About
ERW Design is a multi-disciplinary architecture firm founded in 2000 by architect Elaine Rene-Weissman and has been delivering projects varying in size and scope across the greater Los Angeles area since. In 2026, the firm's practice was acquired by Blondin Architecture + Design (BA+D), led by Principal Architect, Nicholas Blondin. The work shown here represents the full body of work now carried forward under Nicholas' leadership. Nicholas and Elaine have been collaborating closely on projects for 5 years and this approach has become central to how the practice thinks and works. Their combined perspectives have sharpened the firm's design sensibility and helped define the character of its most recent projects. The result is a body of work that resists easy categorization, favoring instead a quiet attentiveness to place and client that makes each project particular to where and why it exists.
The work is based on the intersection of the built form and the landscape. It is rooted in a belief that architecture and landscape are inseparable — that the most enduring buildings are those that emerge from a deep reading of the land they occupy. Our design strategies are developed in response to a matrix of conditions and voices. We are especially attuned to opportunities to integrate architecture and landscape, formulating sequences from interior to exterior: primary structures, transition spaces, terraces, paths, courtyards, gardens and accessory buildings.
Client wish-lists naturally have various starting points, but we find common ground in the desire for clarity of form, and attention to detail. We transform these words into three-dimensional constructs. We encourage and welcome our clients' participation in the development of their projects, and our services are calibrated appropriately. We provide comprehensive design services, as well as specifically tailored stand-alone services, such as master planning, project management, and design consulting.
Nicholas Blondin has lived and worked in the Los Angeles area for 20 years since attending the University of Southern California where he received his Bachelor of Architecture. He spent the first 9 years of his professional career working for a design firm that specialized in large-scale hospitality (hotel +resort) projects, but since the Pandemic, has focused on his true passion - smaller, more intimate, single-family residential projects. Nicholas has been collaborating with ERW Design on residential projects ranging in size and scope throughout the Los Angeles area for the last 5 years. His interests and emphasis are on sustainable design, healthy homes, and the preservation and integration of nature into projects. As a California native; he has long witnessed the environmental hazards that come with building and living in the state. Drought and fire are now an ever-present concern and have highlighted the responsibility of architects to design with minimal impact on our natural surroundings and to prepare for future disasters, all while delivering a home that satisfies the clients’ needs.
A number of the featured projects have been published in the LA Times, W magazine, InStyle Home, House and Garden magazine, Malibu Times, and various design blogs. In 2009, Vista Hermosa Park received the Civic Award and Grand Prize from the LA Building Council, and the AIA LA President's Award for Best Public Space
