Darin Johnstone

Darin Johnstone is Design Studio faculty at SCI-Arc and a Los Angeles–based architect and educator. He joined the SCI-Arc faculty in 2002 and has played a significant role in the school’s academic and studio culture for more than two decades, with a focus on experimentation, making, and mentorship. His contributions include founding Design Immersion Days, leading initiatives that expand access to design education, and directing an award-winning collaboration between SCI-Arc and Habitat for Humanity that resulted in the multi-award-winning IVRV House. He was appointed to the position of Vice Director/Chief Academic Officer in 2026.

Johnstone is Principal of Darin Johnstone Architects (DJA), established in 2004. His practice engages architecture as a broad discipline, addressing a wide range of design challenges across scales and genres, with a particular emphasis on adaptive reuse, historic transformation, technological innovation, and spatial experimentation. Recent projects include renovation and planning work for ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, such as the Ahmanson Auditorium, the Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery, the Bruce Heavin and Lynda Weinman Alumni Gallery, and the Mullin Transportation Design Center, which was named one of the Los Angeles Times’ best new architecture projects of 2024.

Johnstone’s work has been exhibited internationally and published in Architectural Record, Azure, Domus, Dwell, Form, Frame, Interior Design, the Los Angeles Times, Surface, and The Architect’s Newspaper. He has received numerous awards, including multiple AIA awards for built work and grants supporting academic research. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University.