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From lotto building.

An architecture studio in Marina del Rey. Since 2003: custom homes on difficult ground, and multi-family buildings that pencil out, across Southern California.

Homeowner Planning a custom home Hillside and coastal homes, from Bel Air to Montecito. Developer Developing multi-family Density Bonus and TOC buildings, from yield study to permits.
Sample massing on a fictional lot, with a project photograph below.
Sample massing study, hillside lot Isometric diagram of a fictional hillside lot that falls about 35 percent away from the street. Three levels are set into the slope: a street level with the entry and garage, a view level whose glazed end cantilevers over the hillside, and a garden level that opens onto a pool terrace held by a retaining wall. Sample only. EXAMPLE DRIVE

Street levelentry and garage

View levelcantilevers over the slope

Garden levelopens to the pool terrace

35% slopeeach level set into the hill

Mulholland residence at twilight: glass, stacked stone and wood-clad volumes above a terrace with an infinity pool PhotographMulholland · Beverly Hills

MulhollandBeverly Hills · Photograph

The drawing above is a sample; the photograph shows a hillside home in Beverly Hills.

View project Custom homes

Sample massing study, multi-family lot Isometric diagram of a fictional 90 by 130 foot lot on Example Avenue. A four-story apartment building with a glazed lobby, balconies and loggias fills the envelope allowed by right; two glass floors above it show what the State Density Bonus could add. Sample only, not a zoning determination. EXAMPLE AVENUE 90 FT130 FT

+2 storiesState Density Bonus

4 storiesallowed by right

The Cannery in Ventura: a four-story Mission-style condominium building with an arcaded ground floor along the street BuiltThe Cannery, Ventura · 78 units

Sample1200 Example Avenue 90 × 130 ft

stories
6
units
42

with the State Density BonusBy right: 4 stories, 28 units

A first read, not a zoning determination. Book a Feasibility Study

A first read on zoning and yield, then a Feasibility Study if the lot is worth pursuing.

Prototype — nothing was sent. On the live site this goes straight to the studio. The sample study above replays.

  • 2003Founded by Ron Mandalian
  • 40projects across Southern California
  • 13residential communities
  • 5.0on Google
  • Best of Houzz2023 · Service
  • 3×named architect by Urbanize LA in 2024

Rebuilding in Pacific Palisades or Malibu?

We have designed homes in Pacific Palisades and Malibu. If your family is starting again after the January 2025 fires, you can begin with a call about your lot.

Call (310) 301-1810 Rebuild consultation

Drawn, then built.

Feature preview — final pairs will use your own matched renderings and photographs.

Stradella
Photograph of Stradella, Bel Air, from the street at dusk: white stone and plaster volumes, a lit wood-clad upper room above a two-car garage, and lit entry steps
Rendering of Stradella, Bel Air, from the same street view, in daylight: stone and plaster volumes, a wood-clad upper room above a two-car garage, and planted terraces
Stradella · Bel Air Left: rendering. Right: photograph. The two frames are matched by hand, so some edges differ.

Eight lots, eight buildings.

40 projects across Southern California; eight of them here. Photographs show built work, renderings are marked. Sort by type, or by the path to approval listed for each building.

All 40 projects
Show projects by type
Or by path to approval

Custom homes in Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Manhattan Beach, Montecito, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Palm Desert.Homes

Aerial view at dusk of a residence set into a hilltop ridge in Malibu, with a long retaining wall below it and the ocean under a marine layer on the horizon
Costa del Sol · MalibuPhotograph

Every project grows floor by floor.

Five services, in the order a building needs them. Most projects should start with the first one.

How we work
Exploded axonometric of a small building: lot, envelope, structure, glazing and interior, one layer per service 01 02 03 04 05

  1. Feasibility Study

    What the lot allows, what it could hold, and whether to go on.

  2. Planning & Schematic Design

    Massing, plans and the first real look at the building.

  3. Construction Documents & Permits

    The drawing set, the consultants and plan check.

  4. Construction Administration

    On site with the contractor until the building stands.

  5. Interior Design

    Finishes, light and built-ins, carried through from the plan.

A building that pencils out.

For developers we start with the numbers: what the lot allows by right, what the State Density Bonus or a TOC incentive can add, and what that means in units and stories. Then we draw it and take it through permits.

Urbanize LA named UDS as the architect three times in 2024.

Check a lot Multi-family work
13 residential communities, from a 3-unit infill to a 224-unit senior community. Six of them, by size:
  1. Beach AveMarina del Rey · infill3units
  2. Doran Luxury ResidencesGlendale · Density Bonus · 4 stories · built33units
  3. Mentor ApartmentsPasadena · Density Bonus42units
  4. Las PalmasTOC · mixed-use89units
  5. Central LoftsGlendale · 8 stories · rendering105units
  6. Vintage at SnowberryRiverside · senior community224units

Each tick on a bar marks ten units.

Also commercial: Cahuenga / Universal Studio City, office, medical and retail.Commercial

An architect at his desk marks up a printed plan with a pen, a hand-drawn perspective of a building beside it
At the drawing table

Led by its founder since 2003.

Ron Mandalian founded Urban Design Specialists in 2003 and leads the studio from Marina del Rey. The same team carries a project from the first feasibility study through permits, construction and interiors.

  • 5.0 on Google
  • 5.0 on Houzz

About the studio Insights

The studio, on film84 seconds, by VH Studios. Plays on Vimeo.

Start a project.

Tell us what you are planning and where. The studio will review your project before getting in touch.

(310) 301-1810 info@udspec.com 4519 Admiralty Way, Suite A, Marina del Rey, CA 90292 Instagram @urbandesignspecialists
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Prototype — nothing was sent. On the live site this goes straight to the studio.

Project preview

Project photograph

Full project pages will be developed after the concept is selected.