About the studio
Three architects. Drafting room since 2014.
We started the studio in 2014 to keep buildings in the hands of the people who draw them. Drawings issued from this room. Site walks done weekly. No project manager handed an unfinished file at month four.
What we believe
Buildings are made of small decisions stacked together.
The window head height. The threshold detail at the door. Where the soffit meets the wall. Most of these decisions never get noticed once the building is finished, and that’s the point. The good ones disappear into use. The bad ones nag the owner for the life of the building.
We work small on purpose. The studio takes on no more than 22 active projects across any 12-month window. When the slate fills, the next inquiry slides into the following year. We’ve turned down work to keep the count honest, including a few projects we wanted, because the alternative is the kind of practice where partners stop being on the file.
In the studio
Models, sketches, and the next decision.
Most days the table has a chipboard study model, a roll of trace, and a printout of last week’s site photos. We work the model before we work the file. By the time anything reaches a contractor, it’s been built three times in cardboard.
The partners
Different paths, same drafting room.
Three licensed architects share the practice. The roster has held since 2017 and we don’t plan to grow it.
Mara Linwood, AIA
Came up through residential restoration in the Pacific Northwest. Eleven years on hillside and infill work before the studio. Runs the residential slate.
Licensed OR · WA · ID
Eli Hanford, AIA
Ten years at a civic-focused office in Portland before joining the studio. Owns the public engagement side of every civic file we put in for.
LEED AP BD+C · AIA
Noor Vasquez, AIA
Moved over from a structural engineering firm. Brings the load-path discipline that shows up in every detail set we issue and runs the small-commercial slate.
SE · AIA
How we work
Pencils first. Software second.
Every project starts with a sketch session at the table, with the people who’ll live in or run the building. We schedule a follow-up two weeks later to confirm the program before any modeling starts. When something looks off in week 16, we pick up the phone instead of redlining a PDF.
- Kickoff2-hour sketch session at the studio table
- Program lockConfirmed in writing at week 3, before modeling
- Site walksWeekly through framing · biweekly through closeout
- Submittal turnaround3 business days, on every project
- Issued drawingsSigned by the partner on the file, not a junior
The slate, today
What’s on the boards right now.
Six houses in CDs. Two civic projects in CA. One mill conversion mid-construction. Four feasibility studies on the table. The slate fills the year and stops there. From the studio’s January planning sheet