About the Architect

Zoltan E. Pali is the founder and design principal of SPF:a. Launched in 1990 with partner Judit M. Fekete-Pali, SPF:a. has received over 80 national and regional design awards, including an American Architecture Award in 2014 for the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills; a National AIA Honor Award for his iconic design of Somis Hay Barn, completed in 2001 in rural Somis, California; and an AIA|LA Presidential Award for leading the executive architecture team on the $300-million renovation and expansion of the Getty Villa Museum. An LA native, Zoltan began his architectural career while a student at UCLA in 1978.

Zoltan has served as a visiting professor and lecturer at USC, and a visiting critic at both California State Polytechnic University at Pomona School of Architecture and UCLA’s School of Art and Architecture. In 2005, he was inducted into the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows. He was one of the youngest architects ever to have received the designation. Notable SPF:a. performing arts spaces include the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and the Pantages Theatre renovations and restoration.