ABOUT

My architectural practice opened its doors in 1986.  It has been focused on new and remodeled single family homes in the San Francisco Bay Area.  I like working with people who are thoughtful and care deeply about about the spaces they are building.

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Looking over time, the main interior spaces of these homes seem to quietly glow, emanating a sense of interior refuge, a place set aside from the mundane world.  Perhaps it's the way light comes in from the outside, or the way space wanders, coming together and expanding as it reaches a central point from which the rest of the home is then sensed in context.

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Most of these homes have not had overly generous construction budgets, so space has largely been created by gypsum board and sometimes exposed conventional wood framing.

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The Bay Area is blessed with rural, suburban, urban and ocean landscapes in close proximity.  I am aware of the context of these homes, how they sit on a hillside or amid neighboring homes.  On the one hand, how a home orients to its landscape sets up how it catches breezes, sunlight, privacy, and views. On the other hand, how a home presents itself to its neighbors can lend an element of ease or openness to a rural environment, or add nuanced character to an urban neighborhood, helping it turn a corner, define a streetscape, or enrich a streetscape by providing an intimate entry set between outside and inside.

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The photograph above was taken in 2017 on the Great Wall in China.  I am a 4th generation Chinese American, born and raised in Berkeley California, influenced by architects in my family who came before me as well as younger cousins who now practice. 

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My series of video podcasts that delve into various urban, landscape, architecture, and social issues surrounding the built environment are no longer hosted on this site. This is a video podcast series called "HERE: architecture as seen from the San Francisco Bay Region". Look and subscribe to it 

on YouTube at:

https://www.youtube.com/user/lymarchvideo