Ojanen Chiou Architects, LLP - San Francisco, California

William W.

My old house (1880) in a historic district didn't come with an owner's manual and I've been challenged to maintain and improve it. The city codes and the unknowns were daunting. But
Marc and Shen understood my situation and knew how to navigate city codes and prioritize and solve the unknowns for maintenance and improvements that the house needed and that I wanted. They were very patient and expert in using architectural approaches for us to solve the challenges together. They developed and produced detailed drawings and plans that were accepted by city planners and were used by skilled tradesmen to ultimately achieve my project which renovated a substantial part of the house systems including electric, structural, plumbing, lighting, and finishes. Their relationships with the skilled trades people and their knowledge of the local codes were key to the project going smoothly.

lauren Y.

After living in our Sunnyvale Ranch Style home for over 20 years, we had a dream to expand the house with a modern and open floor plan yet with some senior friendly features. After talking to a few architects, we decided to work with Shen-I Chiou on our home renovation project because he did not come with a preconceived style or a cookie cutter plan. He was focused on a customer-oriented design plan. We are very happy with this choice and cannot recommend him enough. Shen-I demonstrated exceptional design expertise and outstanding communication skills. We wanted the home to be one level, light filled spacious kitchen and common areas, curb less shower area with bench and some rooms to be wheelchair accessible. We brought some design plans by ourselves at the initial consultation. Shen-I listened attentively to our ideas and offered thoughtful guidance, educated us the trends and rough cost for several options. We took his advice to relocate the kitchen, added a JADU and a primary bedroom. His final design concept exceeded our expectation. He captured the modern aesthetic we envisioned while incorporating functional elements that enhanced our living space. OCA is a great team to work with your home remodeling ideas!"

henn Z.