Spinagu is an architecture research studio based in Los Angeles that works on buildings, environments, and exhibitions. The studio approaches all activities through critical inquiry, whose output takes on many forms: design speculations, built work, budgets and spreadsheets, architectural exhibitions, staged conversations and interviews, research seminars, models and mock-ups. The studio is currently researching bioregional material systems; alternative ownership models; histories of display in architecture; a museum courtyard renovation; a private residence in Los Angeles; an ADU project in Angelino Heights; and the design research initiative Material Acts at Craft Contemporary as part of the Getty PST Art and Science Collide initiative.
Directed by Jia Yi Gu and Maxi Spina, Spinagu has been recognized and supported by the Graham Foundation, the Getty Foundation, MacDowell, California Arts Council, LA County Arts Commission, Canadian Centre for Architecture, and American Institute of Architects. Their work and writing have been published in Log, e-flux Architecture, Architectural Digest, Architect’s Record, and Architect Magazine, amongst others.
AWARDS
AIA | LA Residential Architecture Award, 2019
Canadian Center For Architecture, Doctoral Research Fellowship, 2019
Macdowell Colony Fellowship, 2018
Mies Crown Hall Award (Shortlisted), 2018
Graham Foundation Grant, 2017
CLIENTS
Architecture + Design Museum
CityLAB
Community Arts Resource
Craft Contemporary
Getty Foundation Pacific Standard Time
SELECTED PRESS
Architect Newspaper, Building Practice, 2020
Architect Magazine, Next Progressives, 2020
Archinect, Studio Snapshot, 2019
Architectural Record, Featured Houses, 2019
SCI-Arc Channel, 2017
E-Flux, “Thick, The Exhibition”, July 2017
PARTNERS
MAXI SPINA (b. Rosario, Argentina) is Co-Director of Spinagu. He is currently Design Faculty and Undergraduate Thesis Coordinator at SCI-Arc and AIA International Associate. He was previously a MacDowell Fellow, and a Maybeck Fellow at UC Berkeley; Lecturer at CCA and Associate Professor at Woodbury. He received his M.Arch from Princeton University and a B.Arch from National University of Rosario, Argentina. Previous to founding Spinagu, Maxi has worked for Neil Denari Architects and Studio Daniel Libeskind.
JIA YI GU (b. Shanghai, China) is Co-Director of Spinagu and Director and Curator at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House. She is an architectural designer, curator, and researcher whose work is focused on histories of knowledge production and display practices across disciplines. She received her B.A. in Visual Studies from UCSD, a Master of Architecture from UCLA, and is completing her dissertation on postwar models. She has worked in Germany, Italy and Korea with raumlaborberlin and Something Fantastic.
TEAM
CURRENT TEAM
Esin Koraosman
PAST COLLABORATORS
Abe Wang-Hsuan Kung, Brandon Kintzer, Daniel Arismendys Taveras-Hernandez, Delaney McCraney, Kevin Foley, Leo Zhang, Luiza de Souza, Mateus Comparato, Nancy Ai, Neil Vasquez, Nicholas Perseo, Ravyn Crabtree, Ryan Farnam, Stephan Bica, Stratton Coffman, Rishab Jain, Wesley Evans
INTERNSHIPS
We offer only a few full-time, stipended internships during the year. If you would like to be considered for an internship, please send a cover letter, resume/cv, and work samples in PDF format to work@spinagu.com