Synthesis Design + Architecture is a progressive Los Angeles based design firm with a global profile led by Alvin Huang, AIA, NOMA. The office was orginally established in London in 2010 and eventually relocated to Los Angeles in 2011. Our body of work embraces new definitions of craft, merges form with performance, and makes a case for the role of innovative architecture in our contemporary creative culture.
We do not believe that the agendas of a thoughtful, economical, and socially responsible architecture, and those of an innovative, iconic, and formally expressive architecture are mutually exclusive. By embracing a position of “form follows performance”, we seek to both capitalize on the potential of form to shape and engage the world around us while simultaneously expanding the definition of performance beyond the scientific to include the experiential, fiscal, social, and cultural.
Just as much as we believe in the ability of design to be informed by culture, we see our office as an opportunity to create a culture of design that celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion. As a result of our unique connections to both London and Los Angeles, two dynamic and diverse international cities with a rich history of importing talent and exporting ideas, our office has embraced a culture of both gender and global diversity as well as multi-disciplinary and geographical collaboration. In 8 years we have had staff from the US, UK, Denmark, Austria, Portugal, Taiwan, China, Jordan, Mexico, India, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Poland, and Iran, while projects, collaborations, and speaking opportunities have taken us throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Chile, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, India, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and China.
We are a full-service architectural design firm with licenses in California, Arizona, and Colorado. Our diverse portfolio includes objects and furnishings, installations, pavilions, interiors, public art, facades, residential, retail, hospitality, civic, cultural, & commercial projects in the US, Canada, UK, Italy, China, and Thailand. We don’t specialize in a particular project typology – but prefer to think of ourselves as specialists in using design as the medium, and technology as the means, for challenging the status quo. As a firm that values provocative questions as much as innovative solutions, we believe firmly in the ability of design to change the world around us.