Architect
Architect
Altadena rises into the San Gabriel foothills just north of Pasadena, an unincorporated community of Los Angeles County known for its Craftsman bungalows and deep, tree-lined lots. The January 2025 Eaton Fire cut through it, and much of the work here now is rebuilding — which Kevin Cohen Design, AIA, treats as a chance to build back better, not just back.
Because Altadena is unincorporated — not part of any city — its building permits are handled by Los Angeles County rather than a city hall. Building permits run through LA County Public Works / Building and Safety, with zoning and land use overseen by the County's Department of Regional Planning. The County has stood up dedicated recovery and one-stop permitting help for the Eaton Fire area. Confirming which County counter and program applies to your parcel is step one.
Rebuilding a lost home is its own discipline. The County has moved to streamline rebuilds, and the architecture can do more than reproduce what stood before: it can keep the character Altadena is loved for — porches, scale, the relationship to the street — while meeting current fire-resistant construction standards. Kevin works the fire-rebuild process as architecture, from reading what the lot can carry to the permit set.
Altadena's upper streets climb toward the Angeles National Forest, where slope, access, and wildfire-hazard mapping shape what can be built. Lower down, the grid of flatter lots is well suited to additions and ADUs. The right response depends on where the lot sits, and that reading comes first.
Kevin Cohen, AIA, leads an architect-led practice working across single family, multi-family, hillside, fire rebuild, and commercial projects — with the same approach throughout: proportion, detail, environment, and collaboration. For homeowners that covers ADUs, home additions, whole-home remodels, kitchen and bath remodels, permit drawings and plan-check, and coordinated construction through a separate, licensed contractor — with Kevin's architectural direction carried from the first sketch through permit drawings and plan-check.
Most of the work — design, drawings, and coordination — is handled remotely, which is what lets the practice serve a region this large without thinning the attention any one project receives. On-site visits are scheduled when a project genuinely calls for them: reading the site at the start, checking key moments during construction, and resolving the things that are better seen in person. For many homeowners this is a practical way to work with an architect whose approach fits, regardless of where the lot sits.
Rules, zoning, and permit requirements differ from one jurisdiction to the next and change over time. Nothing here is a substitute for confirming the specifics for your exact address with the local building department early in the project — which is where every engagement starts, so the design is aimed at the right requirements from the first drawing.
Every project is led by architect Kevin Cohen, AIA, and begins with the same approach — proportion, detail, environment, and collaboration — from the first sketch through permit drawings. Each service has its own page:
Yes — rebuilding after the Eaton Fire is central to the current work in Altadena, designed to current fire-resistant standards with the drawings LA County Building and Safety requires.
Altadena is unincorporated, so permits are issued by Los Angeles County — building permits through LA County Public Works / Building and Safety and zoning through the Department of Regional Planning — not by the City of Pasadena next door. Kevin confirms the right County counter and any recovery program for your parcel.
The upper, foothill streets are largely mapped as Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones, which affect materials, defensible space, and sometimes grading. These are confirmed for the specific property and designed in from the start.
Tell Kevin about the lot and the project — he'll follow up personally.
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