A new creative hub for San Francisco, Four One Nine by Síol Studios ambitiously combines art display, product development, and digital content production. The brainchild of business coach, creative director and photographer Sonya Yu, Four One Nine was conceived to cater for the creative community as a place to serve local talent and generate positive change; and its design and interior, carefully crafted by the Síol team and led by studio principal Robo Gerson, reflect those values through openness, green elements and bright, welcoming and flexible spaces.
Síol Studios, co-founded by Jessica Weigley and Kevin Hackett, was guided by functionality and versatility in the design. A large, column-less gallery makes for a multifunctional space for shows and events, while a small but practical kitchen serves as the venue’s food preparation spot as well as a location for photoshoots. Office and meeting rooms around these spaces flow in a largely open plan arrangement with a dramatic staircase at its heart (built in collaboration with steel fabricator Henry DeFauw and concrete fabricator Concreteworks), which becomes a real centrepiece in the overall interior architecture.
A strong green element defines the design. A planted wall (including a thriving beehive) designed by Habitat Horticulture, the firm behind the greenery at SFMOMA, gently dominates the terrace area and remains visible inside through large windows. Outdoor furniture, water features and landscaping help complete a rich open-air experience for users – one that also seeps into the indoors, thanks to the strategically planned vistas.
Art, such as the colourful murals by Dave Muller, blend with natural, tactile materials – white ash wood, three-dimensional tiles, Caesarstone countertops – to deliver a layered interior experience. Meanwhile, bespoke elements ensure every part of the space is entirely fit for purpose.
‘While the interior is protected from unwanted noise pollution, it’s also acutely connected to the world around it. Throughout the interior, massive, carefully placed skylights flood the space with light and create a visceral link between Four One Nine and the changing weather, cloud cover, and sun intensity, all of which register on the interior walls,' say the design team.
INFORMATION
-
Jaguar reveals its new graphic identity ahead of a long-awaited total brand rebootJaguar’s new ethos is Exuberant Modernism, encapsulated by a new visual language that draws on fine art, fashion and architecture
-
Olfactory Art Keller: the New York gallery exhibiting the smell of vintage perfume, blossoming lilacs and last night’s shameOlfactory Art Keller is a Manhattan-based gallery space dedicated to exhibiting scent as art. Founder Dr Andreas Keller speaks with Lara Johnson-Wheeler about the project, which doesn’t shy away from the ‘unpleasant’
-
Explore a barn conversion with a difference on the Isle of WightGianni Botsford Architects' barn conversion transforms two old farm buildings into an atmospheric residence and artistic retreat, The Old Byre
-
This New York brownstone was transformed through the power of a single, clever moveVoid House, a New York brownstone reimagined by architecture studio Light and Air, is an interior transformed through the power of one smart move
-
A new Texas house transforms a sloping plot into a multi-layered family homeThe Griggs Residence is a Texas house that shields its interior world and spacious terraces with a stone and steel façade
-
Light, nature and modernist architecture: welcome to the reimagined Longwood GardensLongwood Gardens and its modernist Roberto Burle Marx-designed greenhouse get a makeover by Weiss/Manfredi and Reed Hildebrand in the US
-
A bridge in Buffalo heralds a new era for the city's LaSalle ParkA new Buffalo bridge offers pedestrian access over busy traffic for the local community, courtesy of schlaich bergermann partner
-
Tour this Bel Vista house by Albert Frey, restored to its former glory in Palm SpringsAn Albert Frey Bel Vista house has been restored and praised for its revival - just in time for the 2025 Palm Springs Modernism Week Preview
-
First look: step inside 144 Vanderbilt, Tankhouse and SO-IL’s new Brooklyn projectThe first finished duplex inside Tankhouse and SO-IL’s 144 Vanderbilt in Fort Greene is a hyper-local design gallery curated by Brooklyn studio General Assembly
-
Tour Ray's Seagram Building HQ, an ode to art and modernism in New York CityReal estate venture Ray’s Seagram Building HQ in New York is a homage to corporate modernism
-
Populus by Studio Gang, the ‘first carbon positive hotel in the US’ takes root in DenverPopulus by Studio Gang opens in Denver, offering a hotel with a distinctive, organic façade and strong sustainability credentials
