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Modern post-and-beam residence at dusk with reflecting pool, built by the design lab in Los Angeles

Design · Build · Develop  /  Los Angeles

Bespoke homes where design and return agree.

A Studio City design-build firm creating high-end residences across the hills of Los Angeles. We buy the land, draw the house, build it ourselves, and answer for the result.

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$50M+
Real estate developed
and built
31.85%
Historical average return
across all deals
30 yrs
Combined ground-up
construction experience
2019
Firm founded
Studio City, CA

The firm

Most builders hand you a house. We hand you a position.

the design lab was formed in 2019 by two partners who had already built car washes, apartment buildings and custom homes separately, and who decided the interesting work was the part everyone else splits up: the design, the construction and the underwriting, held by the same people.

That is why our homes are drawn around what the market actually rewards, and why the numbers are real numbers rather than a pro forma we inherited. Every project on this site was acquired, designed, permitted, built and finished by our own team.

We work almost exclusively in the greater Los Angeles hills, where the site is half the design problem and where craft still moves the closing price.

Ali Noori & Haig Shirinian · Partners

Practice

Three disciplines,
one accountable team.

Design, construction and development sit under one roof. There is no architect blaming the builder, no builder blaming the drawings, and no developer discovering the budget late. One point of contact from acquisition to punch list. See how a project runs

01

Design

Eight years of design collaboration between the partners, applied to plans that read beautifully and also appraise.

  • Site study, massing and view analysis
  • Full architectural coordination and engineering
  • Interior architecture, millwork and lighting design
  • Material, stone and fixture selections
02

Build

Over thirty years of combined ground-up construction. Our own crews and long-standing trades, not a rotating cast of subs.

  • Ground-up custom residences
  • Whole-home renovation and structural remodel
  • Additions, ADUs and second-story additions
  • Permits, inspections and close-out handled by us
03

Develop

We underwrite, acquire and capitalize projects ourselves, alongside private investors who have been with us since the first deal.

  • Acquisition sourcing and underwriting
  • Entitlement and feasibility strategy
  • Project capitalization and reporting
  • Styling, listing strategy and disposition

Selected work

Eight houses,
one standard.

Every project below was designed, permitted, built and finished by our own team. Open any one for the full set.

Detail

The part most
builders skip.

Unlacquered brass, book-matched slabs, glazed tile, hand-set plaster. The line items that never survive a value-engineering meeting are the ones buyers remember.

Book-matched arabescato with wall-mounted brass
Book-matched arabescato with wall-mounted brass
Deep glazed blue tile, hand set
Deep glazed blue tile, hand set
Wall-mounted brass tub filler on stone
Wall-mounted brass tub filler on stone
Marble edge over rift-sawn oak
Marble edge over rift-sawn oak
Shadow line across a freestanding tub
Shadow line across a freestanding tub
Vertical glazed tile with matte black valves
Vertical glazed tile with matte black valves

Invest

A 31.85% historical average return, across every deal we have done.

What started as creating returns for friends and family has grown, entirely by word of mouth, into a group of outside investors who come back project after project. We are the sponsor, the designer and the general contractor, which is why our fee load is lighter than a typical development deal.

Historical average ROI since inception31.85%
Target annualized return per project25%
Typical project duration~18 months
Real estate developed and built$50M+

Figures reflect the firm's historical average across all completed deals since inception and are not a projection or a guarantee of future results. Nothing here is an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security.

Tell us about the property.

Whether you own the lot, own the house, or want to hear about the next project we are capitalizing, both partners read what comes through this form.