The LADG
(The Los Angeles Design Group) designs new buildings for new kinds of families, gatherings, and uses. Like our namesake city, we take seriously the creative potential of the casual, the physical, and even the ad hoc - making use of familiar things in unexpected ways... more︎
t: 323.570.0487
e: office@theladg.com
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ABOUT US
The LADG (The Los Angeles Design Group) designs new buildings for new kinds of families, gatherings, and uses. Like our namesake city, we take seriously the creative potential of the casual, the physical, and even the ad hoc - making use of familiar things in unexpected ways. For us, these are appealing qualities but also signs of intelligent strategy: buildings can engage with the scene alongside people in ways that are open, direct, and comprehensible. This is the kind of work we do. It makes familiar-seeming things new again so audiences can re-think what they expect from their buildings and cities. The projects may originate in LA, but the ideas apply everywhere.
Founded in 2004 by co-principals Claus Benjamin Freyinger and Andrew Holder, the firm has offices in Venice, CA. We work at all scales, from furniture to multi-unit buildings, and have completed projects in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and the United Kingdom. The LADG has received a number of awards, including 2017 and 2018 Progressive Architecture Awards, the 2014 League Prize from the Architectural League of New York, and multiple citations from the Los Angeles Chapter of the AIA.
Benjamin Freyinger is co-principal of The LADG, an award-winning practice based in Los Angeles, and a lecturer at the UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design. He is a frequent guest critic at institutions across the United States. His built work and architectural proposals focus on how buildings can become active participants in the built environment almost akin to human subjects, and the relationship of academic research to architectural practice. Recent projects include a series of five houses in Los Angeles, a retreat in rural Maine, a compound in the Mount Washington suburbs of Los Angeles, and an exhibition design for the Resnick Pavilion at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Benjamin has received a number of recognitions, including two P/A awards, the League Prize from the Architectural League of New York, and multiple citations from the Los Angeles chapter of the AIA. He received an M. Arch from UCLA and a B.A. in Art History with a minor in studio Art from Boston College.
Andrew Holder is co-Principal of the The LADG and Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design. His research and design focuses on the idea of "assembly" -- using the way architecture is made as a prompt for how it participates in social formations. Andrew’s recent work has been published A+U, Metropolis, The Los Angeles Times, Dwell, Young Architects 16, a+t, Log, Pidgin, Project, and RM 1000. He is a frequent lecturer and guest critic at institutions across the United States and has held teaching appointments at the University of Michigan, the University of Queensland, UCLA, SCI-Arc, and Otis College of Art and Design, and the Harvard Graduate School of Design where he served as Program Director for the MArch I degree track.