Locals regard Torrance as a hidden gem. It is located only a few minutes away from LAX airport and offers visitors a getaway from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. Torrance is a diverse city in the suburban, commercial, and industrial sectors. From its beaches to its historical museums and to its vibrant cafes and bars, the city offers everyone something to do.
As a melting pot of cultures, Torrance has diverse food and dining experience for different taste buds. A restaurant’s brand is established by the food it offers, but also in the way it is presented to its customers. If you want your restaurant to succeed, you can’t overlook the importance of the building where that food is going to be consumed.
We’ve listed seven of the best restaurant architects working in Torrance. These firms, like the city, are made up of a diverse range of talents and professionals. Some of these firms have also been contributing to the designs of buildings and restaurants across the country and around the world.
CallisonRTKL
333 South Hope Street, c200, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Since its establishment in 1946, CallisonRTKL has become one of the most influential firms in the world. It is an architecture, planning, and design firm that has offices in the States, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and Asia. Its projects include The Pearl in Doha, Qatar, L.A. Live in Downton Los Angeles, and the Grand Hyatt Shenzen in China. With this kind of reach, the firm has of course acquired practices in multiple disciplines and sectors. Its extensive industry experience has allowed the firm to evolve into a cultural organization dedicated to promoting positive results in the local and global communities. Informed by its roots in urban planning, the firm believes that a good architectural design results in a beautiful, high-performing building. With the goal to create long-lasting buildings, the firm’s studios around the world combine their skills, creativity, and expertise to produce buildings that have an economic, social, and environmental impact on their communities.
The Dongpo Kitchen is one of the firm’s best projects. The restaurant’s design solutions successfully translated the Chinese Meizhou Dongpo brand into a new American metropolitan market. Inspired by the Chinese Scholar Su Dongpo and his passion for art, calligraphy, and food, the restaurant’s interior design resembles what his art studio may have looked like before. His calligraphy has also been featured on its walls, with black lines mimicking the way ink is written on paper—paint brushes hang from the ceiling.
Gruen Associates
6330 San Vicente Boulevard, Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Gruen Associates has been providing creative solutions for 76 years through planning and architecture, urban and interior design, landscape architecture services, and transportation planning and design. Thanks to firm founder Victor Gruen’s success, the firm nurtures its employees and fosters professional growth through its self-renewing leadership. The firm was able to strengthen its capabilities and ensure that its legacy would live on in the future. Leaders and staff at the firm have collaborated through a shared vision, common commitment, and holistic approach to the industry, clients, and projects.
The firm provides the highest quality of services, research, innovative designs, and project management through personal solutions, while deploying the supports of a large organization’s broad range of expertise and technical capability. The firm has won multiple awards, including the 2019 American Planning Association (APA) the Los Angeles Section Distinguished Leadership – Planning Firm Award, and the 2015 Firm Award by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) California.
Tanaka + Riley Architects
22855-E Savi Ranch Parkway, Yorba Linda, CA 92887
Tanaka + Riley Architects is formed through the friendship and professional collaboration between its principals Richard Tanaka and Michael Riley. Through their leadership and combined experience in the industry, they were able to integrate their specialties in delivering the best quality projects for their clients. The firm specializes in restaurants, health clubs, hotels, custom residences, as well as commercial and industrial developments.
The firm has developed an extensive list of clients in the restaurant industry. Making sure that each project is completed with all the details required, the firm is beside its clients from the conception of an idea to its roll-out expansion. Its staff is capable of providing services to established companies as well as start-up ventures, with each being treated with utmost professionalism and care. The firm’s design approach is based on a system that encourages collaboration and a team effort. The result is meticulous attention that ensures consistent success.
Foxlin Architects
392 Camino de Estrella, San Clemente, CA 92672
Foxlin Architects provides services through its belief in sustainable design and the integration of new technology through its buildings and work process. The firm understands the shifting landscape of technology and is continually evolving with the times. Principals Juintow Lin and Michael Fox developed their firm through the latest means and methods of working, allowing it to become a full-architectural firm that provides services to small and large-scale projects in parts of the greater Los Angeles area as well as China and Israel.
The firm believes in the power of good communication—the firm strives to be transparent at all times. The firm guides clients through the feasibility and reality of a project’s planning, design, budget, and timeline. Doing so clears the space for an expert integration of technology and architecture using its principals’ own areas of expertise. Their personal touch enables the firm to design buildings that encourage interaction between the outdoor and indoor environments. The San Clemente Award Program has awarded the firm the 2019 Best of San Clemente Award in the Architects category for its work.
D.S. Ewing Architects
723 E California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91106
Established in 1972 and starting its work in a renovated brick building, D.S. Ewing Architects has designed and worked on over a thousand projects around the country, as well as in Australia, Canada, England, France, Japan, Mexico, and Spain. The company provides a full range of architectural design services, including site and master plan design, architectural design, interior design, building renovations, and restoration design. The firm also designs custom furniture, lighting, and a wide variety of other features.
During its years in the industry, the firm has developed relationships and connections with engineering and specialty consultants with whom it works on a regular basis. Doing so has created a solid foundation that allows the firm to thrive alongside its diverse professionals and project managers. The firm’s goal is to design projects that meet the client’s needs, respects their budget, and provides a sustainable and functional solution that is environmentally friendly. Providing a complete design, the firm is present throughout all the phases of design and construction. It strives for an equal level of excellence through each project no matter the size and complexity. The Pasadena Weekly awarded the firm with the 2019 Best Architect Award; the Pasadena and Foothill Chapter of the AIA awarded the firm in multiple categories.
Satoh Brothers International, Inc.
19750 S. Vermont Avenue, Suite 100, Torrance, CA 90502
Satoh Brothers International was founded in 1913. Originally based in Japan, the company now provides construction and architecture services throughout the U.S. It is a multi-generational family-owned firm that provides feasibility studies, architectural design, construction management, and consulting services. The firm traces its roots back to Mr. Koichi Satoh, one of the founding members of early modern Japanese architecture. Yoshio Satoh, his grandson, now leads the firm with the same dedication to excellence and innovation.
The firm has completed hundreds of projects in Southern California over the course of its decades in the industry. When it comes to its process, the firm is meticulous in helping its clients through strategic planning, due diligence, pre-design, design and engineering, and construction. The timeliness and the long-term effects of its projects are the top concerns of the firm. The firm works closely with its clients to take all their needs into account and provide effective solutions in developing projects. The firm embraces is its diverse team of multicultural and multilingual individuals who are able to explain and communicate its process with the clients in the language they are most comfortable with.
Corbel Architects
3450 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1000, Los Angeles, CA 90010
Corbel Architects is structured as a multi-disciplinary design group to deliver transformative and custom-tailored solutions for the development’s creative, operational, and implementation challenges. The firm has worked on a variety of projects including hospitality, residential, restaurants, health, commercial, and destination buildings. Founded in 1991, the firm provides the highest level of quality work for its clients through an integrated process built on the varied insights, skills, and experience of its principals and experts. The firm values the active involvement of its clients and the community it serves.
The Venue—located in Koreatown—is one of the firm’s best projects. It’s a basement restaurant where patrons can sing their hearts out in private karaoke rooms, eat a full dinner in the dining room, and sip cocktails at the bar. The space was transformed from a storage unit into a large concrete space in the basement of a high-rise building. The ambiance of the establishment provides its customers with a smooth, moody, and high-end experience. LA Weekly and Eater LA both featured the restaurant.
