Los Angeles Firm Recognizes Five Team Members With Elevated Titles
Relativity Architects, a 50-person Los Angeles firm, recently promoted five employees, including Ginna Claire Nguyen, Assoc. AIA, the firm’s new Associate Principal. Relativity projects benefitting from Nguyen’s design and project-management skills include Hal’s Bar in Playa Vista, CA (photo by Tima Bell) and the 7th & Witmer affordable-housing apartments in downtown Los Angeles (photo by Nico Marques). Click here for high-resolution images.
LOS ANGELES: Relativity Architects, a leading design firm of production and media studios, affordable housing, and hospitality projects, has grown to 50 employees since its founding in 2013. Relativity recently elevated five employees who are integral to the firm’s growth: Ginna Claire Nguyen, Assoc. AIA; Jianxin Sun; Taryn Zaragoza; Clara Tresgallo NCARB; and Daniel Sosa-Navarro.
“The adaptability of our staff during fluid working conditions has allowed the firm to grow while balancing several variables,” says Relativity Architects’ co-founding partner Scott Sullivan, AIA. “We appreciate our team’s above-and-beyond efforts and are proud to promote five people who helped Relativity thrive through often-challenging circumstances.”
Ginna Claire Nguyen, Assoc. AIA, is now Associate Principal at Relativity Architects. She joined the firm in 2014 as its fifth employee and served as Studio Director prior to her recent promotion. Nguyen’s expanded responsibilities include managing the firm’s design efforts as well as overseeing marketing, staffing, and special projects. Her professional affiliations include American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Urban Land Institute (ULI). Philanthropically, Nguyen sits on the board of two non-profit organizations: Friends of Shoseian, which operates the Whispering Pines Tea House (Glendale, CA), and The Honoring Character© Foundation (San Juan Capistrano, CA). She holds a BA in Studio Art from Pepperdine University (Malibu) and an M.Arch from University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).
Jianxin Sun began his architecture career in China; he joined Relativity Architects in 2015 as a Designer. Sun was previously elevated to Project Manager prior to his recent promotion to Associate/Project Manager. Focusing on multi-family and affordable-housing projects, Sun also contributes to Relativity’s mixed-use/commercial portfolio. He earned a B.Arch degree from Beijing University of Technology and an M.Arch from University of Southern California (Los Angeles).
Taryn Zaragoza joined Relativity Architects as Office Manager in 2017 and is now Associate/Operations Manager. Her responsibilities include accounting, business development, facility operations, payroll, document management, and special projects. Ms. Zaragoza also leads a growing administrative support team. She holds a Business Administration degree with an emphasis on management from Mount Saint Mary’s University (Los Angeles).
Clara Tresgallo, NCARB, was elevated to Associate/Project Manager. She joined Relativity in 2017 as a Project Architect and has since excelled in managing many of the firm’s multi-family, hospitality, and affordable-housing projects. Tresgallo’s expertise includes project management, accessibility design and building-code compliance. She received a BS in Environmental Design from Universidad de Puerto Rico (San Juan) and an M.Arch from California College of the Arts (San Francisco).
Daniel Sosa-Navarro—another international member of Relativity Architects’ staff—hails from Spain, where he is a licensed architect. Sosa-Navarro joined Relativity in 2019 as a Project Captain and was recently promoted to Senior Project Designer. His typologies of focus at the firm are multi-family housing, master plans, and production studios. Sosa-Navarro’s work has been featured in several international publications, and he has served on the Inspireli Awards jury for architecture student projects. Sosa-Navarro holds B.Arch degrees from Sapienza Università (Rome) and Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain).
About Relativity Architects
Los Angeles-based Relativity Architects is a young firm that fuses the physical built landscape and the cultural art world through creative urban design, architecture, interiors, rehabilitation, and graphic and art design commissions. Founded in 2013 by partners Tima Bell, Assoc. AIA, and Scott Sullivan, AIA, NCARB, the award-winning firm seeks to materialize inventive solutions into influential, evocative, and functional design projects and culturally relative architecture. Relativity Architects is a frequent collaborator with pioneering artists, consultants, and designers in the development of their projects across a diverse range of typologies, including motion picture and production studios, hospitality, institutional, affordable housing, multi-family, commercial, master planning, and residential. Both Bell and Sullivan earned Master of Architecture degrees from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).
