Loescher Meachem Architects

Last week our team volunteered with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles to help build homes for LA’s underserved families.

Our architects were put to the test doing everything from framing to grading, and a lot of heavy lifting. All around a great team-building experience and a way to give back to our community 🏡

Our Founder, Ben Loescher, spearheaded a first-of-its-kind committee to create earthen masonry standards within The Masonry Society in 2023. Supported by a coalition of earthen masonry practitioners, engineers, architects and academics, the proposal creates a roadmap which will result in code accepted practices appropriate for both high ambition and modest earthen masonry projects in all areas of the United States.

Ben will be presenting a paper on this work at the Earth USA Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Sept 13th. See the link in our bio to register.

New work for Frankies Bikinis flagship store in Malibu, one of several projects we’re working on in Cross Creek Ranch.

Client: Frankies Bikinis
Architecture: LMA
Interiors: Buca Studios
Photography: Sean Davidson

Last week our Santiago Adobe project was awarded an AIA Honor Award with the Inland California Chapter. Easily our smallest project, this self-sustaining, off-the-grid tiny home is an owner-build prototype for future desert living. We are thankful the jury recognized the project’s many sustainable features, including the use of locally-made adobe bricks, solar orientation, and onsite renewable energy.

We’re on The A+List: The 220 Best Architecture and Design Firms Worldwide in 2024! It’s an honor to be recognized among so many wonderful firms and peers, thanks Architizer! See the full list below.

https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/industry/architecture-and-design-firms-to-watch-in-2025/

An excellent evening at the IIDA Southern California Chapter Calibre awards!

BUCK’s commitment to an inclusive environment extended to providing restroom facilities that were welcoming to staff and visitors of all genders and identities. Despite plumbing code regulations that inexplicably prohibited all-gender single-occupant restrooms, LMA worked with the City Hall Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to broker an appropriate compromise for the project and create a pathway for approval for similar all-gender facilities until more equitable State legislative reforms can be affected.

NeueHouse Venice Beach is the Popular Choice Winner of the Architizer A+ awards in the commercial remote work and co-working category! Thanks to DesignAgency and our collaborators J.T. Magen & Company Inc, AMA Group, BLVD Hospitality, Bold Lighting, Newson Brown Acoustics, Clay Enterprises, Charles Tan and Associates

Photo by Yoshihiro Makino

Architizer Awards

Retail spotlight💡 Looking at West Hollywood, executed with design partner superstars Snarkitecture. Swipe to see LeBron James 👑 and Ronnie Fieg in the store a few weeks ago!

Opening in 2018, the Los Angeles flagship store marked the brand’s arrival on Hollywood’s iconic Sunset Strip. Entered somewhat unexpectedly directly off of a subterranean parking level, the main shopping area is characterized by industrial materials, including exposed concrete flooring and walls, blurring the line between parking deck and retail space. Specialty elements include a hanging ceiling treatment of cast Air Jordans and a room made entirely of glass fins.

We’re seeking a full-time, intermediate-level Designer based in (or who can relocate to) the Joshua Tree area. This exciting opportunity will allow you to work on all phases of our hospitality and residential projects throughout the High Desert.

We’re also looking for a summer intern to join our (super fun!) Los Angeles office.

See the link in our bio for more info, and send your resume and work samples to [email protected]!

We’re honored to win the IIDA SoCal Calibre Award for NeueHouse Venice Beach in the Transformation category! 🏆

The jury praised the “very cohesive integration of the buildings’ 1920’s historic context with an arts and crafts ‘wrapped’ sense of newness and sophistication”.

Congrats to our client NeueHouse, our design partners DesignAgency, and our excellent project team, J.T. Magen & Company Inc, AMA Group, BLVD Hospitality, Clay Enterprises, Studio Bold , Newson Brown Acoustics, Charles Tan + Associates.

We’re thrilled to attend the IIDA Calibre Awards this Friday in Beverly Hills! Two of our projects are nominated - ATLA Venice in the Hospitality & Retail category and NeueHouse Venice Beach in the Transformation category.

