Omgivning is an Architecture and Interior Design Firm We Uncover Potential
in Spaces. in Buildings. in Communities.
We’re in love with the extraordinary urban fabric of our cities. As architects and interior designers, we listen carefully to what the building wants to be and we create design solutions for healthy, sustainable, and resilient communities.
02/21/2026
Excited to attend tomorrow’s L.A. Historic Neighborhoods Conference: Meeting the Moment hosted by the LA Conservancy and the City of Los Angeles Office of Historic Resources.
Looking forward to listening, learning, and connecting with the preservation and planning community around the future of historic neighborhoods in Los Angeles. If you’re attending, say hello to Morgan Sykes Jaybush and Joel Chappo from our team.
Head to the LA Conservancy page to grab tickets, registration info is available through the link in their bio.
02/19/2026
We ❤️ the Los Angeles Conservancy
02/12/2026
Spectrum News 1 SoCal featured our House Relocation efforts
Lauren Martinez uses an unconventional method
01/25/2026
Behind the scenes for an episode of , featuring our team’s transformation of a 1926 L.A. landmark into the .
More info coming soon.
01/20/2026
We had another house move for our Historic House project. This is house number 3!
Thanks KTLA 5 News for covering our work!
After losing their home of eight years in the Eaton Fire, an Altadena family is now getting a new one — new to them, at least. The moving process began overnight in West Hollywood, where crews care…
01/19/2026
“Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
Today we reflect on Dr. King’s vision of a world built on dignity, equity, and shared humanity, reminding us that real progress requires both inner change and collective action.
At Omgivning, we carry that belief into our work, advocating for communities where everyone has access to safe, healthy, and inspiring environments. We see humanity as interconnected, and strive to design with that responsibility in mind.
Omgivning
10/13/2025
On Saturday October 4th, Omgivning was honored to receive the 2025 Preservation Award from The Glendale Historical Society for Harrower Village, a project that transformed a 1920s medical campus into affordable housing for seniors.
Originally designed by Alfred Priest, the Beaux Arts campus once housed the laboratory and clinic of Dr. Henry Harrower, a leading figure in endocrinology. Nearly a century later, it stands renewed, bridging history and community impact through affordable housing and design that honors its legacy.
This achievement reflects the collective vision and leadership of Abode Communities and the City of Glendale, with preservation and design collaboration from Architectural Resources Group (ARG), structural design by Labib Funk + Associates (LFA), SALT Landscape Architects, Killefer Flammang Architects (KFA) as Entitlements Architect, and Omgivning as Architect of Record.
At Omgivning, the project was led by Joel Chappo, Project Manager and Architect, along with Peter Rindelaub, Lauren Sanchez, Taylor Waters and other team members who helped guide the work from concept to completion.
We’re grateful to The Glendale Historical Society for recognizing Harrower Village and for honoring projects that celebrate the continued life of historic places and their role in today’s communities.
09/25/2025
What started as a 750 sf storefront dedicated to naturally fermented sourdough has grown into a neighborhood anchor. We partnered with Lodge Bread to double their Culver City space, keeping the bread kitchen alive while introducing a mirrored kitchen for coffee, pastry, and a new Italian pizza oven.
Every detail celebrates craft and community: custom steelwork and tile, cantilevered benches, tile topped tables, and hand thrown ceramic lights and plates from a family friend. Honest materials = everyday warmth.
Facing Washington Blvd, we pulled the entry back to form a covered patio with skylights, built in tile benches, and a steel and glass storefront, transforming a quick stop for bread into a ritual gathering spot.
09/24/2025
At Artisan House, we reimagined an underutilized historic structure into a vibrant community hub, part market, part gathering place. By weaving together dining, retail, and fresh grocery offerings, this adaptive reuse project celebrates the everyday experience of food as culture.
From curated produce displays to specialty goods, our design elevates the simple act of shopping into a memorable experience, one that connects people not only to fresh ingredients, but also to the character of a restored urban landmark.
09/23/2025
Every corner of Downtown Los Angeles carries a story, and Artisan House is one you can step inside.
Set within the Pacific Electric Lofts, this 1905 was reimagined by Omgivning as a , , and layered with history and craft. Salvaged mahogany panels became bar tops, reclaimed Carrara marble returned as custom dining tables and a floor inlay, and antique mirrors now reflect the rhythm of the city outside.
The result is a space that feels both rooted and fresh, where red velvet curtains mark the threshold, steel and wood details bring weight and warmth, and every surface carries a memory forward.
