Meet Rebecca Rudolph

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Rudolph.

Hi Rebecca, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Design, Bitches was founded in 2010 when Cathy and I entered an architecture competition together. Our response to the prompt ‘Architecture is (fill in the blank)…’ was ‘It’s Design, Bitches’, and a creative partnership was formed. We are both architects who take our work but not ourselves too seriously, and we’re looking to do something differently – open architecture up to all kinds of cultural inspiration and creating accessible spaces where people want to be. Our first projects were in the food + beverage world, and from there we have expanded our design practice to include retail, health & wellness, cultural, and residential projects both tenant improvement and ground-up new construction. We also provide branding design & integration services.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been an exciting road, mostly smooth with the typical challenges faced by small businesses. Architecture & construction are very cyclical and follow the economic ups and downs of the overall economy. Covid was challenging for a variety of reasons – we had to learn how to collaborate remotely, experienced some of the staffing challenges other industries faced, and are still in somewhat uncharted territory for what to expect going forward.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Design, Bitches is an architecture office that partners with unique clients to create meaningful spaces. We are equal parts, creative risk takers and optimistic pragmatists. We are designers and creative thought partners who navigate the shifting landscape of building with a visionary aesthetic. Over the past decade, we’ve built up a portfolio of multi-hyphenate spaces, next-generation retail and hospitality, originative single-family residential environments, and spaces to dance, display, and perform in. We work with creative entrepreneurs to realize new and highly social building concepts. We love challenging assumptions about how different spaces look, perform, and feel. With over 20 years of experience in the field, our female-founded office is uniquely positioned to offer a combination of construction and development expertise at a range of scales. Collaboration is part of our DNA. Beyond our core team, we are grateful to be part of a wider community of fabricators, engineers, artists, builders, and plant and garden people.

What matters most to you? Why?
We care – a lot. And that care shows up in how we work on projects, in our office culture, and in the way we think about how our projects connect to the wider neighborhood and city that they’re in.

We know that we are in a time of social, cultural, and ecological rearrangement- some of it for the better, much of it for the worse. LA has made us who we are- its weird combination of the natural and the saturated, its informality, its legacy of architectural experimentation, its diversity, its celebration of making and creativity. And we also know that LA is changing. The housing and affordability crises threaten much of what we love about the city, and the pandemic has made an already private city feel even more enclosed.

We see it as our responsibility to adopt a ‘do no harm’ approach to our work and social environmental impact. Wherever possible, we aim to contribute to creating accessible, multigenerational spaces that can bring people together. Around sustainability, our guiding ethos makes reducing, reusing, and recycling central to our practice.

Contact Info:

• Website: designbitches.com
• Instagram: design_bitches
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/designbitches/

Image Credits
Yoshihiro Makino, Laure Joliet, Bruce Damonte