“In this explorative monograph, Not Neutral: For Every Place, Its Story, internationally-renowned, award-winning architecture and design firm Rios Clementi Hale Studios evokes a dialogue between reader and designer about the increasing importance of celebrating and experiencing cities that are reflective of its cultures and ethnography. The monograph artfully showcases three decades of the firm’s work with commentary about its overarching philosophy and approach to each project from the voices of its leadership.

“Chronicling the firm’s process and work through a series of supporting essays, the firm’s leadership articulates how the team identified unique qualities and memories embedded in each location to make the design tell that story. Each essay is accompanied by photographs and renderings of completed and soon-to-be-completed projects.

“Headquartered in Los Angeles, Rios Clementi Hale Studios designs spaces that define the culture of the city. The team’s work extends throughout Southern California and to cities throughout the country and abroad. From the award-winning Grand Park in Downtown Los Angeles to the in-progress Flower Mart in San Francisco, Rios Clementi Hale Studios seeks to discover a project’s unique qualities and endeavors to design a space that tells the story of its people, culture, and history. With globalization spreading across the planet, the unique qualities that once existed within those individual places are gradually disappearing. As a result, it is Rios Clementi Hale Studio’s mission to harness the opposite mentality when approaching its projects and instead ‘make the world not neutral.’”