SOMA Space Opera Project
Designer
Form + Field
Photographer
Yoshihiro Makino
AS SEEN IN ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST
Take a deep dive into our SoMa Space Opera project, in collaboration with designer Christine Lin of Form + Field. Built more than a century ago, and renovated by our team into a full Starship Enterprise-inspired interior. This 5,000-square-foot, three-level home presented a builder's puzzle from day one: how do you honor a bold, highly specific existing concept while quietly modernizing it for a young family's everyday life? Our team worked within the home's original bones — including a dramatic central skylight and a mezzanine overlooking the kitchen — to integrate new systems and square footage without disrupting the architecture that made the space worth saving in the first place.
-
Much of our work lived in the details a guest might never notice but would absolutely feel: replacing the original holographic flooring with biodegradable linoleum, fabricating a new wall of maple and stainless-steel cabinetry with an integrated coffee bar in the kitchen, and executing custom CNC-milled cabinetry in the guest suite engineered to mirror the botanical wallpaper pattern precisely. In the primary suite, our crews installed travertine surfaces and tadelakt waterproof plaster alongside sandy limewash walls — materials that demand precision and patience to get right, especially within a bathroom divided into two distinct zones. We also preserved character-defining elements like the airlock-inspired entry's original metal door and porthole windows, building the new finishes around them rather than over them.
Projects like this are why we love what we do: a chance to be the steady hands behind someone else's vision, solving the structural and logistical challenges so the design can shine. It's also a reminder that great renovations aren't about erasing a home's past — they're about giving it room to grow alongside the family living in it.
