Modern Architects, Architecture Firms, & Building Designers in Des Moines

“Andrew Schilling of SALT Architecture is to me the nearly perfect architect. I have worked with and hired many architects on various projects over the years and they usually seem to be either creative or technical...Andrew is both (and more). When I was interviewing architects in the Portland area to build my house he stood out from the crowd with his excellent communication skills, technical ability, deep knowledge, experience, and ability to capture our dreams and represent them in drawings. Frankly, I had expected him to have the highest bid of the group...and when he didn't I smiled and immediately accepted Now, with our project complete I am able to look back and say that it was an excellent decision on our part and I am looking forward to working with him and the SALT team with more builds in the future.”

“Sketched up some ideas for our future home and got exactly what we were looking for. The drawings turned out great. Gabe was very easy to work with and supportive of all our ideas and little changes to make this our perfect forever home.. I would highly recommend him.”

“We've toured the residential and commercial projects created on Bainbridge Island by Coates Design, and have followed their work for years. Our office was in the same building, and we often stopped in to learn more about their projects. We've always been impressed by their great architectural sense of aesthetics, and their ability to create innovative work that blends well into the surroundings of the project location. Very professional, very pleasant and very accomplished.”

“Working with Lotte (Abita Studio Architecture & Design) on our kitchen remodel was a good match for us. She listened carefully and provided a design that showed she paid attention to what we said was important. Through several iterations, she worked like a valued team member...challenging us when needed and supporting our modifications-- all while keeping us focused on our goal. We would not hesitate to work with her again.”

“My experience when working with Northlight has been nothing but great... Creative, inspiring and easy to work with and provided many options to help us come to a decision.”

“After hearing countless horror stories about the remodel and construction process, I have to say that architect Jeff Babienko and his team at bARC have made the journey better than we could have ever imagined. His approach, vision, professionalism and attention to detail are nothing less than top notch. Babienko has a very thorough up-front exploration process that we thought a bit excessive, but discovered that it is this very process that allows him to steward the project with all the nuances of "feel", aesthetic and functionality that we were after with the remodel. While we forgot certain elements of what we wanted along the way, he and his team did not. It was amazing! The entire journey was a very collaborative, seamless and an entirely transparent process. His expertise as the interface with the construction team was invaluable and we can't imagine having done it any other way. We won't work with anyone else!”

“Armentrout Residence Our home was roughly a 1560 square foot Cape Cod cottage on a large lot. Originally, we intended to enlarge our kitchen, that eventually led to a larger addition and a full remodel. Our contractor, Norm Ferkingstad, introduced us to Bruce, an architect he’d worked with on other projects. We enjoyed working with Bruce as he really listened to what we wanted, he gave us so many choices, and introduced options we didn’t realize we had. Our home is now approximately 2900 square feet, including a new master suite. We wanted the original feel of a cottage to be maintained. Bruce did a great job. From the street, the house doesn’t look any larger than it originally did. From the sides and rear, the addition blends seam-lessly with the existing structure. Bruce did an amazing job expanding our small home, blending old with new, while keeping the charm. During early design meetings, Bruce stressed that we should interact with our home, not just exist in it. Bruce insights and recommendations added so much to our family’s home life experience. We really enjoy his creation of a variety of spaces to fulfill a diversity of moods. We have a large extended family, so we often have people visiting during the summer. We always hear from guests how comfortable our home is. They say it has a flow that leads you through the home. Parties and gatherings are comfortable and people are never clumped in the kitchen, but are spread throughout our home. Everyone comments there is a great balance of private space and inviting public space. We can easily have 30 people in our home without it feeling crowded. Yet, when it’s just the four of us, the house still feels cozy and warm. The design of our deck and outdoor space is inviting and in constant use. As a result our home has become the “go to place” for family events and parties, including a small private wedding in our backyard. We couldn’t be happier with our home. We love how Bruce blended our traditional desires with contem-porary ideas. Many times we have stood on a small hill on our property at night, looking down at our home, lit up, and take delight in what we have. We are so very thankful for what Bruce created for us. From design through construction, Bruce provided great customer service. He is patient and very respon-sive. He charges fair fees for superior design service. Not only do we highly recommend Bruce; we also hired him again for our next project, a separate carriage-style garage and home office. For us, Bruce is clearly an exceptional architect. Paige and Doug Armentrout”

“Steve is the architect and designer for our current remodeling project. He's been so great and helpful from the beginning on designing our house structure to recommending style of furniture that would match the design. He offers creative and excellent ideas and alternatives based on our budget. He devotes 120% of his thoughts and ideas in accommodating the style of the house that we like and the tight budget we have. It's a big project and we've formed a great team that we have been feeling comfortable to work with each other. There is only 1 month left before the project is finished and we are very happy to see the progress. I highly recommend Steve to anyone who wants to do their house remodeling.”

“Vassos Demetriou and his team do an amazing job. They designed our dream home for us, made necessary adjustments when we needed to meet our budget, and now are helping us through the permitting and building process. They are a fantastic full-service architect team.”

“Tom Kuniholm's design for our home addition is beautiful, functional and melds perfectly with the exisiting structure. We really enjoyed working with him and highly recommend him for his professionalism, design aesthetic and expert knowlege.”