We are an award-winning architectural collective harnessing the power of design beyond borders to create inspiring spaces that connect us with a sense of joy and discovery
The firm’s story began in 2006 when husband-and-wife principal duo Apurva and Chinmaya launched CHA:COL with experimental home additions to rousing success with custom residences and inventive workplaces. Now CHA Collective, a full-service architecture firm with offices in California and Goa, India, the firm has received worldwide press coverage and design awards for its collective work.
Chinmaya Misra’s design career began at The Jerde Partnership and Gensler, on complex mixed-use projects in California, Japan and Europe.
Apurva Pande, began his career in the offices of two Pritzker Prize-winning architects Frank Gehry and BV Doshi, on large-scale international cultural projects.
Both founders also serve as design faculty at UCLA Extension. They also co-founded and governed a historic grassroots parent-led elementary school in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, Metro Charter Elementary.
CHA Collective has been profiled extensively and projects have featured in Dwell, LA Times, New York Times, Architectural Record, Wall Street Journal, Alarm Press, Inside-Outside, Modern Home, California Home & Design, in addition to ArchDaily, Dezeen and Design Milk. Their work regularly features in Alumni Exhibition showcases at SCI_Arc and UCLA.
In 2018, the firm won a prestigious AIA Los Angeles Residential Design award for a unique live-work design project. In 2017, it was also awarded a Shaw Contract Design Award for the highest caliber of work in workplace interiors. In 2015, CHA Collective was given an Honoree award for their first workplace project by Interior Design Magazine.
The firm has also been featured in exhibitions and selected shows, including ‘New Blood: Next Gen’ by the Architecture+Design Museum in Los Angeles, showcasing the work of 32 young design firms. CHA Collective has often featured in ‘Notable Alumni’ exhibitions by both UCLA and Sci_Arc.
