Darin Johnstone Architecture

A belief in Architecture as an overarching discipline emboldens us to accept a wide range of design challenges including: urban planning, landscape design, interior design, graphic design, web design, and complex computer visualization projects.

Collaboration, invention, form, engagement generally describe a kind of trajectory we strive to produce afresh each time we are given the opportunity to design something.  Every design problem contains the capacity to engender discovery. That potential is what drives the work.  As a way of combating predetermination we attempt to engage each project on its own terms mining it for potential partnerships, techniques, systems and modes of operation.  Despite the tyrannical forces of economy and fashion we continually strive to maintain a non-specialist experimental approach.


Lambina Hills, Krasnodar Russia, Present
(Design work for housing prototypes and resort buildings 1,100,000 s.f.)

Gridley, Ojai CA, Present (5,000 s.f. remodel / addition, 700 s.f. guest house, 2.35 acre landscape renovation)

RH3, Los Angeles CA, Present (1,800 s.f. residence)

Chula Vista, Dana Point CA, Present (3,850 s.f. residence)

Woolford-Oliveira Residence, Los Angeles CA, March 2008 (2,000 s.f. remodel / addition)

Canyon Creek, Escondido CA, January 2008 (2,500 s.f. residence)

Gatos Place, Palos Verdes CA, March 2008 (45,000 s.f. landscape renovation)

Burlingame Residence, Pasadena CA, January 2007 (700 s.f. pool house addition)

Gatos Place, Palos Verdes CA, February 2007 (3,500 s.f. restoration of Lloyd Wright house)

Vertical Garden, Schindler House, Los Angeles CA, June 2006 (competition)

Qingpu Pagoda Park Pavilions, Qingpu China, August
December 2004 (Design consultant to SWA Group 6,000 s.f.)

DROP, Los Angeles CA, May - August 2004 (1,000 s.f. installation)

Shaw Residence, Beverly Hills CA, June - January 2004 (3,700 s.f. exterior remodel)

Medina Apartment, Hawthorne CA, April - October 2004, (1,000 s.f. interior remodel)

2006 MAK center : Vertical Garden

2003 SCI-Arc Café (invited)

2003 Nam June Paik Museum

2003 San Jose Museum of Art (honorable mention)

2002 Hermitage Museum RFP / RFP (finalist)

2001 Queen’s Museum of Art

2000 Palos Verdes Art Center

1999 Depths of Space (design consultant)


AIA / LA Design Honor Award for Drop

RFP finalist, Hermitage Museum

Honorable Mention, San Jose Art Museum

Getty Planning Grant for Neutra VDL Research House II


Vertical Garden / Schindler’s Paradise, MAK Center in Vienna, October 2006.

Vertical Garden / Schindler’s Paradise, SCI Arc in Los Angeles CA, June – July 2006.

Represent: New Architectural Drawing From SCI Arc, Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles CA, March – April 2005.

DROP Hi-Lo Fielding, SCI Arc in Los Angeles CA, June – August 2004.

Examining the Museum’s Role, SCI Arc in Los Angeles CA, February / March 2004.

(e)scapes, Coffee Bean in Torrance CA, Summer 2000.

Millennium Models, Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles CA, Spring 2000.

Digital Architecture, Forum Stadtpark in Graz Austria, 1996.


LA Architect – “10 to Watch”, by Jennifer Caterino, Nov./Dec. 2006

Kurier – “Vertical Garden / Schindler’s Paradise”, October 25 2006.

LA Architect – “Best of LA: AIA/LA Awards – Design Awards”, by Jennifer Caterino, October 2006

Architectural Record – archrecord2 – “Flux : Three Heads are Better Than One”, January 2006.

Art Week – “Darin Johnstone and Scott Parker at SCI Arc” Vol. 35 Issue 7 09, 2004

City Beat – “7 Days in LA” Vol. 2 No. 29 07/15, 2004

Metalocus – 12/13. 2004

306090 – “A Journal of Emergent Architecture+Design” Issue 02. 03 2002

Surface Magazine – “Let’s Get Physical” Issue 28 2001

Simplycity Magazine – “Prototype Home Office” Issue 3 September – October 2000.