Marmol Radziner + Associates :
Between Architecture and Construction
Leo Marmol , Ron Radziner

If you design some of the most stylish and beautiful modern houses in the Los Angeles area, including many for celebrity clients, how do you ensure that the projects are built to the standards you, and your patrons, demand? If you're the highly sought-after firm of Marmol Radziner + Associates, you do what an increasing number of practices are doing: become your own contractor, building your projects with the same rigor and beauty with which they were designed, and, in the process, remake your firm into one of the most visible and successful design-build firms in the country.

Praised as "modernist savants" by the New York Times, Marmol Radziner + Associates have redefined the indoor-outdoor California lifestyle made famous by legendary mid-century modernists such as Richard Neutra and Albert Frey. Their multifaceted projects include not only residential, commercial, and institutional buildings but also mid-century modern home restorations, furniture, and prefab home manufacturing. Whether building a Hollywood hideaway that floats ethereally over a lush garden or a childcare center for LAX airport employees, each project embodies the philosophy of the firm by integrating finely crafted details with technically inventive modern spaces. Marmol Radziner + Associates explains in detail how this pioneering design-build firm—one of the few led by architects—has managed to integrate building—installation, construction, and fabrication into one seamless design process. Architects Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner give an open and honest account of the inner workings of their award-winning firm. Their personal perspectives combined with interviews with employees, clients, and collaborators highlight the synergistic nature of their work. This unique monograph takes the reader from the early stages of conceptual design all the way through construction with special attention focused on their innovative solutions to a variety of on-site challenges.


Marmol Radziner + Associates is a unique design-build practice led by architects who strive to encourage modern indoor/outdoor lifestyles for a broad audience and to extend the concept of design to include the craft of construction.

Leo Marmol is managing principal of the firm, responsible for the translation of drawings into physical buildings and he directs all construction. He was educated at the California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo, California Bachelor of Architecture, Minor in Philosophy; Cum Laude, 1987

Ron Radziner leads the design of every project in the office, Ron has worked tirelessly to restore many modern architectural icons in Southern California with a focus on restoring the original design and character of the historic structures. In addition to preserving these icons for the future, Ron collaborates with clients, builders, and architectural team members to develop long-term partnerships with organizations and individuals dedicated to improving communities.
Ron received his Master of Architecture at the University of Colorado.
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Editorial Reviews

Regarding Place:
"Though more monograph than manifesto, Marmol Radziner + Associates: Between Architecture and Construction is a must read for young design firms that are embracing the design-build philosophy over traditional architecture practice. That this Bauhaus-like design partnership has been as successful as it has is remarkable when one discovers that the AIA had put an outright ban on design-build architecture firms up until 1979 due to what they thought was a conflict of interest. In its TUNS Press-like format, i.e. square and compact, the Princeton Architectural Press offers up a handsome monograph of cutting-edge architecture, edited by Karen Weise, with a foreword by architecture critic Paul Goldberger. The featured firm, as well as being comprised of adept architects and builders, boasts an excellent team of architectural photographers, whose work makes a formidable presentation of the firms projects." — Sean Ruthen (February 5, 2009)

Look Books, Desert Living:
"Perhaps best known for their restoration of Richard Neurtas iconic Kaufmann House in Palm Springs and the prefab Desert House in Palm Desert, Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner are two of the greatest minds in design living today. This survey of their work provides a photographic history of their greatest projects, along with insightful (and sometimes pithy) comments by Ron, Leo, clients, and contractors." — George Markham

Better Home And Garden, The New York Times Magazine:
"The Architect Ron Radziner one-ups himself. - a perfectly contemporary update of the mid-20th-century California Modernist ideal of indoor-outdoor living." (April 13, 2008)

Marmol Radziner connects Californias landscape and architecture in the Vienna Way Residence, Architectural Record:
"During its 20 years of designing, renovating, and building houses mostly in Southern California, Marmol Radziner + Associates has soaked up a rich tradition of Modernism and interpreted it in a series of projects that engage nature as an instrument of architecture." — Clifford A. Patterson (April, 2009)

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