THE STUDIO
Thoughtful exploration grounded in deep narrative, meticulous craft, and a playful spirit
Studio Contento is a multidisciplinary design collaboration founded by partners Lindsey Sherman Contento and Michael Contento, rooted in Los Angeles with experience around the world. The studio is driven by a relentless curiosity and the belief that design is an opportunity for experimentation – thoughtful exploration grounded in deep narrative, meticulous craft, and a playful spirit. As such, the studio pursues distinctive and holistic design solutions tailored to each individual project, shaping our spaces, neighborhoods, and communities. Each project is a partnership with our clients – a thorough understanding of their goals and expectations that creates a strong foundation and path to successful projects.
While Lindsey and Michael are based in Los Angeles, their uncommon path and unique experience have taken them around the world – living, working, and teaching together in Europe, South America, and Asia. During that time, in addition to their built work, they also published research, developed design exhibitions, delivered lectures, and collaborated with an extensive group of firms, universities, and municipalities. Following this work, they both served as Principals in different Los Angeles based firms, where they led design teams on a broad and diverse range of project types and scales. They bring this unique and robust background to all their work and use it to build on their practice at Studio Contento – a firm driven by the transformative power of design, collaboration, and engagement.
“Working outside the framework of conventional design practice created a foundation for the experimentation and unconventional thinking that drive our work today”
Lindsey Sherman Contento, AIA
Lindsey is a founding partner of Studio Contento – a licensed architect with extensive, award-winning experience that spans from the favelas of São Paulo to the rich and diverse neighborhoods of Los Angeles and southern California. Her eclectic design background has taken her around the world, providing her with a unique set of skills that she strategically utilizes with every project. Her multi-faceted approach allows her to conceptualize, design, develop, and build holistic environments. Lindsey understands the importance of collaboration and how to translate a client’s point of view into innovative and beautifully crafted architectural, interior, and urban design solutions that successfully address unique project requirements.
Michael Contento, AIA
Michael brings a diverse background of award-winning project experience to the studio, including residential, multi-family housing, mixed-use, hospitality, creative office, and commercial projects. Prior to founding Studio Contento, Michael’s work took him around the world, where he developed a unique portfolio of built work alongside research, publications, exhibitions, and lectures. He later served as design Principal at OFFICEUNTITLED in Culver City, where he led the design efforts on multiple projects and served as a critical liaison between clients, consultants, and municipal agencies. Given his critical eye for design quality and the attention he brings to the execution of the project’s goals and core design ideas, Michael can translate strong conceptual design narratives into unique, successful design solutions.
A Deeper History:
Lindsey and Michael met at Columbia University in New York, where they shared a belief that architecture had the power to shape ideas, space, and communities through bold curiosity, thoughtful experimentation, and consistent engagement. Upon completing their Master of Architecture degrees, they moved to Caracas, Venezuela to work with Urban-Think Tank (U-TT), an interdisciplinary architecture and urban design practice working outside conventional practice. Here, they focused on the transformative power of social design – work driven from the “bottom-up” with multidisciplinary teams, diverse communities, municipal agencies, and other consultants to develop tangible design solutions for marginalized neighborhoods.
With Urban-Think Tank, they also held the position of Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Chair of Architecture and Urban Design at the ETH Zürich Department of Architecture in Switzerland, where they led research and design projects. This opportunity allowed Lindsey and Michael to develop a unique platform of research and design experimentation that investigated local and global challenges– social, economic, and environmental – to explore innovative architectural and urban design solutions. While at the ETH with U-TT, they led several award-winning design projects, exhibitions, and research initiatives focusing on architecture, urban design, and mobility across South America, Europe, and Asia. These projects include the Centro de Ação Social por Música in São Paulo, Urban Parangolé (as part of the Audi UrbanFuture Initiative), Torre David: Gran Horizonte, and Reactivate Athens / 101 Ideas, an initiative sponsored by the Onassis Foundation and under the auspices of the Mayor of Athens.
Upon returning to Lindsey’s hometown of Los Angeles, tThey were excited to strategically apply their knowledge and experience in their future work. Lindsey joined BA Collective (formerly Belzberg Architects), where she led many high-end residential, institutional, and community-driven projects. As a Principal at BA, Lindsey worked closely with stakeholders – homeowners, institutions, Boards of Directors, and schools – to develop award winning projects. Some of these projects include The BAR Center, The USC Shoah Foundation headquarters at USC, the Milken Community School Master plan, and several high-end custom homes. At the same time, Michael Joined OFFICEUNTITLED, where he became a design Principal and led award-winning projects across a diverse range of project types – including mixed-use, multifamily, commercial, hospitality, and education.
They currently live in LA with their two kids, Holden and Ezra.