Meet Alex Petrakos of Allied Projects in Long Beach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Petrakos.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Alex. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am originally from Chicago and wanted to be an architect from an early age. My uncle is an architect and I grew up sticking close by him, always curious and exposed to construction early on. I went to the University of Illinois at Chicago and studied under some great minds that eventually made their way to LA. I came out to LA to get my Masters degree at Southern California Institute of Architecture knowing this was the best place to be for design. I met my wife here and ended up calling LA home.

After getting my Masters degree and exploring the architecture of LA, I landed a job working with Pam and Ramin Shamshiri of Studio Shamshiri. Working with them shifted the way I designed and thought, especially for residences. I am really grateful for that. With this being my first year running my own office, we have hit the ground running. To describe a few of our projects, we are working on a new residence with a well known Scandinavian architect, a home renovation for a famous director, a couple of fantastic restaurants and food halls. We even worked with Jeff Leatham for the concept design for the Ambani family wedding in Mumbai which received a great deal of publicity this year. To say the least, I have been all over the place.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think anyone in this field would have the same answer, no.

It definitely has not been a smooth road and I am glad it is that way. It has always pushed me to learn, do more and be better at our work for our clients. There have been and will continue to be many late nights and weekends of working. A lot of effort is needed to be put in to have the success we strive for to come out.

I have had a ton of people in my life be there to support me in this effort, especially my wife. She has been by my side during all the late nights and stress. I also have had a bunch of people be less supportive. It’s a great feeling to put those comments behind and prove the ability to do the work to myself otherwise.

Allied Projects – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are ambitious, passionate and honest about our work. Every project we design is unique and specific to our client and we always deliver on that. Having our clients trust us and be happy with their project is important in getting to the finish line together.

When it comes to designing homes, we want to make our client’s lives better and happier. It is a very intimate process. Being so involved with your client; knowing and understanding them to truly better them.

We do have a strong residential design background but don’t like to just limit ourselves to doing residences. We are lucky to have gotten some exciting other projects in the pipeline and look forward to sharing when the time is right.

Our strong knowledge base of how to work through the intricacies of government approval processes for projects has helped us deliver on distinctive ideas. This plays a large role in allowing us to execute one-of-a-kind designs and work with some great people along the way.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I have always wanted to run my own design office. Following through with my goal, and being able to do it early on is such a great feeling. This is just our first year and it already has been full of many opportunities and great people. I cannot wait to see what comes next.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alliedprojectsinc.com
• Phone: 323 682 3320
• Email: info@alliedprojectsinc.com

Image Credit:
Kim Lucian at Design Confetti

Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.