ABOUT

Founded in 2006, Arshia Architects is an architecture and design practice that emerged from the tectonic breach of the aesthetic experience and the act of building - purposely fusing this gap with novel substance.

Our Los Angeles-based practice is dedicated to the exploration of space and the built environment. We are committed to new ways of thinking in space that provide unique solutions to the complex challenges and parameters that effect architecture. We aim to collaborate with disparate disciplines, entering a dialogue with the environment, believing that such partnerships create emergent qualities in architecture.

Our practice has been recognized with citations from the American Institute of architects, the Los Angeles award and the japan architect award. The body of work has been published internationally and was selected by ACADIA and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) as one of the participants in the first retrospective exhibition on contemporary architecture in Southern California - focused on the top 35 radical practices to emerge within the past twenty-five years

HISTORY & CULTURE

Arshia Architects has been operating on the belief of the agency of space, since its establishment in 2006. Over its prolonged practice, Arshia Architects has designed nearly every project typology with an attitude of executing every project with refinement and care. To materialize its projects, AA has pioneered in utilizing the latest technologies in project design and execution including Building Information Modeling as a framework in residential design since 2008.

VISION

At AA we believe in the value of design. According to a study conducted by the British Design Council in 2014, every dollar spent on design has generated four dollars of profit for business in the UK. Our model follows the successful awareness of design in the technology sector, with companies such as Apple -now sharing a revenues larger than the GDP of 144 countries around the world- which have catered to the need for clarity, refinement and intelligence in an age of overcrowding, information pollution and environmental detriment. This ideal is by no means a reductionist motto for design, rather it is an intelligent rethinking of amplified possibilities with scarce means.

PHILOSOPHY

We are a collective of designers and creative thinkers dedicated to optimizing experiences between sentient and non-sentient domains. As we understand our fragile interdependence with all matters of existence, whether biological or acellular, we think of architecture as the weave of a larger fabric that shapes our environment. In this vein, we try to understand our relationship with the world and its components at large and the implications our built environment has on its trajectory into the future.

APPROACH

We try to quantify the lifecycle of buildings not only in terms of their material requirements and impacts, but more importantly in terms of their energetic input, output, and thru-put. We derive our design model from semiconductors, where a small input is capable of being amplified many-fold by the architectural assemblage of microscale rare metals.

ADDING VALUE THROUGH DESIGN

We do not think of architecture as only a solution to problems, as a cure or remedy to ailment or as entertainment. We believe in the power of architecture as a transformative medium and as a driving force rather than a response. Let design lead as it says, at AA we thrive in the unique though systematic approaches towards various projects of different scope, and integrate a full life-span design thinking from the pre-design brainstorming to the end of construction. Our process is open and fosters active client participation, to help the client rediscover the project’s potential and harness the design power for a greater outcome. We are dedicated to producing creative, well-considered designs that enhance the human experience with better environments for research, development, creating and sharing of ideas.

TRACK RECORD FOR QUALITY

Through years of designing within the complex parameters of California, AA has found new ways to deliver through on-going staff education, design pin-ups, and intra-studio drawing reviews. Our firm carries this culture of total quality into every market and every project it serves. AA embraces constant improvement and is committed to creating an environment in which people ask, “How can we do this better?” Among the results: satisfying, long-term working relationships and well-designed buildings that meet or exceed our client’s expectations.