Founder and Design Principal Zoltan E. Pali launched SPF:a in 1995 with partner Judit M. Fekete-Pali. The firm has received over 100 national and regional design awards, including an American Architecture Award in 2014 for the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills and an AIALA Presidential Award for leading the executive architecture team on the $280-million renovation and expansion of the Getty Villa Museum.

Known for an elegant minimalist approach rooted in California modernism and honed over a 40-year career, Zoltan has designed projects in varying typologies and scales, from iconic cultural facilities and creative office buildings to multiunit housing, signature residences and public infrastructure. Notable projects include WE3 at Water’s Edge—160,000 square-feet of LEED Gold creative office space—and MODAA, a mixed-use live/work space in the heart of Culver City.

An LA native, Zoltan began his architectural career while a student at UCLA. Prior to founding SPF:a, he worked alongside prominent Case Study architect Jerrold E. Lomax, FAIA, who was one of the original LA12, a famed 1976 group exhibition that included Frank Gehry, Cesar Pelli, and Craig Ellwood.

Zoltan has served as a visiting professor and lecturer at the University of Southern California, and a visiting critic at both the Cal Poly Pomona School of Architecture and UCLA School of Art and Architecture. In 2005, he was inducted into the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows.

Founder and Creative Director Judit M. Fekete-Pali has been responsible for the strategic direction and artistic vision of the firm since its founding in 1995 with partner Zoltan E. Pali.

Their collaboration across a diverse range of projects has established the firm’s reputation as an experienced and thoughtful partner in both the design of new facilities and the renovation and adaptive reuse of historic structures. Recent examples include renovations of the Warner Grand Theatre and Pantages Theatre, each an iconic theatre designated by the City of Los Angeles as a Historic Cultural-Monument and restored to their original grandeur.

Judit has contributed to the designs of some of the firm’s most widely recognized work, most notably as the lead designer and developer for MODAA, a block-length mixed-use space in the heart of Culver City’s Arts District. Configured with flexible spaces equally attuned to living and working, the project was named Mixed-Use Project of the Year by the Los Angeles Business Council. In addition to receiving awards from the AIA and Southern California Development Forum, the building’s distinctive Art Deco inspired façade was designated by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission as “Architecture as Art.”

As director of the MODAA Gallery—a platform for collaboration with the Los Angeles art and design community—Judit assembled exhibitions that featured the work of artists Charles Arnoldi, DeWain Valentine, Brad Howe, Lucas Blok, and architects Jerrold Lomax and William Krisel, among others.

Natalie May joined SPF:a in 2011 and was named an Associate Principal in 2021. During her tenure, she has contributed to a wide variety of projects, including the AIA|LA award-winning Water’s Edge 3, the Line Lofts at Las Palmas, Double Stick Residence, and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. As a project leader, she is dedicated to promoting collaboration and coordination in order to deliver successful projects that integrate the client’s needs while executing the firm’s design vision.

Prior to SPF:a, Natalie held a professional internship at Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects in Culver City. She received her Bachelor of Architecture degree from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, a program recognized for its emphasis on building science. As part of her academic career she studied abroad in Florence, Italy for a year studying Architecture, Art, and Culture. Originally from Northern California, she has slowly grown to love Los Angeles but enjoys venturing out of the city for fresh air and open space. She has a passion for traveling abroad in search of good food, great wine, interesting architecture and hot weather—and prefers to explore by Vespa.