General Info

STUDIO URBIS is an award winning architecture and urban design firm that emphasizes designs that are informed by and contribute to their natural, social and built environment. Our concern is for the places of our communities -- where we live, learn, work and play. Founded in San Francisco's Bay Area in 2000 by Thomas Chastain and Renee Chow, the firm is committed to the highest quality of design, research, and client service. The principals have shared a passion with architecture through 25 years of international experience in planning, architecture, education and research. With this broad background, STUDIO URBIS has been responsible for the design of numerous residential, institutional and commercial facilities for a diverse range of clients. Before founding STUDIO URBIS in 2000, the partners jointly established the firm Chastain Chow Architects in Newton, MA. We are committed to a collaborative process with our clients, approaching design by listening, communicating, and discovering the particular needs and qualities that make for successful and unique projects. Whether working with communities, client groups or individuals, we make the design process transparent and open, sharing our thinking and solutions in ways that enable all participants. The backgrounds of the principals and associates in our firm as both architects and educators support our dedication to communicating our knowledge of architecture. By intention, we begin with few preconceptions about the ultimate form of a project and instead allow the design to emerge from a process that examines the qualities, needs, priorities, and potentials of the architecture. We view a project's constraints, whether technical, economic, contextual, or regulatory as opportunities to explore and innovate, making each project unique and of its place. We approach each project regardless, of its size, as a chance to make a place that is more livable, more meaningful, and more supportive of our environment. This intensity emerges from an office structured as a studio practice, allowing both principals to be fully involved with every client and each project. Certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards ( NCARB ) and a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, we design projects throughout the U.S.