I became an architect because I wanted to design beautiful spaces. What I didn’t expect was how much it would matter who those spaces were for, and how much that would shape the way I think about the work.

Early in my career, I worked on institutional projects. The work was solid and well-executed, but something was missing. When I moved into residential architecture, I found it: a direct connection to clients and collaborators that I hadn’t felt before. Designing someone’s home is different. It’s more personal, more immediate, and the work happens at every scale, from the overall form to the details you touch every day. I’ve been doing this work ever since, and I don’t want to do anything else.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve worked at two firms that shaped how I approach residential design.

At Walker Warner Architects, I spent 14 years working on new construction homes across Hawaii, California, and Utah. The projects were large, complex, and highly detailed. They demanded both design ambition and careful execution.

Before that, I was at Hamilton Snowber Architects in Washington, D.C., specializing in major additions and renovations. Those projects required integrating new work into existing structures with care, often balancing traditional and contemporary influences, a similar challenge often found in Bay Area projects.

Together, those experiences (new construction and renovation, design and execution) form the foundation of Studio Cradle.

I started the practice to work more directly: fewer projects, fewer layers, and a process that stays clear and collaborative from the beginning. The best projects I’ve been part of all shared one thing… a close alignment between the architect, the client, and the builder. That’s the kind of work I’m focused on at Studio Cradle.