STUDIO

For the past thirty-six years our practice has devoted itself almost exclusively to custom residential work, and has come to be recognized for the high quality of its work. We have come to find this aspect of our practice, working personally with our clients to give shape to their visions of a home, the most gratifying and rewarding. Our projects have typically covered a diverse range of designs from traditional to contemporary, from small to large, providing, along with other consultants, a comprehensive service from inception to completion including landscaping and interiors. In all cases, our emphasis has been to infuse each project with qualities that would enhance the life of its residents. Our approach to design begins with a search for the spirit of a place (the site and its location), and a house that befits that context and setting, and blends effortlessly into its surroundings, be that natural or man made. The house design then revolves around client requirements and always aims at providing an individual solution evocative of a particular lifestyle. We believe that each design should be imbued with romance and be its own. To that effect each project is intricately detailed and crafted, with equal attention to its exterior and interior, as well as its landscaping, to enhance its imagery. In this way each completed building does two things: It responds to the needs of the client to bring together dreams and function, while at the same time stays to enhance its setting.

BIOGRAPHY

Farro Essalat, the principal, chose architecture as his passion in his teens while still at school. Inspired by his surroundings, an expansive and beautiful country estate designed by the great 19th century English architect, Richard Norman Shaw, he committed to a future in architecture. Having graduated from London University with a Masters Degree in Architecture, and as a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, he practiced in London before taking a teaching position at Tehran University as a professor, and later as the Chairman of the School of Architecture and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts. His practice there covered an array of commercial, academic and residential projects. In 1981 Essalat Architects was established in the Bay Area and soon achieved a reputation as a premier design firm specializing in high-end residential projects. Numerous projects in the Bay Area now stand testament to this. Presented here are selected projects which reflect the sense of style, the use of materials and the spatial qualities that distinguishes each and makes them a personal statement for each client.