AIA|LA Architects in Action: Interview Questions for Hisako Ichiki & Bo Sundius, AIA (Bunch Design / Bunch Rebuild)

I. The “Bunch Rebuild” Model: Innovation in Wildfire Recovery

The “Like for Like” Advantage: Your “Like for Like” program is highly innovative. Can you elaborate on how starting with the original home’s character streamlines the design and permitting process, especially within county definitions, while still allowing for significant modern updates?

Our kids went to school in Altadena, and while our house was not affected, many friends were reeling from the loss of everything. And that loss could not be overstated because when I write everything, it was truly everything- their home, their toys, hobbies, and clothes, the photographs, and the memories of that very special place. It was a generational loss, a history of cherished moments, never to be replaced. This emotional tragedy mixed with the practicalities of finding a place to live, buying clothes, arranging for kids, and then, eventually, how to rebuild. When confronted with the question of how to rebuild, they turned to builders and architects who were on notice as ill-prepared to respond as they were to start.

Builders came prepared with standard plans, often looking very different from their home, and architects who are well-equipped to guide them on a journey of creation work on a business model of a percentage of the construction cost. A model that makes sense for folks who have been dreaming and saving for the design process; they are ready and excited for the design process of multiple options, continual evolution, and tailored hand-holding. They are equipped emotionally and fiscally for the journey. However, for fire victims, the costs seem unprecedented, and the time, which can be 2-3 years for design, permitting, and construction, emotionally withering. They never asked for a design process; they just want their home back.

For us at Bunch Design, a new business model was warranted. Our experience with pre-designed ADU’s had taught us that while a catalog option is great for some, many want what they want; their home is their castle. And for the fire rebuilds, we could focus on the “Like for Like” definition provided by the county and streamline it into building what they had. Albeit this new home could have changes, efficiencies, and contain the homeowners’ reflections on what worked and didn’t work with their lost home. The process could also coax them into a limited design process where their home and their memories take center stage, while taking advantage of the tax, permitting, and insurance benefits of building back “Like for Like”.

To kick this off quickly, we realized we could gather permit records, MLS listings, and family photographs and send them to our as-built guys, who are great at recreating a building. For the gaps in information, we reminded ourselves that in this case, they don’t have to be that accurate, and for missing bits, the clients would fill in the blanks with their recollections. Homeowners were delighted to see the plans, elevations, and 3d model. They saw them as a real and tangible first step in getting their house back, a replacement of something lost. For folks who were open to a new design, the conversation/scope had been streamlined, and as a set of working drawings, we were off to the races with many 100’s of hours of work done by less expensive draftsman.

Dispelling Fear with Efficiency: You’re delivering custom design, permitting, and bids in 4-5 months on a $30k budget, with costs between $450-$550/SF. This directly counters widespread fear and misconceptions in wildfire rebuilding. What are the key operational and design strategies that enable such remarkable speed and cost-effectiveness?

This process we are calling fast/custom. For the fast part, we looked at our regular design practice and how it spends hours, and we just started hacking. Thankfully, we have software that can easily track hours. We moved to an hourly-based Not to Exceed agreement of $30,000, which we have been able to hit for 90% of our clients. The folks who want a replica or an absolutely new design are going a tad over.  $30,000 to $40,000 is consistently repeatable at the current time. We are charging regular hourly rates, with all our staff getting a good salary. The billing looks a bit like a lawyer’s, where incremental time is put on a multitude of projects, and so for every hour worked, you do get paid.

But we had to really lower the number of hours spent overall to lower the base cost. We eliminated time in schematics with the as-built start. We could reduce scope options because these folks were modest and just wanted their house back within the “Like for Like” definition. We would put our ego aside and not steer them into tricky details or other things that a design client may expect of us. We would not draw exhaustive interior elevations; that level of coordination can be done through cabinet shop drawings and an interiors “look book” created out of the 3d model we used to realize their design. We would do 2-3 rebuilds at a time and keep them together as a “class” so that they would all be in the same place. The sets would be like 15 sheets and resemble sets from the 50’s-and 60’s by greats like Kappe and Neutra who drew key moments, but left much for the contractors and craftsmen to figure out on site. The design and drawings set is an invitation to collaborate, not control.

