multiple homes while preserving the qualities people associate with an individual residence: a clear arrival, daylight, privacy, material warmth, landscape, and a recognizable identity.
- Unit planning and repeatable building logic
- Street presence, entries, privacy, and outdoor space
- Parking, circulation, accessibility, and life safety
- Material rhythm that gives a larger building human scale
Architecture shaped by view, exposure, and access.
Coastal and hillside residential projects add another layer of coordination. Terraces, glazing, privacy, parking, roof use, drainage, waterproofing, structural systems, and coastal exposure must be resolved as parts of one architectural composition.
- View orientation and indoor-outdoor living
- Terraces, guardrails, envelope, and waterproofing
- Vehicle access, parking, and constrained-site circulation
- Durable assemblies for demanding environments
Technical experience
What we solve before
it becomes expensive.
Architecture is the visible result of hundreds of connected decisions. Our role is to identify those decisions, bring the right disciplines together, and resolve conflicts while the project can still benefit.
Site + zoning feasibility
Density, FAR, height, setbacks, lot coverage, use, unit yield, parking, access, topography, utilities, and early development risk.
Program + unit strategy
Unit mix, accessible units, stacking, circulation, common space, amenities, support areas, efficiency, and the relationship between rentable and non-rentable area.
Land use + entitlements
Planning pathways, housing incentives, applications, exhibits, agency coordination, hearings, conditions, revisions, and a practical approval strategy.
Parking + mobility
Vehicle access, ramps, turning, stall counts, bicycle parking, EV infrastructure, loading, refuse, pedestrian routes, and accessible arrival.
Code + life safety
Occupancy, construction type, allowable height and area, egress, fire access, rated assemblies, elevators, accessibility, and emergency systems.
Site + building systems
Survey, grading, drainage, hydrology, LID, utilities, structural, MEP, fire protection, energy, acoustics, landscape, and envelope coordination.
Documentation + permits
Architectural drawings, consultant integration, specifications, agency responses, plan-check coordination, revisions, and permit-ready packages.
Cost + construction intelligence
Constructability, phasing, bid scope, materials, procurement, sequencing, shop drawings, field questions, quality review, and close-out.
SiteProgramEntitlementArchitecturePermitConstruction
A deeper body of work
More projects.
More accumulated knowledge.
The strongest images lead, but the breadth remains close at hand. Each project adds practical knowledge about sites, codes, unit plans, approvals, systems, materials, consultants, budgets, and construction.
San Vicente ResidencesLos Angeles
Van Ness ResidencesLos Angeles
Belmont ResidencesLos Angeles
Ovada ResidencesLos Angeles
Romaine ResidencesHollywood
Wilton ResidencesLos Angeles
Ashton ResidencesLos Angeles
Loma Linda ResidencesLos Angeles
Amigo ResidencesSan Fernando Valley
Vanowen ResidencesSan Fernando Valley
Beachwood ResidencesLos Angeles
West Knoll ResidencesWest Hollywood
Tiara Residences ISan Fernando Valley
Vista ResidencesWest Hollywood
Tiara Residences IISan Fernando Valley20+Multifamily projects in the visual libraryOpen the complete project collection ↗Affordable housing
Different economics.
The same design intelligence.
Affordable housing brings funding requirements, incentive programs, unit yield, accessibility, operating cost, durability, schedule, and community responsibility into the same design problem. Those constraints make coordination and judgment more important, not less.
Large-scale housing experience
Make the program, approvals, building, and long-term operations work together.
Apel Design can support a housing project from an early property test through entitlement, design, consultant coordination, permit documentation, constructability review, and construction support.
- Housing-program and incentive-path analysis
- Unit count, unit mix, accessible units, and efficient stacking
- Parking, circulation, common space, and support functions
- Durable materials and maintainable building systems
- Consultant scopes, agency responses, and permit coordination
- Cost, phasing, procurement, and field considerations
Senior living + assisted living
Care requirements.
