Bestor Architecture, Los Angeles: Community, Fun, Bright.

Bestor Architecture occupies a beautiful pair of warehouses in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Silverlake. Built around a kitchen/café, the studio doubles as a showroom for clients like Intelligentsia to experience the friendly and relaxed but high-design style that Bestor does best. “I’ve always been looking for a permanent home in my neighbourhood because our office culture is very connected to us being in Silverlake,” explains Bestor. 

Silverlake is Bestor’s home; she loves its history of experimental modern architecture. “I feel like I’m part of that experimental California tradition. I’m a couple of blocks from the Lautner Silvertop house where I just finished a two-year restoration. We had a fundraiser there for LA Conservancy. It’s the Falling Water of the West Coast. It’s part of my identity as an architect to have continuity with architects like Schindler and Lautner,” says Bestor.

There’s a simple, open desking system which is non-hierarchical. People are grouped together in teams and it’s kept flexible so they can shuffle people around. There are pin-up boards where people can have an informal meeting about what they’re working on that’s reminiscent of an architecture school. “I taught architecture for a long time as a design instructor, so I like that general set up,” says Bestor. “I think it’s efficient to have work that people are engaged in up in a semi-public way because it helps the general culture.” 

With architectural trips to Palm Springs, a huge neighbourhood party at Casita del Campo every year and now the front of the new office being used as a pop-up gallery space, there are all sorts of events that drift into after work hours. On Fridays, Bestor caters lunch so everyone can eat together. 

Since 1995, Bestor has actively redefined Los Angeles architecture with a practice that rigorously engages the city through design, art, and urbanism. The firm has doubled over the last year and is currently designing new offices for Snap, a winery in Napa and a hotel in Palm Springs.