Pasadena

The City of Pasadena runs its own review

Pasadena is an incorporated city with its own Planning and Community Development Department and Building and Safety Division. It is also known for strong design and historic-preservation review: projects touching landmark districts or designated historic properties can go before the City's preservation staff or Design Commission in addition to the standard permit. Knowing early whether a property carries a historic designation changes the whole approach.

Historic homes, modern lives

Much of Pasadena's housing stock is early-twentieth-century — Craftsman, Spanish, and period-revival homes with real craft in them. The work is rarely about erasing that; it is about additions and remodels that read as if they always belonged — opening the back of the house, adding a suite or a studio — without flattening the character that makes the home worth keeping.

ADUs and additions on deep lots

Many Pasadena lots are deep, with detached garages and generous rear yards — natural ground for an ADU or a thoughtful addition. The city's rules, setbacks, and any historic overlay decide what is possible; the design follows from there.

Architect-led, across five disciplines

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.

Working remotely, with visits as the project needs them

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.