A real sense of home.
Senior and assisted-living environments must support accessibility, life safety, staff operations, family visits, shared activity, personal independence, and long-term maintenance, without feeling institutional.
Accessible from the beginning
Step-free routes, clearances, elevators or lifts, adaptable units, bathrooms, hardware, reach ranges, and exterior access integrated into the plan.
A genuine sense of home
Comfort, daylight, privacy, proportion, familiar materials, outdoor connection, and smaller moments of identity within a larger care environment.
Care operations that work
Staff movement, observation, service routes, support rooms, deliveries, waste, laundry, food service, security, and day-to-day building management.
Life safety without confusion
Clear egress, compartmentation, emergency access, fire protection, refuge, wayfinding, lighting, and details that remain understandable under stress.
Shared life + independence
Common rooms, dining, activity spaces, gardens, shaded outdoor areas, places for families, and choices between community and retreat.
Durability + long-term care
Maintainable finishes, resilient assemblies, acoustics, indoor air quality, efficient systems, replacement access, and operating costs considered early.
Mixed-use + commercial
Architecture that supports
the business inside it.
Commercial success depends on more than appearance. Identity, customer movement, resident privacy, loading, parking, service functions, systems, signage, interiors, operations, and maintenance all influence the plan.
Commercial experience
Design the public face and the operational reality.
We approach the guest-facing, customer-facing, resident-facing, and service sides of a project as parts of one system. The architecture should create recognition while making the building easier to use, manage, maintain, and adapt.
Identity + public presence
Architecture, storefronts, entries, signage, lighting, interiors, and material character aligned around how the project should be recognized.
Customer + resident circulation
Arrival, visibility, queuing, vertical circulation, shared lobbies, security, accessibility, and intuitive movement between uses.
Back-of-house operations
Loading, deliveries, refuse, storage, service circulation, kitchens, housekeeping, staff functions, and equipment access.
Mixed-use coordination
Residential privacy, commercial visibility, separate access, acoustics, structure, utilities, parking, exhaust, and hours of operation resolved together.
Resort + hotel experience
Destination planning, guest rooms and villas, public spaces, food and beverage, pools, landscape relationships, lighting, custom details, technology, and the sequence from arrival to departure.
Repositioning + adaptive reuse
Existing conditions, code upgrades, accessibility, envelope work, new systems, phased construction, brand transformation, and renewed market value.
Destination design
Resorts + Hotels
Explore how site planning, architecture, guest villas, interiors, pools, landscape, food and beverage, and project coordination can become one continuous hospitality experience.
Explore Resorts + Hotels ↗
Related project strategy
Capacity + technology
A small senior team, working at a scale that usually requires a production floor.
Apel Design is deliberately small. Cutting-edge BIM is what makes that possible on large projects: every critical detail is personally overseen by the people who designed it, so each project is a piece of craft rather than a drafting production run.
Every detail seen by the people who designed it
On a large drafting-production team, a critical detail is drawn by whoever is available. Here it is drawn by the people responsible for the design. Nothing is delegated to someone who has not stood on the site.
BIM as the reason a small team can work at scale
Building Information Modelling lets a small, senior team coordinate a large project without a production floor. The model carries the coordination that would otherwise require dozens of people reconciling drawings by hand.
Clash detection before the field finds it
Structure, mechanical, plumbing and architecture are coordinated in the model. Conflicts surface during design, when they cost a revision, rather than during construction, when they cost a change order.
Documentation without production-house pricing
The same technology that allows a small team to handle large projects also removes the overhead of a large drafting department. Clients get senior attention on every sheet without paying for a production floor.
Scale is not limited by headcount
1,100+ completed projects across more than thirty years, including multifamily, affordable, senior living, hospitality and commercial. Project size has never been the constraint.
One model, from design through construction
Because the studio carries its drawings through construction, the model is not handed off at permit. It continues into construction, where it is used to sequence and verify the work.
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