The Studio
A practice built on
restraint.
Founded in San Francisco in 2001, Perception Design Group is a collective of architects and designers who believe the most luxurious space is the one that asks for the least — and gives the most in return.
Our approach
We compose space the way a composer composes silence.
Perception began with a conviction: that luxury is not an accumulation of things, but the careful removal of everything that is unnecessary. A room with the right proportion, the right light, and one honest material needs nothing else.
Today our practice spans residential, cultural, hospitality, and commercial work across nine countries — but the studio remains small by design. We take on a limited number of commissions each year so that every project receives the attention of a principal from first sketch to final detail.
We think of buildings the way we think of the objects within them: as things that should age well, that should feel inevitable in their place, and that should reward the people who live with them over time.
What we believe
Material first
We choose a single honest material and let it carry the room — concrete, stone, oak, brass — never more than the space asks for.
Light as architecture
Every plan is drawn against the path of the sun. Light is the first instrument, long before furniture or finish.
Proportion over decoration
We trust the ratio of the room. When proportion is right, ornament becomes unnecessary — and its absence becomes the design.
The long view
We design for how a space ages — how the brass darkens, how the stone warms — so the building grows more beautiful with time.
Leadership
The principals
Elena Marchetti
Founding Principal · Architecture
Daniel Okafor
Principal · Interiors
Yuki Tanaka
Principal · Master Planning
Sara Lindqvist
Director · Material & Craft
Recognition
Awards & press
- AIA Architecture Honor Award — 2024
- Dezeen Awards, Residential Interior of the Year — 2023
- Architizer A+ Award, Hospitality — 2023
- Wallpaper* Design Awards, Best New House — 2022
- AD100 Studio — 2021, 2023, 2025
Work with the studio
We take on a limited number of commissions each year. Tell us about your project.