09/22/2025
Spanning 46 acres and 24 historic buildings, Murrieta Hot Springs Resort represents one of ’s most storied wellness destinations. Originally founded in 1902 as a health retreat built around natural geothermal springs, the campus evolved over the last century into a private college before falling into disuse. Today, Omgivning has helped guide its return to life as a holistic wellness resort, reimagining the entire property as a cohesive and restorative destination.
Our design work went beyond individual buildings. We approached the campus as a whole system, an interconnected village where , , and work in unison. Former dormitories became guest rooms, the library was revived as a bathhouse, and classrooms, gyms, and dining halls were reborn as spas, lounges, and gathering spaces. Across these transformations, we worked to create a seamless experience, every path, courtyard, and pool now feels part of one story of renewal.
The geothermal springs (more than fifty distinct pools) remain the heartbeat of the resort, but we layered in rare modalities like a rare Kneipp Walk, cold plunges, and sauna to expand the wellness experience. Interiors balance preserved historic details with new materials, lighting, and furnishings that echo the elegance of the early resort. Outdoor circulation ties each program together, making it possible for guests to move fluidly from restorative spa rituals to shared meals, fitness, and rest.
In bringing cohesion to a site built over many eras (1900s, 1920s, 1960s, and beyond) we focused on unifying details. Custom furniture and lighting, consistent palettes, and careful sequencing of amenities allow each building to retain its character while belonging to a larger whole. What could have felt like a patchwork campus is now a singular destination, a wellness village where history, craft, and contemporary hospitality are fully integrated.
Murrieta Hot Springs Resort is not just a collection of buildings, it is a complete environment. By stitching together decades of architecture with thoughtful interiors and experiential design, Omgivning helped transform a fragmented campus into a resort that feels timeless, restorative, and whole.
09/18/2025
For over a century, the Bathhouse at Murrieta Hot Springs Resort has been a destination for renewal. At Omgivning, we carried that legacy forward, restoring historic details and layering in new experiences that celebrate both wellness and place.
Today, guests move through a sequence of spaces designed for healing. A rare Kneipp Walk (one of only a few in the country) guides visitors across tiled hot and cold pools in a grounding hydrotherapy ritual. Nearby, invigorating cold plunges awaken the senses, while warm, mineral-rich jacuzzis continue the tradition of soaking in the site’s natural healing waters. The Panoramic Sauna opens through original arched windows, framing sweeping views and transforming a historic room into a restorative experience tied to its surroundings.
Outdoors, the Bathhouse extends into the open air with an adult pool and rooftop terrace. Restored mission style architecture, shaded lounges, and tactile materials create places to gather, reflect, or simply pause— spaces designed to feel as enduring as the resort itself.
For us, the Bathhouse is more than a building brought back to life. It is a living tradition, once again shaping experiences of wellness and renewal for generations to come.
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At Omgivning, we breathe new life into urban spaces. We are placemakers and creative problem-solvers, designing work that brings people together amid warmth and vitality.
In Swedish, the word omgivning translates to “the way a space feels.” Our firm is rooted in a love for the extraordinary urban fabric of downtown Los Angeles.
We started this firm in 2009, as the recession was threatening to halt downtown’s resurgence. Our mission was to bring DTLA from disuse to purpose, by carving new, programmatically rich spaces from old high-rises, warehouses, theaters, department stores and more. Today, our studio has grown to occupy an entire floor of an old tower in downtown’s Historic Core, and we are extending our revitalization capacities to neighborhoods much farther afield. Our architecture and interior-design portfolio now has over 250 projects, from small local cafes to a two-million SF historic landmark. We design new hotels, creative offices, multi-family housing, restaurants, bars, theaters, and custom furniture for projects by us and by others.
The backbone of our design process comes from an insistent focus on two scales: the human and the urban.
As humanists, we celebrate the details that give meaning to our lives. Texture, form, color, time, and light are subtle cues for engagement. Together, they tie us to a space and to our neighbors, and invite us to experience the pleasures of eating, living, and working. And as urbanists, we see our projects as points in a larger network of social and cultural activity. Through deep local connections and collaborative methods, we amplify local histories, support current uses, and enable future traditions and objectives. Our core goal as designers is to encourage the interplay of these human and urban scales.
Complementing our design approach, we possess an agile, highly specialized understanding of the complex rules governing work on new or existing and often historic structures. Our understanding of today’s codes—to say nothing of budgeting, process, and construction—helps clients attain their fullest vision for each space.
As our impact deepens, we’ve expanded our staff, careful to hire only thoughtful, sociable people skilled in grappling with the forces that shape today’s cities. Our 30+ architects and interior designers feed into a robust office culture in which knowledge-sharing helps fulfill our goals for the places we love. People work at Omgivning because they value shared experience—whether they’re inside the office, down the street, or anywhere in the world.
