Annie Chu
Founding Principal
Annie Chu (FAIA, NCIDQ, WELL AP) is an architect, interior designer, educator, and a founding principal of the award-winning Chu-Gooding in Los Angeles. In her four decades in practice, Annie has worked extensively with world-renowned museums, cultural and arts-related facilities, and educational institutions, including MOCA, Hammer Museum, The Huntington, Autry Museum of the American West, Studio Museum in Harlem, Southern California Public Radio, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.
After relocating to the U.S. from Hong Kong at the age of sixteen, Annie earned her Bachelor of Architecture at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and her Master of Science in Advanced Building Design from Columbia University. She also conducted months-long research focused on Mayan and Incan architecture in Central and South America as the recipient of the prestigious post-graduate SOM Foundation Travel Fellowship.
Leveraging her design reputation, Annie champions Interior Architecture as a distinct and emerging discipline, advancing design excellence through teaching, public speaking, and her leadership in the civic and professional realms, including her role on the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission, the Mayor’s Design Advisory Panel, the National AIA Interior Architecture Advisory Group, Contract Magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, and Architecture California (arcCA). Annie served as a Vice President of the IIDA International Board of Directors from 2017-18 as well as on numerous design juries, such as the AIA COTE Top Ten Awards, AIA Honor Awards in Architecture and Interior Architecture, and the Prix de Rome in Architecture and Design.
In 2014, Annie received the International Interior Design Association’s Leadership Award of Excellence from the Southern California chapter of the IIDA. A dedicated educator since 1990 in architecture and design schools across the country and abroad, Annie was recognized with the distinguished Presidential Honoree Educator Award by the Los Angeles Chapter of the AIA in 2016, and her contribution to architectural design excellence was recognized by her elevation to the AIA College of Fellows in the same year.