Architect
Architect
Malibu runs for twenty-plus miles of coast and canyon, its own incorporated city where the Santa Monica Mountains drop into the Pacific. Building here means designing for the view, the wind, the slope, and the fire history all at once — the kind of layered problem Kevin Cohen Design, AIA, works in.
Unlike the Palisades next door, Malibu is an incorporated city with its own Building Safety and Planning divisions. It also administers its own coastal permitting under a certified Local Coastal Program, so most coastal-development review happens at Malibu City Hall rather than at the state Coastal Commission. The approvals a project needs — coastal, planning, building, and sometimes geology and septic — depend on the lot, and mapping them early keeps the design realistic.
Malibu has been through repeated wildfires — Woolsey in 2018, Franklin in 2024, and the edges of the 2025 Palisades Fire — and effectively the whole city carries a very high fire-hazard designation. That shapes everything from roofing and vents to defensible space and access. A Malibu house is designed with fire in mind from the first sketch, not treated as a code box to tick at the end. The fire-rebuild work is a regular part of the practice here.
A beachfront lot, a bluff, and a canyon parcel are three different design problems — setbacks and stringline on the sand, geology and drainage in the canyons, grading and access on the slopes. The practice's hillside work carries directly into Malibu's terrain.
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:
Malibu is its own city, so building permits and most coastal-development permits are issued by the City of Malibu's Building Safety and Planning divisions under its certified Local Coastal Program — not by Los Angeles County or, in most cases, the state Coastal Commission directly. Kevin confirms the full approval path for your lot.
Yes. With Malibu's repeated fire history, rebuilding and fire-resistant design are a regular part of the work — new homes and reconstructions built to current standards with the drawings the City requires.
Effectively yes — Malibu is mapped almost entirely as a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, which drives materials, roofing, vents, defensible space, and access. These are confirmed for the property and built into the design.
Tell Kevin about the lot and the project — he'll follow up personally.
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