Avila + Farrage Design
Avila + Farrage Design is an architecture and fabrication studio founded by architect Tony Avila and metal fabricator and designer Tom Farrage. Our work is grounded in a shared belief that architecture is experienced at every scale—from the character of a landscape and the proportions of a room to the weight of a handrail and the precision of a material joint.
The studio emerged from a collaboration that began in 2020 and was formally established in 2021. Together, we bring complementary perspectives to projects ranging from kitchen renovations and custom metalwork to ADUs and ground-up residences. Working across these scales has shaped an approach that is equally attentive to the larger architectural idea and to the smallest physical detail.
Both Tony and Tom are graduates of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), with a combined practice spanning architecture, fabrication, and design. Tom brings decades of experience as a metal fabricator and has collaborated with architects including Thom Mayne, Eric Owen Moss, Frank Gehry, and Coop Himmelb(l)au. Tony is a California licensed architect with more than a decade of experience working across project scales, from ADUs, custom residences, multi-family, hospitality, to larger civic and urban projects.
Our particular interest lies in custom residential architecture—projects where the specificity of place, the character of materials, and the rituals of everyday life can be considered as an integrated whole. We are drawn to the process of looking closely: understanding how a house meets the ground, how light moves through it, how materials weather and age, how a detail is assembled, and how the landscape extends the architecture beyond its walls.
We approach each project as a complete work rather than a building considered in isolation. Architecture, interiors, landscape, structure, and fabrication become interconnected opportunities to develop a singular and coherent idea. The result is work that is deeply rooted in its site, materially expressive, and intended to acquire greater character through use and time.
At its core, Avila + Farrage Design is a collaborative practice that brings architecture and making into direct conversation. We seek to create places that are thoughtful, enduring, and distinctly their own—where the larger architectural gesture and the smallest act of making are part of the same idea.