The $100 million architect future-proofing his neighbourhood

In 2025, the world watched in horror as fire devastated the Pacific Palisades, one of Los Angeles’ most sought-after neighbourhoods. Few individuals, however, are likely to have lost quite as much as celebrated architectural designer and developer Ardie Tavangarian, who not only said farewell to his family home of 30 years, but also a total of 13 of his projects. Formidably resilient, he is now helping to rebuild the community that defined him.

“This will become a neighbourhood for the young, but Tavangarian has always offered a masterclass in liveability,” says Rayni Romito Williams, co-founder and CEO of The Beverly Hills Estates, Savills associate in Los Angeles, who has represented a number of Tavangarian’s properties. “As well as a command of architectural innovation and a real reverence for natural beauty, he understands ‘barefoot luxury’, how people can relax and enjoy life. He’s created some of the most unique homes I’ve ever seen.”

Tavangarian was born in Shiraz, Iran, and arrived in the US as a teenager in the 1970s. Even then, he was clear about his direction. “I’d always been fascinated by creating things, putting things together and finding a solution. I saw architecture as a vehicle to get there.”

After starting his studies at Lawrence Technological University in Michigan, he migrated to Los Angeles to attend the Southern Californian School of Architecture (SCI-Arc), then recently established in Santa Monica. ‘The New School’, as it was originally known, viewed Los Angeles as an urban laboratory for unconventional and boundary-pushing design, and its tiny, early intake were endowed with self-belief, independence of mind and a thirst for the radical.

Tavangarian financed his way through college as a draughtsman – an essential craftsman in a pre-CAD world – gaining both invaluable insight into architectural practice and the meticulous attention to detail that characterises all his work. After qualifying – at the age of just 22 – he set up on his own in a parking garage in Beverly Hills. “I was very young, but I had a lot of passion and was not limited by the belief that you should do this or that.”

Luck favoured him when the owner of the garage, who was in discussion with acclaimed Modernist architect Richard Meier about designing a house, asked Tavangarian to supply outline sketches of what he wanted.

“Le Corbusier and Richard Meier were my idols, consistent with the Bauhaus style and early 19th Century European architecture. Being on that path was very natural for me.”

The Norman and Lissett Ackerberg House, an ocean-front mansion in Malibu, was Meier’s first southern Californian project, and Tavangarian ended up as project manager: “The experience put me on a different level.” He went on to work with Meier on a number of projects, including the Getty Center.

Unusual in a profession usually sharply subdivided, Tavangarian is both a designer and a developer. “In general architects write the recipes and somebody else makes the meal, while developers rely on a multitude of entities. For me, it’s just one thing,” he says. Combining both talents, in 1989, he founded design-build firm Arya Group, Inc, which quickly became known for some of the most spectacular – and spectacularly expensive – residential properties in LA. 

Luxury development is a notoriously risky business, but Tavangarian has always managed its challenges with dexterity. In 2014, for example, he bought the Bel Air mansion 822 Sarbonne Road for $11.1m, selling it in 2018 for $75m, and performed a similarly impressive reinvention of 1601 San Onofre, which he purchased in 2013 for just $7.3m, reselling it in 2021 for $83m. Four of his developments have attained sales figures of over $100m.

So, what sets him apart? His properties, of course, come with every modern indulgence, from glass-fronted car galleries to wellness centres. More significantly, however, they’ve always prioritised comfort and a strong connection with nature, making them liveable, enjoyable, private sanctuaries.

The fire caused Tavangarian huge personal loss. “We shut the door one day and never came back. We lost memories we cannot recapture.” But returning to his first principle – “finding a solution” – he’s recently designed ‘Versa Villa’, a wildfire-resilient module home incorporating heat sensors, sprinkler systems, automatic shutters and 12-inch walls that can withstand fire for up to six hours. Its purpose is to confront rather than side-step local conditions. “We cannot continue to build in the same way, using wood structures that are highly vulnerable to wildfires, and expect the existing system, water, electricity, fire department and others to defend us. The house offers a full defence system.”

Pacific Palisades is now rising from its ashes, and Rayni Romito Williams has set up a specialist division – The Palisades Estates – dedicated to its reconstruction. She believes that its next generation of inhabitants, like their predecessors, will be looking for stand-out homes. “It’s a form of self-expression, telling the world about the fruits of your labour.”

Tavangarian has an outstanding record of taking account of this very human desire. “I’ve always wanted to create environments that impact peoples’ emotions. Design should work from the inside out.”

For him, it will clearly continue to do so – if more safely than ever before.

RORY MCMULLEN, CO-HEAD, SAVILLS PRIVATE OFFICE
rmcmullen@savills.com

RAYNI ROMITO WILLIAMS, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF THE BEVERLY HILLS ESTATES, SAVILLS ASSOCIATE
rayni@thebeverlyhillsestates.com