Many thanks to our phenomenal design partners, Taller ADG on ATLA, and DesignAgency on NeueHouse, we love collaborating on such beautiful projects!

ATLA Venice project team - Client: Casamata Atla Venice , Architect: LMA, Design Architect: Taller ADG, GC: Build Group, Structural: Holmes, MEP: AMA Group, Food Service Consultant: Clay Enterprises, Photography: Onnis Luque

NeueHouse Venice Beach - Client: NeueHouse, Architect: LMA, Interior Design: DesignAgency, GC: J.T. Magen & Company Inc, MEP: AMA Group, Project Manager: BLVD Hospitality, Structural: Charles Tan + Associates, Lighting Design: Studio Bold, Acoustics: Newson Brown Acoustics, Food Service Consultant: Clay Enterprises, Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

NeueHouse Venice Beach is an Architizer A+Awards finalist in the co-working category! 🎉

Popular Choice Voting is now open and we’d love if you could take a minute to vote for NHVB! See the link below to do so.

As always, many thanks to our design partners DesignAgency, our clients NeueHouse, and to our wider project team!

https://awards.architizer.com/a/page/vote-now

Happy Earth Day! 🌱 In the spirit of the day, and in celebration of sustainable design, we’re pleased to share that we recently received LEED Gold Certification for our BUCK Los Angeles project.

BUCK, an Emmy-award winning creative agency with five offices across four countries, is known for its varied and innovative design solutions which has led to incredible success, respect, and lasting relationships with clients. BUCK wanted their Los Angeles location to be situated within a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood and purchased a well-suited six-story building in Little Tokyo to serve as their new headquarters.

LMA was tasked with the visioning, programming and masterplanning of this space, which occupies four floors with interconnected stairs, creating a flexible space that encourages interaction between departments.

Programs include an all-hands openplan work and dining area with a grand staircase which doubles as a platform for presentations; private and flexible offices; editing bays; all-gender restroom, gym and wellness room; and coffee bar. Custom workstations can be infinitely reconfigured to allow teams to assemble themselves quickly based on tasks or deadlines. Other custom furniture includes dining booths, curtain dividers and built-in window benches, which soften the space.

Our clients have just picked up their building permit for the first home constructed of hand-made compressed earth block (CEB) and hempcrete block - pressed by ‘a left-handed Jewish Cowboy’ (our client’s words!) - anywhere in California!

Located in Joshua Tree, the home is designed for the couple to age-in-place. The design uses CEB and hempcrete exterior walls, passive-solar techniques to facilitate solar heating in winter and heat management in summer, and will produce 100% of its own energy on-site from renewable sources.

The client is acting as their own contractor and currently making the compressed earth blocks on-site using local soils… Stay tuned for more info as this build progresses!

Two of our projects, ATLA Venice and NeueHouse Venice Beach, are nominated for IIDA Calibre Design Awards, which honors design excellence in commercial interiors in Southern California ✨

Winners will be announced on May 3rd 🤞

Revisiting our design for Team One Dallas, which was voted No. 9 in Ad Age‘s Best Places to Work 2024 and the top ad agency among companies with 201+ employees.

“For this project, LMA was selected from over 20 other architects to design a new Dallas office space for one of the world’s preeminent advertising agencies specializing in luxury brands...

LMA’s concept was to fill the space with plants and small vertical gardens, use natural materials like wood and terracotta, and line open work areas with light colors and finishes to take advantage of daylight. With no enclosed offices, the space plan allows for collaboration and gathering within several open-work zones of bullpen seating, informal working lounge spaces and an all-hands agency meeting space.”

We finally got film developed from our team-building whale-watching afternoon 🐳

Dramamine in tow, we braved the choppy seas and sailed alongside two spectacular gray whales on their southern migration.

Photos by Sam Miron.

NeueHouse Venice Beach in .

