Description

Greater Los Angeles' Prominent Architectural Firm
Principals Peter Tolkin and Sarah Lorenzen—working under the moniker TOLO—guide the design of a variety of project types at various scales throughout Southern California. The firm’s portfolio of built projects includes single and multi-family housing, mixed-use and retail, restaurants and hotels, and arts-based projects such as gallery spaces and large-scale installations. The firm’s projects have been frequently cited for their inventiveness and accomplished craftsmanship in design awards and in publications.
TOLO’s designs draw from the rich material and cultural conditions that characterize the world we live in. As a collection, the work is idiosyncratic: each design strives to respond to the particularities of place and the firm's clients are active participants in the process. Rather than conceiving of TOLO’s architectural role as solely inventors of form, Sarah and Peter also see themselves as documentarians: interpreters of dynamic relationships and situations. Each project begins with an understanding of the project’s backstory. From here TOLO develops a broad design brief that incorporates client and site narratives, along with relevant material and aesthetic references (be they from the high arts or from popular culture). This method of working allows TOLO to combine an interest in form and geometry with a project’s contextual and cultural reality in an architecture that is representative of our complex lives.

Services Provided
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), Architectural Design, Architectural Drawings, Building Design, Custom Homes, Energy-Efficient Homes, Green Building, Guesthouse Design & Construction, Historic Building Conservation, Home Additions, Home Extensions, Home Remodeling, Home Restoration, House Plans, Multigenerational Homes, New Home Construction, Pool House Design & Construction, Prefab Houses, Sustainable Design, Custom Home, Home Renovation & Remodeling, Kitchen Renovation & Remodeling, Zero Net Energy (ZNE) Design

Areas Served
Beverly Hills, Burbank, Culver City, East Pasadena, Glendale, Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach, North Glendale, Pasadena, Playa Vista, San Gabriel, San Marino, South Pasadena, South San Gabriel, Toluca Lake, West Hollywood, Hollywood, Santa Barbara, Malibu, Montecito, Santa Monica, South Bay, Altadena, Sierra Madre, Arcadia, Monrovia, Orange County, San Gabriel Valley, Hermosa Beach
Design awards: American Institute of Architects National, AIA Los Angeles, AIA Pasadena, Los Angeles Business Council, City of Claremont Architectural Commission, California State Assembly, James Beard Foundation, Pasadena Beautiful Foundation, Long Beach Historic Society, Whittier Conservancy