As that phrase goes, “Give a man a fish, he will eat for a day, teach him to fish, and he will eat forever”. We would provide the client, the builders, and stakeholders with a well-coordinated drawing set, coordinated with engineering and approved by the county, but without exhaustive drafting. Of course, the challenge is to know what is critically important to draw and what is not. Information cannot be missing. A bid is merely a contractor looking at a drawing set and determining the scope (square footage, etc.), the quality (materials and complexity), and multiplying that by their sense of risk (typically based on their experience or missing information). That missing information can be unknowns inherent to a site, but often it’s missing information, such as when a homeowner asks for a bid without a structural set or without materials selected. When things are missing, the project bid just gets a larger multiplier. And this is what was happening in spring when worry was rampant, and homeowners scrambled to figure out if their insurance was enough. Contractors were tossing out large cost/square foot numbers to Altadena residents because they did not have a full picture themselves.

We feel strongly that any deliverable for these rebuild clients must be a full picture. They will be ill-prepared to fill in the blanks themselves regarding the many finishes and decisions that come with a finished buildout. Typically, a design architect would be with them through construction and the interior buildout. But these restoration projects are simple and don’t require constant design oversight during construction. The homeowners are also not hiring us first and foremost for our own design aesthetic. In fact, they are very confident in what they like and don’t like. They never felt the need to hire a designer for their house before it was gone.

But we must paint a complete picture for bidding, so when it comes to interior finishes and fixtures, we describe quantity and quality through renderings out of SketchUp instead of 2d drawings. Tiled surfaces, location of sconces, etc are shown in interior renderings, and a list of allowances for everything is created. This provides homeowners with a pass at selection and a budget, but if they want to change, they can. This complete package then gets multiple bids in the range of their insurance. Worries averted. The shortened design time through the as-built, the streamlined decision making by keeping things modest, the quicker government turnaround with the Like for Like, complete bid docs, and focus on not going in circles/optioning is allowing us to complete the process in 4-5 months. The business model is more Fordist factory than bespoke full service. This is an unprecedented disaster. It’s all hands on deck!

The Residential Architect’s Role: You highlight that the residential architect is “the best one to tackle the rebuild task.” What specific empathetic and navigational skills do residential architects possess that make them uniquely suited for wildfire recovery compared to other practitioners?

The residential architect is a master of family negotiation and homeplanning. They are skilled at guiding a large project, costing lots of money through the tensions and decisions/indecisions of individuals who are unaware of the complexity involved. And while these Altadena homeowners were ok buying a house with all the decisions previously made on the MLS, they are now confronted with all of them while still going through a period of trauma. But in our own practice, when a couple is fighting over, I want this, and the other wants that, approaching it as an either-or decision, we often find they can have both!

When it comes to trauma, we have had many clients who have approached us after losing a loved one or going through a struggle, and are looking for a new space for life. The residential architect understands the situation beyond the pure technicality of permitting a building; they are trained to see the individual, the rhythm of family life, and have seen the stress of a budget going from flush to zero! It’s a scary precipice for the uninitiated; an architect can provide a full picture.

The therapy aspect is something interesting. Personally, I feel empathetic, but I also recognize the enormous responsibility of rebuilding a fire-ravaged home. It’s more than a home. It’s a life. They place an oversized amount of emotion into it. While I think we are in a good position to help, better than many, their trauma is tremendous, and the emotional toll for the architect is great. At many times, I have realized that we are in uncharted territories and a good bit of flexibility is required.

One more point I will add is that this property was more than a home; it was most likely their greatest asset/liability. Now is a chance to imagine what that asset can be. We can fix outdated design aspects from previous times, update layouts, and make the house more resilient. We can also get to know them and find out if the property can be made more flexible for their future through ADU placement, multigenerational living, or other future life goals. We have the ability to visualize a life plan for homeowners, something these folks never thought possible.

Beyond Custom: Fast/Custom: Your promise is “fast/custom.” How do you balance the bespoke desires of homeowners, often in an emotionally charged rebuild context, with the need for rapid, efficient delivery, especially given your focus on “volume and interior spaces first”?

Listening is key. Architects are idea people blessed with seeing a bigger picture. It’s tempting to want to make suggestions that you think make the project better, or that we have the answer, but often that’s not the real goal. You just don’t know what they were going through before the fire, and now your job is to help them rebuild their lives. It may not make sense to you, but if it makes sense to them, then that’s most important. The key is to try not go backwards. But again, listening and asking questions is key. Before making a bunch of decisions on your own, ask them questions related to their own expectations, and don’t draft anything till you know that it will stick.

From an office standpoint, it’s tempting to park an employee on a bunch of hours drafting this or that, but for every hour they draft, the deeper down that design hole you go, and it will take an equal amount of time to change if the client or architect changes their mind. Be mindful of that. Honestly, right now, I think architecture is terribly inefficient. We have all these tools for more accuracy and cross-platform coordination, but sometimes that comes at the cost of losing sight of the collaborative and visionary aspect of what we are tasked to do, especially on small projects. We get lost in unnecessary accuracy and detail. The trend leans more into control than collaboration or clarity.  If architects time their decisions and work correctly, then they do things once, and efficiency will soar.