“It’s the new era of work, where productivity and play intertwine with aplomb.”

See the link below to read more.

https://interiordesign.net/projects/neuehouse-venice-beach-exudes-beachy-vibes/

Our Principal, Ben Loescher, is participating in a panel discussion on the innovation of earthen masonry, organized by Georgia Tech School of Building Construction School of Building Construction. Tune in on Thursday at 8am PST / 11am ET. See the link in our bio to register.

d20d64d1-29cc-4b51-ab23-e9297ab7f1d0@482198bb-ae7b-4b25-8b7a-6d7f32faa083" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/d20d64d1-29cc-4b51-ab23-e9297ab7f1d0@482198bb-ae7b-4b25-8b7a-6d7f32faa083

Georgia Tech

Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

Our Traction Ave project in WWD.

The adaptive reuse project breathes new life into the city block, preserving the building’s structure while expanding the space to create a 40,000 SF total across two floors. We’re so pleased to see tenants of exceptional caliber join the space.

See the link below to read more.

https://wwd.com/business-news/retail/signal-retail-development-los-angeles-arts-district-raan-parton-paolo-carini-1236158611/

Thank you to our friends at Salvation Mountain for their kind words about Ben’s adobe consulting work. The iconic, vibrant structure, made of adobe, hay-bales and donated paint, was recently declared a historically significant property and historic resource in Imperial County!

If you would like to support their conservation efforts please see the link below to make a tax-deductible donation 🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜

https://salvationmountain.org/donate/

ATLA Venice 💙

Photos by Onnis Luque

We’re honored to have received the Interior Design Magazine Best Of Year Award for NeueHouse Venice Beach in the co-working category. Congrats to our design partners DesignAgency, collaborators, and many thanks to our clients NeueHouse, and the Interior Design Magazine team!

Friend of the firm, architectural historian, Daniel Paul, is giving a lecture on the New City of Mentalphysics Historic District next Tuesday, December 12. The District contains the largest collection of Lloyd Wright buildings and was recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places thanks to Daniel! In addition to the architecture, the lecture will also address Mentalphysics’ fascinating teaching discipline and alternative spiritual practices in Southern California.

LMA provided pro-bono services to the project which addressed deferred maintenance and infrastructure improvements, and we’re pleased to see this incredible space get the recognition it deserves.

The lecture will take place at 7pm PST at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, and also on Zoom. See the link below for more info.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/breathing-and-building-at-the-new-city-of-mentalphysics-tickets-759457175857?aff=oddtdtcreator

NeueHouse Venice Beach is a finalist for the Interior Design Magazine Best of Year Awards in the co-working category! ✨

Congrats to our design partners DesignAgency, and our greater project team, and many thanks to the jury!

Photo by Yoshihiro Makino.

Our Principal, Ben Loescher, will be presenting at After Comfort: A User’s Guide at MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House on Sunday, Dec 10th from 3 - 5pm.

After Comfort is a new project by e-flux Architecture that explores the way we have come to live in buildings and imagines how this life might change to reduce carbon and adapt to unstable climates.

Ben will be speaking about his practice, alongside artist and writer Debra Scacco in a conversation surrounding thermal comfort and what the future of an adaptive Los Angeles may look like.⁠ The panel is moderated by Daniel Barber and Jia Gu.

See the link below for more info.⁠
⁠
Image: Ducts in a row. Courtesy of Daniel Barber.

https://www.makcenter.org/events/after-comfort

We’re incredibly honored to have received two Los Angeles Business Council awards in the adaptive reuse category for our 821 Traction Ave and NeueHouse Venice Beach projects.

Congrats to our clients and collaborators and thanks to the jury!

A little teaser of our design for BUCK’s new Los Angeles offices, which is on track to receive LEED Gold accreditation. We can’t wait to share the finished photos with you. Stay tuned…

Traction Ave, Arts District, Los Angeles ⬜️◻️

Six seismically separated buildings surrounding a lush central courtyard