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Ismerio+ Architecture & Design's photo

Ismerio+ Architecture & Design

2 Reviews
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Oakland, CA
Website
Ismerio+ Architecture & Design
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Contact Info:
Alex Ismerio
Oakland, CA 94607
Typical Job Costs:
$100,000 - 1 million
Category:
Architects and Building Designers
License Number:
C-35225
Ismerio+ Architecture and Design has teamed up with Mike Connell. MCAI+ is a full-service, eco-friendly creative team, that is by your side throughout the stages of design, planning, and development. We manage the entire process with you, from the concept to implementation. This includes documentation of existing conditions, schematic design, design development, budget maintenance, navigation through the bureaucratic approvals process, consultation on contractor selection, and job site observation. Control of this entire process ensures a final product that reflects your desires and sensibilities. With offices in San Francisco and Oakland. MCAI+ has projects in Joshua Tree, Calistoga, Napa, Sebastopol, Cotati, Healdsburg, and Petaluma. We have been teaming up to create beautiful, value-oriented, sustainable homes since 2000. Our philosophy is uniquely collaborative. We take the time to get to know you, to help you hone and refine your vision, and discover more possibilities than you had imagined. As you begin the complex process of making your home a place you can truly call yours, we show you how its design can transform itself with your life, grow with you, and evolve with your future. From the ground up, our aim is to reuse, reclaim, and respect the legacy of a structure and the appropriateness of the materials to their context. Our “universal design” approach anticipates special needs and is sensitive to aspects of accessibility. Alex has worked in the building industry for over 25 years including over ten years in San Francisco residential construction before transitioning into architecture. She was awarded her Architectural Degree from California College of the Arts in 2002. Her list of projects spans from the California coasts and deserts, to the Oregon pastures, and urban landscapes of Washington. In addition to creating unique homes, Alex is the visionary behind trendy restaurants in Joshua Tree, San Francisco, and Seattle. From 2008 to 2015 she collaborated with two Oakland artists to realize a public installation, “Undercurrent,” a series of large-scale sculptures at Lake Merritt that form a permanent part of the Oakland landscape. In her world architecture is where art and function intersect.
Services Provided

Architectural Design, Architectural Drawings, Attic Conversion, Basement Design, Basement Remodeling, Bathroom Design, Building Design, Custom Homes, Drafting, Floor Plans, Handicap-Accessible Design, Home Additions, Home Extensions, Home Remodeling, House Plans, Kitchen Design, Kitchen Remodeling, Laundry Room Design, Mudroom Design, Multigenerational Homes, Project Management, Space Planning, Staircase Design, Sustainable Design, Universal Design

Areas Served

Alameda, Berkeley, Brisbane, Daly City, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont, San Francisco

7 Projects for Ismerio+ Architecture & Design
Medford, OR
Oregon Farmhouse
16 photos
Santa Cruz, CA
Santa Cruz Residential Renovation
10 photos
San Francisco, CA
Mission District Loft
10 photos
Berkeley, CA
Berkeley Kitchen and Bath
8 photos
Daly City Renovation
4 photosShared
Glen Park addition
6 photosShared
Altadena, CA
Los Angeles Hills Residence
9 photos
Write a Review
2 Reviews for Ismerio+ Architecture & Design
Christina Harbridge
Christina Harbridge
Relationship
Client
Project Date
Jan 2015
Project Price
$10,000 - $49,999
“Alex is an incredible partner in both design and architecture, I have worked with her to design my commercial office, to project manage a very intense structural remodel of my hillside home and design of my current home. With her design work, she is able to visually translate what was in my heart yet I was unable to verbalize. After just a couple of conversations, she presented ideas that I would never have thought of that gave me exactly the feeling that I wanted in my home and office. Alex can visually create the feeling a person wants to have in their space, using the budget they have. She makes it easy, creative, fun and will stick to the budget. “As an architect, her skill is just unmatched. My home is on a hillside and was structurally unsafe, it had to have major construction. Alex & Mike handled the entire project, coordinating the engineers, the contractors and a very frightened and stressed homeowner. In the process, we had to solve some historical permit issues with the city I live in and I have never been more impressed in a meeting with a vendor. Her ability to solve the city’s challenges with creative thinking and make them feel a part of the project was mastery. She also had a profound idea to add one small improvement to my home during the reconstruction so it felt to me emotionally after all of the upheaval, that my life was improved in some way. We reworked an awkward stairwell and laundry room so my life was easier, without adding much cost, it made the project feel so much better to me. I cannot recommend Alex enough for her design and architectural prowess. You will not find a better partner in this work.” Christina Harbridge, Brisbane, CA
Levon Kazarian
Levon Kazarian
Relationship
Client
Project Date
Jan 2011
Project Price
more than $100,000
Alexandra has been my go-to for two restaurants and my home, three extremely different projects. With each one she was a collaborator, problem solver, and visionary. Each project turned out much better than I could have imagined it. She came to each with a vision, or took vague ideas from me and nudged them, refined them, or patiently suggested alternatives that always turned out to be the right answer. She’s down to earth and easy to work with. One of the restaurants was a historic San Francisco soda fountain from the 1940s that had to be painstakingly restored while making it more functional and preserving the space’s inherent elegance. The other restaurant was a complete interior gut and transformation into a modern desert roadhouse. Alex handled the technical aspects like making the layout of the tiny kitchen radically efficient, but she also created a stunning and budget friendly interior by taking down the rough cut cedar that clad every wall, planing and refinishing it, then reinstalling in custom patterns against the exposed cinder walls. My home in Joshua Tree was a boring 70s ranchhouse that she magically turned into a place that I never want to leave.

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