The Studio

ARA-la Studio seeks to approach architecture and design with an open mind and across multiple scales. We like ideas and stories, details and the way things come together, and spaces that engage all the senses. We look to the past and to the future for details and inspiration, while paying attention to the present to examine how we might do things differently. We are interested in idiosyncratic uses of space and things, unexpected connections, and organic discoveries. We think design should be simple, but that it should have a personality and always a point of view.

Our Philosophy

We believe true creativity, elegance, and beauty comes out of being resourceful, adaptable, sensitive, and attuned to context and to the human relationships, habits, moods, needs, and desires that shape our experiences. Good design comes out of being flexible and giving room to discovery and change.

We believe design doesn’t happen in the vacuum of a design studio, but should be a collaborative and fluid process, from design through construction. In our experience, it is uniquely shaped by the clients, builders, consultants, site, climate, events, and connections that give personality and specificity to each project.

We design spaces and things for people who use and live in them. We give equal, thoughtful, and realistic but imaginative consideration to all facets of design, big and small.

PRINCIPAL

Aejie Rhyu

ARA-la Studio, based in Los Angeles, was established in 2018 by founding principal Aejie Rhyu. Aejie’s expertise in both residential and commercial architecture and interiors, for clients with unique visions, needs, and budgets, allows her to apply her diverse interests to a wide range of project types, scales, styles, and approaches.

Aejie’s experience specifically includes renovation and new construction projects, spanning custom furniture design, to small-scale residential and hospitality design, to large-scale cultural, institutional, and commercial developments. She previously worked for Commune Design, an interior design firm with an integrated approach across the fields of interiors, architecture, branding and product design, as well as numerous international architectural firms, including SOM, Toshiko Mori Architect, and REX.  

Projects she has contributed to have received AIA and other design awards, and have been recognized and published internationally.  

Aejie holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Art History and Architectural History, Theory, and Criticism from the University of Pennsylvania.

Aejie is licensed and insured to practice architecture in the states of CA and NM. 

Design Team/Collaborators

Jamie Groves, Goldy Lee, Jooyei Lee, Juhee Lim, Ivy Shi, Shara Um