As Architects, we wear many hats—advocating for affordable housing, staying up to date with the latest design trends, etc. The list goes on and on. As much as we love writing long, educational blogs about housing in Los Angeles, we thought it was time to write something fun and easy. The best part about designing...Read More

I don’t know about you, but every time I read a sentence containing the abbreviations “SB” or “AB” my brain immediately hurts trying to figure out which state senate or assembly bill is being referenced. The research for this blog found me in an avalanche of state bills that all started to intertwine. How is...Read More

Our previous blog, The Great LA Delay: Why Residential Development is Taking Soooo Long, detailed how the convoluted permitting process is wreaking havoc with design and development in Los Angeles. In Part 2, we tell you about a possible “Secret Weapon” that could help smooth the permitting process, we’ve got some news on how this...Read More

UPDATE: Since writing and posting this blog back in January 2022, Los Angeles City Planning has created an info page and implementation memo. Check it out! —– There’s been a lot of buzz surrounding the recent Senate Bill 9 (SB9) that just went into effect earlier this month. It is California’s most recent attempt to...Read More

This blog is part two of the latest in our “Architecture in Practice” Series. If you didn’t catch the first part of this post, start here. Why houses cost so much in Los Angeles We were SO excited to officially own the lot, and somehow, we came up with a design approach almost immediately. (Fun...Read More

First comes ownership, then comes design. I know what you’re all thinking. What ever happened to that spec house you guys were doing? Well, package a really strange pandemic that keeps going on and on and on with a very busy practice and next thing you know, the spec house got moved to the back...Read More

If you follow Tracy A. Stone Architect on Instagram, you may have noticed that we recently got to visit John Lautner’s Tyler House. Tucked away in L.A.’s Laurel Canyon, this lesser-known work was built in 1953 and then restored in 1995, with the help of our very own Tracy Stone. The owner, Peter Tangen, was...Read More

I know what you’re thinking…enough with all this general information on architecture and development. Now that you’re all on the edges of your seats in anticipation, we’re finally ready to show off our new development project. As we pondered the best way to share about our process, Tracy suggested, “Why don’t we expose the ‘making...Read More

About three years ago, our team started looking for properties to develop in-house. If you haven’t noticed, there isn’t a ton of vacant land in Los Angeles. Finding something affordable with decent building opportunities is even harder. To evaluate each lot that came up in our land search, we had a mental checklist to see...Read More

Welcome to the start of our “Architecture in Practice” journey. If you missed our introduction piece, check it out here: Architecture in Practice. As we mentioned previously, early in her career, Tracy had the opportunity to act as both architect and developer (with her family) for three small spec houses in Santa Maria. This seems...Read More

We’re putting our Architecture Practice to work. Architects love designing. Seeing their imagined project upon completion is exciting. But there’s that in-between part that some feel they might be missing out on. So…Tracy A. Stone Architect has decided to jump in…and develop our own project. We are about to join our favorite readers, clients and...Read More

In our endeavor to be lifelong learners, we’ve started a new tradition at Tracy A. Stone Architect called… wait for it… “read the magazines that get mailed to the office.” Originally, we had decided to purge all the unwanted subscriptions (and if you know the design and construction industry, there are TONS that mysteriously show...Read More

In our previous blog, we commented on the need for smart growth and development. How does that work? Good question. In looking for answers, we decided it was necessary to review other major metro area strategies. We’ve picked a few that were particularly interesting, or those that had good potential for implementation in Southern California....Read More

  In our travels around Los Angeles presenting projects to various community groups, we face a lot of fearful residents concerned about increased density in the city. Everyone wants more affordable housing, but no one seems to want more housing. And as long as people keep moving to Los Angeles, we need more housing. After...Read More