Don't tell architects Rebecca Rudolph and Catherine Johnson that their spaces are minimalist. And don't even think about using the phrase "urban chic." The two Los Angeles women behind Design, Bitches, the firm that designed Superba Snack Bar and Superba Food + Bread in Venice, the Coolhaus brick-and-mortar ice cream stores, Oinkster on Vine and the Springs in downtown L.A., are beyond one-off descriptions, and they know it.

Superba Snack Bar (which won an American Institute of Architects 2013 restaurant design award) is dripping with Venice history and style, with raked stucco walls and swimming pool tiles on its patio. The Springs is a beachy haven in the middle of a concrete jungle; Oinkster shines as a modern-day burger joint; and the Coolhaus spaces epitomize food truck culture with a 1980s pop twist.

The Design, Bitches aesthetic is as diverse as Los Angeles. Unlike the designers behind the modern industrial look of Bestia (Studio Unltd and Osvaldo Maiozzi), the hippie-gone-glam vibe of Farmshop of Santa Monica and the Ace Hotel (Commune Design), and the bright, shabby chic of Gracias Madre and Cafe Gratitude in Venice (Wendy Haworth Design), Rudolph and Johnson create jigsaw puzzles with their spaces. They juxtapose the city's hyper development, weather patterns and attitudes into fluid, tactile spaces you can experience.

Rudolph and Johnson are redefining SoCal dining style and, in doing so, showing us what it truly is a mash-up of carefree beach vibe, cozy suburbia, taco stand culture and hipster cred, with a thoughtful nod to neighborhood traditions.

We sat down with Rudolph and Johnson to discuss what inspires their work and where they are taking their designs.

How did Design, Bitches get started?

Rudolph: We were working together at Silver Lake architect Barbara Bestor's office. The AIA L.A. chapter had a competition in January 2010, in the depths of the recession, [to give] younger architects [something] to do to get them motivated. The contest challenge was "Architecture is: fill in the blank." And the idea was to answer with a manifesto of what you think architecture is and a portfolio. So we thought, "For fun, we will enter a not-completely-made-up but semi-fictitious portfolio," really for our entertainment. We had no thought of actually winning. So our answer to the question was: "It's design, bitches." We made up this whole identity and made a manifesto, made up some projects and included some real ones we had worked on together. It was very tongue-in-cheek. Now we have a real office, real employees and real work.

(The two started accepting jobs as Design, Bitches in January 2012 and work mostly out of an office at Rudolph's house in Atwater Village.)

Johnson: We won an honorable mention, we got a plaque with our names on it, and it gave us this chance to re-tap into things that maybe we had been interested in and just hadn't thought about in a really long time.... We shared a mutual frustration with architects taking themselves incredibly seriously, and the recession kind of prodded us to think bigger.

What was the thinking behind Superba Snack Bar and Superba Food + Bread?

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Design, Bitches' colorful aesthetic is all over the map

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Most professional liability insurers for architects and engineers anticipate flat or modest rate hikes this year, a brokers survey says.

Eight of the 14 insurers surveyed by McLean, Virginia-based Ames & Gough said they expect to obtain professional liability rate increases during 2015, while the remaining six see their rates remaining flat, according to the survey issued Wednesday.

They consider this discipline necessary to offset the continued low-interest environment and recover from the premium rate decline of past years, says the survey.

While the professional liability insurance market generally remains competitive, insurers are sharpening their focus on sound underwriting and carefully assessing the performance of their overall book, Dan Knise, president and CEO of Ames & Gough, said in a statement.

In this environment, many insurers continue to vie for relationships with smaller design firms, considered by underwriters as lower risk, and those with a good loss history and well-established and documented risk management programs, Mr. Knise said.

The Ames & Gough 2015 Architects & Engineers Professional Liability Insurance Survey also found that 64% of the insurers had increased their professional liability insurance rates modestly in 2014, while 29% generally saw rates remain at previous levels, and one insurer lowered its rates.

A total of 43% of the insurers cited higher claims severity, but only 7% saw increased claim frequency. A total of 43% of those surveyed identified certain project types, such as condominiums, schools, and wastewater treatment and data centers, as causing more claims. In addition, 36% cited increased defense costs as an emerging cost driver for claims.

The 14 insurers participating in the survey account for more than 75% of the overall market for architects and engineers professional liability insurance in the U.S., according to the broker.

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Architects and engineers face flat to modest rate hikes in 2015