About

Annie Chu, FAIA
Founding Principal

In her forty years in practice, Annie has worked with world-renowned museums, arts and culture facilities, non-profit organizations and universities throughout the U.S., fulfilling their missions through design and assisting them through all stages of development. Presently, Annie serves as Interior Architect (in collaboration with Populous) for the renovation of the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Coined the “modernist house whisperer,” Annie also specializes in the design of custom homes and the renovation of historic residences. Her remodel of the Harwell Hamilton Harris English House (1950) garnered an AIA National Honor Award for Interior Architecture, and her major renovation and addition to the Veneklasen House (1951) earned Chu-Gooding a Residential Architecture Honor Award by the Los Angeles chapter of the AIA. || Read More…

Rick Gooding
Founding Principal

Rick Gooding is an award-winning architect with 35 years in practice and extensive experience with design-rich technical environments, historic renovations, adaptive reuse projects, broadcast studios, and art collection facilities. Throughout his career, Rick has worked with a diverse range of clients, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, Southern California Public Radio, Culver Center of the Arts, and the Wellness Center at the Historic General Hospital.

Rick has completed more than a dozen projects for the NFL Network and 29 separate projects for the J. Paul Getty Center, in addition to his prior experience as Project Architect in charge of all interior coordination and on-site observation for the Getty Research Center and Conservation Laboratories. Rick also served as Principal in Charge of the USC Ronald Tutor Campus Center project and the LEED Gold Autry Resource Center project.

Rick is also an accomplished visual artist; selections from his Subterranea series, featuring more than 100 pencil drawings, have appeared in exhibitions across the country as well as in the publication Single-Handedly. Rick’s work was also published in the UK journal Architectural Design. || Read More…

Brian Leahy
Business Director

As Business Director at Chu-Gooding, Brian Leahy supervises all manner of business affairs, including the firm’s day-to-day accounting, business development, marketing and promotional efforts, human resources, contracts administration, and general office operations. He also proudly spearheads many of the firm’s philanthropic and charitable efforts.

Prior to joining our team in 2008, Brian co-owned a bicoastal photography business specializing in portraits and event photography, designed curriculum and exam preparation materials for a Beverly Hills tutoring company, provided copyrighting services for several marketing firms, launched a successful blog about weddings from the groom’s point of view, and served as the Office Manager and West Coast Liaison for David Beahm Design, a high-end wedding and event design firm located in Manhattan.

Outside of the office, Brian is a writer and filmmaker with several short films under his belt and several feature films currently in development. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2005.

Jacqueline Wei, AIA
Design Director

Jacqueline Wei, AIA, is the Design Director and a Senior Associate at Chu-Gooding with a profound interest in creating complete spatial experiences where the lines are blurred between interior and exterior. She has contributed to a wide range of cultural, institutional and exhibition projects, including the UCLA Tiverton House Interior Refurbishment, the Los Angeles Convention Center Expansion and Renovation, and multiple residential renovation projects. Jacqueline was accepted to the 2021 IIDA Southern California Emerging Leaders Program.

Prior to joining Chu-Gooding in 2014, Jacqueline was a finalist for the Gensler Brinkmann Scholarship and was awarded a Citation of Innovative Concept as part of the Robert Bruce Thompson Annual Student Light Fixture Design Competition. She also served as co-designer for Pixar’s 20 Years of Animation exhibition at the Taiwan Fine Arts Museum. Jacqueline obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Fashion Design from Shih Chien University in Taiwan and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Architecture from Woodbury University.

Jacqueline is a fervent ceramist and an old-school film photographer, discovering and documenting the unexpected moments in her everyday life.

Bryan Kim, AIA
Senior Associate

Bryan Kim, AIA, is a registered architect in California with a Master of Architecture degree from Yale University, where he received the William G. and Virginia Chester Scholarship. He also holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Southern California, where he graduated magna cum laude and received the George H. Mayr Architectural Guild Traveling Fellowship. Bryan’s past experience includes Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects in New York, the New Haven office of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, and EYRC Architects in Los Angeles.

After serving as a teaching fellow at Yale University, Bryan was an adjunct professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture, teaching First Year Design Studio, Second Year Design Studio, and several semesters of the comprehensive Integrated Design Development Studio. He was awarded the Robert S. Brown Faculty Fellowship to study the built work of Alvar Aalto and Peter Zumthor.

Maggie Martin, Assoc. AIA
Junior Associate

Maggie Martin, Associate AIA, joined Chu-Gooding as a Junior Associate in 2023 and has contributed to multiple residential and institutional projects, including an Eaton Fire rebuild project, a full-scale home renovation in the Hollywood Hills, and a kitchen renovation at the Hillel Jewish Center on the USC campus.

Maggie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from UNC Charlotte and a Master of Architecture from Rice University, where she was awarded the Tau Sigma Delta Prize. While at Rice, she twice received the Margaret Everson Fossi Scholarship and was awarded the Morris R. Pitman Traveling Fellowship, which supported her thesis research on the Hoover Dam. She also served as a journal editor for Plat 11, the School of Architecture’s student-run publication.

Maggie is actively involved in architectural education and non-profit work through local community programs. When she’s not working, Maggie can be found swimming, surfing, or attending one of her three book clubs.

Nancy Ai, Assoc. AIA
Junior Associate

Nancy Ai, Associate AIA, is an architectural designer with a Master of Architecture degree from Princeton University, where she received the Suzanne Kolarik Underwood Prize for Excellence in Design. She also holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Southern California Institute of Architecture, where she was awarded the Alpha Rho Chi Medal and the Henry Adams Medal.

At Chu-Gooding, Nancy has contributed to a range of cultural, hospitality, and residential projects and has also managed several projects of her own, including multiple concessions renovation projects at the iconic Hollywood Bowl concert venue, the Jade Rabbit restaurant remodel in Santa Monica, and the prototype design for C.R. Laurence (CRL) service centers. Prior to joining Chu-Gooding, Nancy served as an Architectural Designer at Connect Homes in Los Angeles and as an Architectural Intern at OMA in New York, where she worked on a 500,000-square-foot laboratory tower in Manhattan.  

Outside of work, Nancy loves walking her cats, exploring new design technologies, and making random things out of discontinued material samples.

Deborah Lee Smith
Digital Marketing Strategist

Deborah Lee Smith is the founder of Pink Boots Productions, a full-service film production and omnichannel marketing firm based in Los Angeles. Since 2011, Deborah has partnered with design firms, entrepreneurs, and wellness companies to craft campaigns that blend creativity with strategy, helping stories reach the audiences who need them most.

Deborah’s digital marketing specialties include website design, social media planning and content creation, branded photography, podcast production, video editing, email marketing, e-commerce, and full-scale event and webinar production. Comprised of a team of creative consultants, Pink Boots believes that a custom-built marketing strategy is essential to meet the unique needs of each client.

Deborah is also an award-winning actor, writer, Emmy-nominated producer, and vocal mental health advocate. She is the founder of More Than You See, a nonprofit organization and podcast dedicated to sharing stories and resources surrounding the daily struggles of mental health.