Studio L A is an architecture studio founded by architects Lorien Beijaert and Arna Mačkić, with a focus on public architecture.

Architecture and Societal Challenges
The studio investigates how architecture can contribute to urgent societal issues. Accessibility of buildings and public space, housing for refugees, the impact of war on people and their living environments, the commemoration of painful histories, and fostering encounters and connections between different groups of people are recurring themes in the work of Studio L A.

Change, Loss and New Perspectives
Architecture is always about people and communities. The development of new places or the transformation of existing environments inevitably involves change, and with it, the loss of what once was. Every spatial intervention carries not only physical, but also social and emotional consequences.

Designing therefore means more than shaping places and buildings. It also involves carefully building and strengthening social and spatial structures. Studio L A specializes in guiding and integrating these processes within the design trajectory, with particular attention to the people and communities directly involved. In large-scale societal design challenges, they are rarely placed at the center; in the work of Studio L A, they form the point of departure.

Designing from Context
The studio always works from the existing context. Understanding the past, present, and possible future of a place — as well as the experiences and needs of involved communities and future users — forms the core of their methodology. Architecture is a tool to stimulate encounter, dialogue, and equality.

Projects
The projects take shape as public meeting spaces, memorial architecture, pavilions, exhibition designs, and research-based design. Each project is a carefully articulated intervention in the public realm, aimed at strengthening social cohesion and making often underrepresented narratives visible.

Teaching and Engagement
Alongside their design practice, Beijaert and Mačkić are active in education. Studio L A is affiliated with several academies in the Netherlands, including the Academie van Bouwkunst in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Since 2019, Arna Mačkić has been a member of the Supervisory Board of the Jan van Eyck Academie; since 2020, a board member of Productiehuis Noord; and since 2025, a board member of Stichting Rotterdam Maaskant. In addition, Studio L A is the founder of the Stichting Architectuur van Herinnering en Dialoog (Foundation for Architecture of Memory and Dialogue).

In 2020, Frederick Mansell and Laurens Samson produced a documentary about Studio L A’s working methods for BNNVARA, broadcast within the 2Doc series.

Awards and nominations: winner Dutch Design Award 2014, winner Best Dutch Book Design 2014, winner Jonge Maaskantprijs 2017, winner Groninger Architectuurprijs 2021, nomination Prix de Rome Architectuur 2022.