Livia Shi

Around 9:30 p.m. on July 11, 1976, Livia emerged from her mother's cozy womb into a bustling life in Southern California. Growing up, she was a sensitive child with an affinity for music and other creative mediums like painting and drawing. Perhaps it was inevitable, though little did she know it, that she would end up studying architecture & music as an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley. During Livia's Berkeley years, she relished the creative freedom of school and discovered architectural design as an outlet for her eccentric imagination. Perhaps the tie-dye clad free spirits that lingered on Telegraph Avenue influenced Livia to push her creative expression to new heights. These days, Livia aspires to turn her designs into a tangible reality. After visiting many architectural wonders throughout the world, like St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, she realized that creative genius could, in fact, elevate the human soul to a higher dimension. After graduating from UC Berkeley, Livia embarked on her career with an apprenticeship to famed architect, Stanley Saitowitz, at his office in San Francisco. Following, she worked at reputable Los Angeles area firms – Steinberg Architects and LHA Architects, Inc. Livia has extensive commercial, educational, and residential design experience. While at LHA Architects, Livia served as project lead on several large scale retail developments in Northern and Southern California. She was involved in the master planning, design, and construction administration of these commercial projects. Livia also has extensive experience working with LAUSD on the modernization of various K-12 schools. She also worked at length, with the University of Southern, on the retrofitting of several of their high rise dormitories. Following her stints with these Los Angeles architecture firms, in 2007, Livia decided to open up her own building design practice, Livia Shi, Designer, which focuses on the design of custom single family residences & furniture design. Her residential projects have been featured in magazines like Azure, Inhabitat, & Valley Scene Magazine. Recently, her furniture design was work included in Interior Design Magazine's Fall Market Tabloid. Livia was also a founding partner of Architecture LS3, Inc. from 2011-2015, a bi-coastal architecture & design firm headquartered in Los Angeles. Playful. Spontaneous. Provocative. Innate. Livia's designs encourage people to live unshackled from the mental complexities which torture human existence. Her designs exude from her soul with pure love — free from calculation and hidden intention. Livia's ultimate goal in her lifetime is to create a space so uplifting and pure — a Center for Self Realization where people can step out of their busy lives and get reacquainted with the untainted souls that they were born with. Aside from design, Livia enjoys traveling, eating good food, playing piano, listening to music, painting, philosophizing, dancing, swimming, golfing and practicing yoga. She's thankful for her devoted family for their unconditional love and support. Last but not least, she is forever grateful to her adorable bird, Sunny for his eternal loyalty and daily hugs and kisses.