We do this by having a consistent set of deliverable standards, plus we render everything inside/out in simple SketchUp/ Enscape. Everything is previsualized. It’s storyboarded, Hollywood style. No mystery for the contractor/director. This business is too expensive. Everyone buys in before deep drawings are made. It’s the documentation that’s time-consuming. Make a clear vision, get constant client buy-in.

Scaling the Model: With 6 projects under construction and many more in the pipeline, how do you manage growth and maintain the personalized, efficient service that defines Bunch Rebuild, particularly in a high-demand recovery environment?

With a 4-5 months turnaround, we are taking on only 2-3 per month. So at any given time, we are working on 10-12 rebuilds. We do have 6 under construction, and those projects we started in April are now underway! We are limiting what we take on so that we can deliver as promised. The custom aspect does mean that, beyond the as-builts, it’s hard to outsource. We lean on standard details, listed deliverables, and a consistency of tasks for many projects at a time, rather than sitting on one project at a time.

We are engaged in a bottom-up approach: custom, but fast. We aren’t top-downing a pre-design.  I hope we can scale by other architects taking a similar “Less for More” custom approach. This is like scaling furniture making through flat packing and sweat equity. Unsexy at first, but then, collective action can be monumental.

This is a much bigger disaster than a few firms or a few approaches. A year in from the fires, many homeowners are now falling out with folks who overpromised or are coming to terms with the fact that they want what they want. We and you, other residential architects out there, hopefully will have resources for them. Altadena was an eclectic neighborhood developed over decades; the more hands involved in the rebuild will recreate that. I pray it is not overrun with tract homes or too many one-size-fits-all approaches, just because custom designers could not figure out an efficient, cost-effective deliverable.

I am hoping in the long run that this model can bring design to regular folks not affected by fires. Our profession, especially the residential architects, caters to a disproportionate amount of very wealthy patrons. If architects can figure out a better business model, then we can tap into many more homeowners with lower budgets but also fewer demands.

II. Design Vision & Values

Cultural Fusion & Narrative: Hisako, your background in Kamakura and Bo’s interest in the “narrative power of places” are compelling. How do these diverse influences, particularly the “warm and simple design style” Hisako brings, manifest in the resilient homes you create for the Altadena community?

The warmth and narrative aspect of spaces, I think, brought us to residential architecture. Neither of us worked for a residential office before we started Bunch Design. Because of this you may witness a little make it up as you go attitude. Before Bunch, Hisako worked for the artist Doug Aitken and Bo for Jerde, making large mixed-use developments. And while the scales may seem all over the place, the interest in narrative is constant. Throughout our work, there is a constant curiosity asking if we do this, then will the effect be that? These are fun questions that don’t necessarily cost a lot of money, but they do ask you to learn from your client and study the context of the site. The appreciation of context: indoor/outdoor relationships, unfolding spaces, overlapping thresholds, these are intrinsic to Japanese architecture, from which we do draw much inspiration.

And clients’ lives are interesting! Because we do many ADUs, we are lucky that these projects are often driven by the homeowners, rather than by a real estate pro forma. When working on an ADU, the homeowner is a steward of their land, and they start conversations like i need a space that’s for grandma, is a pool house, and a place for my midlife garage band. They are wildly fun school-like projects. I recommend that more design architects get involved in them; their low budgets just require volume and efficiency.

Form Follows Space: You state “Form Follows Space,” focusing on volume and interior experiences. Can you walk us through how this principle guides your design process, especially when “breaking the barrier between inside and outside” or making small spaces feel large in a rebuild context?

This idea that “Form follows Space” is a bit of a reaction to traditional architecture form-making and runs counter to school-taught object-making. It’s also formed from computer technology, and we can make a model and live in it through the entire design process. We can shape volumes and light and programmatic adjacencies in the model, building up complex relationships of architectural forms with the individual/client center to these designs.  When we read that 90% of our time is spent indoors, that only reinforces this focus. Research into space and spatial cognition reminds us that interiors are the best place to play out the senses, rituals, and play with cognitive affect. And not through expensive applications of materials and decorations as in the domain of interior designers, but by the manipulations of spatial forms that architects are known to do. Sure, you can mass out a building, but you can also volume out a building. Just requires a different perspective. These design tactics are not made with gobs of money, but rather with intentionality and vision. A fine goal that is even more pronounced in the small spaces of ADUs and modest homes.

