Melina Angelina Girardi
A licensed architect in California, Melina is a founding partner of WORKSHOP GIRARDI KABALA, an architecture studio on the search for practical, beautiful and historically resonant design solutions to contemporary challenges. She holds a Master of Architecture from the ‘Angewandte’ in Vienna and has 10 years of experience working in world-class architecture offices, among them 5 years with Frank Gehry. She enjoys developing unusual design solutions to complex architectural prompts and embraces the ambiguous territory of the creative unknown with a sense of play, using the tactile nature of working with regenerative materials as a tool to craft seductive aesthetic narratives.Lara Hoad
A California licensed architect, educator, and environmental activist, Lara is principal at Lara Hoad Architecture Design: Creating and Educating Design with purpose for People, Place and Planet. Lara holds teaching positions at Woodbury University School of Architecture and Otis College of Art and Design where she is core faculty for the minor in sustainability, teaching classes on climate change, biomimicry, regenerative practices, and plastic pollution. Lara is a LEED Accredited Professional, a Climate Reality Leader and crew member and ambassador for eXXpedition, all women sailing voyages to research toxins and plastic in our oceans.Matthew Kabala
Matthew is a founding partner of WORKSHOP Girardi Kabala. In his 10 years of professional experience, Matthew has played important design roles on large-scale cultural and civic projects, including museums, concert halls, schools, and parks. He has also worked directly with Frank Gehry on sculpture, industrial design, film and opera sets, collaborating with top artistic and technical talents from a broad range of professions. His personal approach to the discipline locates pragmatic material solutions to contemporary design needs within the fertile ground of resonant social, religious, and architectural traditions.Ali Keenan
A licensed architect in California, Ali founded her own boutique practice Ali Keenan Architecture. She is a healthy material and sustainability advocate, while actively researching alternative building methods and fire-resistant practices, with the goal of making architecture more accessible and affordable for all. Ali received her Bachelor of Architecture from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a minor in Sustainable Environments and completed the Glenn Murcutt International Architecture Masterclass in 2019.Jordana Maisie Goot
Jordana Maisie Goot is the founder and principal of Jordana Maisie Design Studio (JMDS), an interdisciplinary Los Angeles–based practice spanning architecture, interior design, architectural lighting, and furniture design and fabrication.Her career is rooted in a decade of work as a practicing artist - designing and building gallery installations and large-scale public art commissions - before she pursued dual master's degrees in architecture and lighting design. She subsequently spent three years at Diller Scofidio + Renfro, contributing to landmark civic and cultural projects in New York City, before founding JMDS, which she formalized in Los Angeles in 2018.
Jordana leads an agile studio of five, expanding to fifteen with consultant teams on larger projects. She manages all client relationships directly and oversees projects from concept through construction, across single-family residential, multifamily, commercial, and custom furniture and lighting commissions. Clients consistently value her hands-on presence, her communication through complexity, and her commitment to design excellence at every scale.
Alongside her practice, she has taught at architectural institutions for ten years, currently as an Adjunct Professor at the USC School of Architecture and as Director of Education for the Regenerative Rebuild Collective in Southern California.