Photography to follow01
Noe Section House
In designNoe Valley, Ground-up house
A four level section on a lot that falls twenty two feet front to back. Living moved to the top so the afternoon reaches it.
Paya Design, San Francisco
Buildings shaped by
light and constraint
We design houses and small institutional work on the steep, narrow, tightly regulated sites of this city.
Renovation, ground-up houses, planning and permit work
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The practice
We start with the light a site already has, then remove everything that argues with it.
Most of our work sits on lots that resist building. A twelve foot frontage. A grade change of two storeys. A neighbour twenty inches away. Constraint is the brief, not an obstacle to it.
So we draw slowly. We test sections against the sun path before we test plans against the code. We choose few materials and let them meet honestly, because a joint that is thought through is the part of a house you touch every day.
The result is quiet. That is deliberate. A room should hold the weather, the hour, and the people in it, and say very little else.
- Practice
- San Francisco, working across the Bay Area
- Disciplines
- Architecture, interiors, planning and permit strategy
- Scale
- Single houses, whole-home renovations, small institutional work
Site and light
A hillside lot is a section problem before it is a plan.
We survey the grade, the setbacks, the light your neighbours take, and the light they leave. That drawing decides the house. Everything after it is discipline.
Selected work
Four current projects
Project photography follows completion. Until then each project is described plainly: where it is, what it is, and the single move that organises it.
Photography to follow02
Sunset Light Well
In permittingInner Sunset, Whole home renovation
A dark middle floor opened with a single top-lit shaft cut through two storeys.
Photography to follow03
Potrero Workshop
In designPotrero Hill, Small institutional
A single-volume workroom in board-formed concrete and Douglas fir, north lit.
Photography to follow04
Richmond Rear Addition
ConceptOuter Richmond, Renovation and addition
A narrow lot given a garden room that borrows light over the neighbouring roofline.
How we work
Four stages, in order, every time.
Most projects run eighteen months or longer from first survey to final inspection, and the permit stage is usually the longest part. We say so at the start.
01
Site and feasibility
We measure the lot, read the grade and the zoning envelope, and draw the sun path across the seasons. You get a short written assessment of what the site will allow before any design begins.
- Survey review
- Zoning envelope
- Sun path study
02
Design
Section first, then plan. We work in physical models and drawings at a small number of scales, and we test each move against light, circulation, and cost before it is fixed.
- Concept section
- Massing models
- Material palette
03
Planning and permits
San Francisco review is long and specific. We prepare the drawing set, manage neighbour notification, and carry the project through planning and building department comments.
- Permit set
- Neighbour notification
- Department responses
04
Construction
We stay on the job. Details are drawn at full size where they matter, samples are approved on site in daylight, and we visit regularly so what was drawn is what gets built.
- Detail drawings
- Site visits
- Finish approvals
Capabilities
What we take on, and how we are engaged
Feasibility and site strategy
Grade, setbacks, envelope, and daylight assessed before design, so the brief is tested against what the lot will carry.
Architecture and interiors
One team from section to skirting. Interiors are drawn with the building, not added to it afterwards.
Planning and permits
Drawing sets, neighbour notification, and department correspondence carried through San Francisco review.
Construction support
Full size details, sample approvals in daylight, and regular site visits through to final inspection.
Engagement
We begin with a paid site assessment. If the project proceeds, that work is credited against the first design stage. Fees after that are agreed in writing per stage, with no work started before you have approved the scope.
- Where we work
- San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area.
- Who we work with
- Homeowners planning substantial renovation or a new house, plus developers and small institutions.
- How a project starts
- Send the site address and a short description of what you want to build. We reply within two working days.
Enquire
Tell us the address and what you want to build.
A site address, a sentence about the project, and any timing you are working to is enough to begin. We read every enquiry and reply within two working days.
Paya Design, San Francisco