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SparkStudio

As architects, we build future-ready communities that are walkable, energy-efficient, and thoughtfully designed.

10/16/2026

Repetitive. Rational. Efficient.
Not the words that usually make people fall in love with a building. But they're how California gets housing built.

We did the construction documents and construction administration for the Kind Project in Sacramento: 108 small homes, one unit repeated and stacked. Permitting moved at record speed, construction went fast, and it was a pleasure to work alongside Urban Elements and RCP Construction. The building is finished, and people live there now. We're proud of it.

And now we keep wondering: how do you make a rational building softer?

Not by adding complicated details. Maybe with color.

These renderings aren't built. They're an idea: murals across an end wall, a pattern that follows you inside, a little joy on the way home. The same efficient building, just a little softer.

Efficient and pleasant don't have to be opposites. If you're planning housing of your own, we'd be glad to help you find both.

sparkstudiodesign.com/contact

10/13/2026

Some team building happens in a conference room. Ours happened on a staircase in San Francisco.

The whole sparkSTUDIO team, Lidia Birukova, Yevgenia Watts, Florence Tsang and Diana Naumenko, spent a day on the AIA SF home tour. Shoe covers on, we walked through houses other architects designed, looked up at stairs, looked out from balconies, and quietly made notes on what we'd steal.

Getting around was its own small adventure: four of us in one Waymo, no one at the wheel, everyone looking out the window.

Looking closely at other people's work is one of the best ways we know to get better at our own.

Thank you to the architects and homeowners who opened their doors.

If you'd like a few curious eyes on your own place, we'd be glad to take a look.

sparkstudiodesign.com/contact

10/09/2026

Architects used to start on the back of a napkin.
A few lines over coffee. A roof, a window, a guess at where the light comes in.

This is our napkin now.

It's a preliminary study for remodeling a whole house: a kitchen that opens to the garden, wood screens in place of walls so light passes between rooms, a small pool house where the yard used to end.

The ideas are ours. AI helps us see them quickly: not as a final design, but as a way to try something, look, and try again.

What it really gives us is time. Less time on repetitive work no one ever sees. More time to play, to look closely, and to ask what a house actually needs.

The napkin got better. The thinking is still ours.

If you're wondering what your house could become, an early study like this is a good place to start. We'd be glad to sketch it with you.

sparkstudiodesign.com/contact

10/06/2026

Florence represented sparkSTUDIO at the 47th Annual NPH Affordable Housing Conference and came back with two good conversations.

She ran into Alicia Klein, who she worked with years ago on a Walnut Creek housing project. Alicia now works with faith-based communities on housing.

And she met someone from the San Francisco Community Land Trust, which buys existing apartment buildings and turns them into permanently affordable homes.

That idea stayed with us. Some of the most meaningful housing work isn't new construction. It's looking closely at buildings that already exist and giving them a longer, better life.

One more thing Florence noticed: there's real support and real funding for housing in California right now. Getting it from intention to an actual building is still the hard part.

If you're working on housing in California, especially with existing buildings, we'd be glad to compare notes.

sparkstudiodesign.com/contact

10/02/2026

Our clients loved their street in Sacramento. They had simply outgrown their house.

It was a small one-story home, under 1,000 square feet, and moving seemed like the obvious answer. But the neighborhood was the part that already worked. So we kept it.

We added a second story that still feels like it belongs on the street. Inside, the house opens up: warmer, brighter, and connected to the garden. Then we looked at the whole property: a pool and pool house, outdoor rooms, and an entry that finally says welcome.

This project was never really about square footage. It was about noticing what was already right, and building around it.

Sometimes you don't need a different house. You need to see what the one you have could become.

If you love where you live but your house no longer fits, we'd be happy to talk it through.

sparkstudiodesign.com/contact

09/29/2026

Look closely. Then imagine.

The existing house was a very dated composition of postmodern boxes. Nothing particularly precious. Nothing we felt needed to be preserved exactly as it was.

But we looked closer.

The proportions. The structure. The relationship to the hillside. The mature landscape. The pieces that could be kept, shifted, opened up, or quietly transformed.

Sometimes a renovation isn't about preserving what was there.

It's about seeing what it could become.

We are architects who love looking at existing buildings and imagining what they could become next.

09/25/2026

A weekend full of ideas and conversations at the Stanford Neurodiversity Summit.

We met so many people exploring new ways of thinking about neurodiversity and how those ideas can make everyday life better for all kinds of people. Thank you to everyone who shared their work, ideas and experiences with us — it was wonderful meeting you.

At sparkSTUDIO, we're exploring this through Sensory Design — something that has long been part of how we think about architecture, now with a name and a growing body of research behind it.

We're beginning to collect different Sensory Profiles and explore the spaces that support them. If you're curious about yours, you're welcome to participate.

How do you experience space?

sparkstudiodesign.com/sensory-design

09/18/2026

What is sensory design?

What if we designed spaces around how people actually experience them?

Light. Sound. Temperature. Texture. Movement. Openness. Shelter. Social proximity. Control.

We all have sensory settings, and no two people experience the same space exactly the same way.

At sparkSTUDIO, we’ve been paying attention to this for a long time. Now we’re giving that part of our practice a name: Sensory Design.

Our Journal entry explores what that means, where the idea came from, and why we think it belongs in everyday architecture.

Learn more about the blog here: https://sparkstudiodesign.com/blog/what-is-sensory-design
Learn more about our architecture firm: https://lnkd.in/gWZ8p4Cd

09/15/2026

What if the shape of a community could also help reduce the energy each home needs?

Eco Duplex was designed around a simple idea: use the site, the sun, and the architecture together.

The homes are carefully oriented for solar exposure, bringing daylight and winter sun into the living spaces while allowing for shading when the summer sun is high. Simple building forms, efficient envelopes, thoughtful window placement, and solar orientation create a strong foundation for Passive House design and very low energy use.

The buildings are then arranged to create something beyond energy efficiency: shared gardens, shaded paths, courtyards, and places for neighbors to meet.

Sustainability isn’t something added to the architecture afterward. It starts with where the building sits, which way it faces, and how people live within it.

Eco Duplex · Sustainable Housing Concept · Passive House Ready

Learn more about our architecture firm here! https://sparkstudiodesign.com/

Sign up for our blog: https://buff.ly/45diD88

09/11/2026

What if the plans are already approved—but they’re not the home you want?

That’s where this project began.

Our client found an incredible hillside site in Southern California, surrounded by trees and views. It also came with approved architectural plans. The problem? The house on paper didn’t feel like her at all.

Instead of starting over, we looked closely at what was already there.

We kept the new design within the approved building envelope, then rethought the architecture around the experience of the site: opening sightlines, framing views, bringing in light, and creating a much stronger relationship between indoors and out.

The result is a very different home without throwing everything away and beginning again.

Sometimes good design isn’t about adding more. It’s about seeing a possibility that wasn’t obvious before.

Waterfall Home · Southern California · 2,500 SF

Learn more about our architecture firm here: https://sparkstudiodesign.com/

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2111 J Street, Suite 190
Sacramento, CA
95816

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://www.sparkstudiodesign.com/

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