Inventive Use of Materials & Light: Beyond style, you emphasize inventive materials, qualities of light, and structure. How do you approach these elements in your rebuild projects to create resilient, delightful, and unique homes that withstand environmental challenges while honoring community character?

Just as you perceive space, you can also mess with perception. Perception is built up through many layers of cognition. Repetition creates rhythm and depth; it can expand space. Coming into a room on a corner provides the deepest view of a room. If you detach the plan from the roof all of a sudden, the space lightens. Wright and Schindler played with these forms. We approach all of our projects as post and beam, infilling only where we want. This lets the light and views in. Repetitive programmed actions make for rituals, and our homes contain them all. You can design to highlight these rituals, or you can work tension against them.

But this is in our typical practice. For the Like for Like rebuild clients, we can do this if they want, but again, they drive the design. We do have a point of view to design, and this helps to streamline options and decision-making, but sometimes that has to take the backseat.

The code has improved modern construction, but it’s also expensive. It’s a catch-22 where Altadena was affordable and diverse because the houses were older and not new and resilient. The next version of Altadena will be resilient because it’ll be built to modern code. Our work has always used simple materials such as stucco, hardie and asphalt shingles, so this is not a stretch for us. These ideas of light and space we make from studs and drywall and California sunlight, which is generous and free!

III. Leading a Successful Small Business & Advice for Emerging Professionals

From SCI-Arc to Successful Practice: Both of you are SCI-Arc graduates and have impressive backgrounds. What lessons from your education and early professional experiences (Jerde, Gensler, Roto, UCLA/SCI-Arc teaching) were most instrumental in founding and growing Bunch Design into such a successful and impactful firm?

When we were at SCI-Arc in the late 90’s, early 00’s, there was this idea that after graduating, you could go out there and just do it. Gehry and Morphosis had started by taking Venice houses apart and making them into iconic works. The great architects of LA are all residential architects. I think we just had this idea that this was a good goal down the line, after we spent some time working. That promise is a little blurrier now. But I think ADUs hopefully can encourage folks into the fray, especially with starchitecture on the wane.

The “Bunch” Philosophy & Collaboration: Your firm name, “Bunch,” signifies collaboration. How do you foster this collaborative spirit both within your team and with clients, engineers, and contractors, ensuring that “many disciplines, experts, and craftsmen all come together to make a clear idea and dream a reality”?

Embrace LA. This city can be a bit messy, but that mess allows for things to happen. Your neighbor may be welding in their backyard. Now go design an iron gate for them to make. With several Altadena projects under construction, we are now beyond the point of permitting as a hurdle, and we are putting focus on weaving local makers’ work into the houses. Many makers lost homes and workshops. We will use Angel City Lumber’s Altadena wood bank and have local makers make Jane’s cottage doors and others to make signature tiles. The more stories we put back into the neighborhood, the better the web of life.

In terms of collaborating and making things happen. Don’t think too much. Lead by example and figure out what you truly can add to the productivity and not just the conversation. Don’t try to reinvent yourself for this disaster; think about what skills you already have and provide them.

Advice for Emerging Professionals: For architects and designers early in their careers who aspire to run an impactful, innovative small firm, what are 2-3 key pieces of advice you would offer regarding business strategy, design philosophy, or client relations?

You are what you show, so only show what you want the world to see. Design with a pencil first, go straight into the model, and live in it. The most important cad drawings are the ones you can use project to project. Do things once and use every good idea at the right time; don’t waste. Keep track of your hours and don’t work on the Line.

IV. Policy & Procedural Advocacy for Resilience

Amending “Like for Like” Policies: Beyond its current definition, what specific amendments or expansions to “Like for Like” policies at the county or city level would further facilitate resilient, functional, and aesthetically enhanced rebuilding outcomes for communities impacted by disasters?

The “Like for Like” is working, and other future impacted communities should follow suit. The response to the disaster has also allowed for common-sense decision-making to return to the building and planning departments. More authority given to the plan checkers with less agency review has sped things up. The plan checkers and supervisors are obviously incentivised to speed up permitting, versus outside the recovery zone, where plan checkers ask for things clearly already there, and circular commentary secures no urgency to permit. It is showing to what extent the government is in the way of regular construction.

Streamlining Permitting for Resilience: Given your success with swift County approvals, what are 2-3 specific policy or procedural changes that local jurisdictions (City/County of LA) could implement to significantly improve and expedite the permitting process for resilient rebuilding projects?

The physical counter at the disaster recovery center in Altadena has been a revelation of transparency and government/ community outreach. Of course, it just feels like 2019, so it’s nothing new; it’s just a return to human interaction. The government should return to human interaction if it wants to make modernization and resilience a priority in the future. Also, don’t pass new regulations that sound good in the press but are only enforceable through deeds and covenants that do nothing but make the process longer.

People complain about permitting taking a long time, and they blame the building department, but typically it’s the agencies that don’t properly staff to make decisions that gum everything up. Those agencies, such as grading, fire, urban forestry, coastal, etc., have largely exempted themselves from the rebuild process, and it’s showing how a reduction in regulation and the number of agencies reviewing can speed up the process to rebuild and build. Right now, the county feels like a partner in building recovery. It’s nice. It’s not without its hitches, but it’s been typically 4-6 weeks total and acceptable.

Beyond the Building: Community Resilience: Your work is deeply rooted in Altadena. From a policy perspective, what broader community-level infrastructure or planning initiatives (e.g., zoning, fire hardening mandates, landscape management) do you believe are critical for fostering long-term resilience in wildfire-prone areas?

The resilience question is interesting. We must ask ourselves what the point of resilience is. Is it life safety? Is it an expectation that fire should never happen again? Is it an insurance/asset preservation question? Each of these points of view has different answers. I don’t see that being discussed cohesively. The folks whose houses did not burn but suffered smoke damage have rendered unoccupiable. I think that bodes very poorly with whatever happens next. I just hope that whatever comes next does not put more pressure on homeowners to solve problems best solved by the power of government and large corporations taking real action. Undergrounding powerlines running through wild lands, easing the regulatory path to upgrading homes, easing restrictions on building systems by simplifying testing and lowering testing costs, keep going on urban infill to reduce the stress on these border communities…these topics will help make us fire resilient,  climate resilient, and housing resilient.

Educating Stakeholders: How can AIA|LA best engage and educate policymakers, insurance companies, and even homeowners about the value of architect-led, innovative rebuild solutions like yours, which can often be more cost-effective and resilient in the long run than less-considered alternatives?

The AIA supporting small architects like us at the local government level is incredibly helpful. Here’s the thing: residential solutions do not scale easily. Once that tract development sells, it goes from one point of control to 10,000. This is why prefab adu’s have a hard time scaling in California. Just because there are millions of single-family lots does not equate to opportunity. Each home is a tiny fiefdom. You cannot approach these single-family homeowners in a top-down way. You have to mobilize many hands, many designers, to go one by one and help lift them up in terms of bettering design, their way of life, their resilience, and show each one the importance of architects being involved in their lives.  While we need to make new business models to meet them where they are. And if we can serve more, then perhaps we can find more efficiencies to design and service, in the vein of Eichler or Jones. It would be wonderful to see architects be able to engage with the public imagination that way. Between ADUs and these fire-stricken communities, perhaps we can once again get into the popular public imagination?

Hisako Ichiki – Design Lead, Bunch Design

Hisako was born in the ancient city of Kamakura and immigrated to Los Angeles in 1998.  Her experiences growing up in Japan are reflected in her warm and simple design style, a style that is both unique and surprisingly compatible with Los Angeles’ lifestyle and design needs. Whether her design is large, medium, or something so small that it can fit inside the palm of your hand, Hisako is committed to making ideas that are simple, effective, and unheard of.

Hisako graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts in Policy Management from Keio University in Tokyo, Japan, and in 2001 with Masters of Architecture from SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture). Since giving her thesis “Serendip(city)” at SCI-Arc on public space and art, she has been investigating the relationship between creativity and found space. Hisako has taught Architecture Studios at UCLA and SCI-Arc.

Bo Sundius, AIA – Architect & Design Lead, Bunch Design

Bo grew up on a farm outside Nashville. He likes to credit his early design aspirations to the fact that he could fish from the living room of the family house. After college, he was called west to Los Angeles, where he met Hisako at SCI-Arc. A literature major before studying architecture, Bo is interested in the narrative power of places. He sees design as a woven relationship between people, space, and their actions. When brought together in a thoughtful and beautiful way, the new relationships can be fluid, visceral, and electrically charged.

Bo graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Brown University in Rhode Island and in 2001 with a Masters of Architecture from SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture) where he won a National AIA Merit Award. He is a licensed architect in the state of California and has worked for Jerde, Gensler, and Roto Architects before founding Bunch Design.

*Disclaimer: The advice and perspectives shared here belong to the author and should not be considered official recommendations from AIA Los Angeles.