San Mateo is one of the best places to live or visit in California. It offers outdoor activities people of all ages can enjoy and is famous for its food scene. Local farms and ranches, restaurants, retail and shopping, and plenty of parks give residents and tourists alike plenty to explore. Many families and young professionals reside in the city thanks to highly rated schools and a thriving job market. If you are a resident in the area looking for the best office architects, check out the list below to find five of the best.

HOK

1 Bush Street, Suite 200, San Francisco, CA 94104

HOK is a San Francisco-based global design, architecture, engineering, and planning firm in operation since 1955. Since the firm’s inception over sixty years ago, it has developed and designed building spaces that enhance the lives of its clients and their environments. It specializes in architecture, engineering, planning, and commercial services with 23 offices across three continents.

The firm currently employs 1,600 staff collaborating and working across its offices. That staff is driven by imagination, and they have the technical expertise required to deliver the kind of innovative solutions that inspire others. The team is led by Alan Bright FAIA, LEED AP, who has been in the industry for 37 years. He has comprehensive knowledge in building health care facilities, offices, and airports.

HOK has been decorated with a number of awards, including the 2021 Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award, the 2020 Citation Award and Merit Award from AIA San Mateo, and the 2020 Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award.

M Moser Associates

115 Sansome Street, Suite 1100, San Francisco, CA 94104

M Moser Associates is a leading global workplace design company offering strategy, design and delivery services from its multiple offices nationwide and abroad. Since it was established in 1981, M Moser has been dedicated to building spaces that improve the way people work.

The team consists of over 1,200 strategists, architects, engineers, interior designers, sustainability experts, and construction professionals located across 25 global locations. They work together as one integrated team to align the physical, social and digital elements of the workplace into healthy, agile and resilient spaces where people can do their best work.

M Moser is led by Chairman and Founder, Moira Moser, a renowned architect who has worked in the United Kingdom, California, and Hong Kong. Local leadership includes Directors Nada Blasutto, Amber DeVine, and Sam Farhang. Together with their teams, they bring M Moser’s multi-disciplinary and holistic approach to companies as they grow and expand locally and around the world.

Form4 Architecture

120 Second Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105

Based in San Francisco, Form4 Architecture has served the Bay Area since 1998. The firm provides a broad spectrum of services that includes architecture, interior design, master planning, sustainable design, urban design, workplace strategy, and commercial facilities. Form4 believes in designing buildings that respond as equally to the environment of the site as they do to the people they serve: tech offices, life-science laboratories, mixed-use developments, educational facilities, and cultural institutions. The firm has worked with many prominent brands, including Google, Netflix, and Facebook. Winner of the 2017 American Prize for Architecture, Form4 creates formal expressions that are emotionally resonant and conceptually thoughtful.

Attached above is of a project at the Millbrae BART Station, currently Form4’s closest building to San Mateo. As collaborative partners in the building process, the principals of Form4 Architecture—Paul Ferro, John Marx, AIA, and James Tefend—are actively involved with every project from concept to completion, bringing years of expertise and knowledge to each client’s vision. The firm has been recognized and featured by Architect Magazine, Building Design & Construction, Interiors & Sources, The Architect’s Newspaper, and many more.

AP+I Design

117 Easy Street, Mountain View, CA 94043

AP+I Design is a Mountain View-based full-service architectural, planning, interior, and environmental graphic design firm that takes pride in service and strong relationships with clients and partners. It was founded in 1993 by Carol Sandman and provides architecture, interior design, environmental and graphic design, strategy, sustainability + wellness, and commercial services to Mountain View and beyond.

Principals Carol Sandman and Larry Grondahl head the firm. Combined, they have over 75 years of combined industry knowledge. For 28 years, the firm has delivered high-quality projects with an openness to taking risks and going above and beyond to satisfy its customers. The firm has a reputation for responsiveness and an eagerness to solve challenges quickly. AP+I Design was named one of the Top 100 Giants by Interior Design Magazine in 2018.

Dan Ionescu Architects & Planners

1611 Borel Place, Suite 230, San Mateo, CA 94402

Dan Ionescu Architects & Planners is a renowned design firm serving the United States, China, Argentina, Norway, Romania, and Costa Rica. For more than 40 years, the firm has proven itself as a versatile company capable of taking on every project around the world. It offers a wide range of services, including architecture, planning, historic preservation, environmental preservation, commercial, and residential. They also specialize in one-of-a-kind site-specific designs, entitlements design, management and coordination, mixed use developments, and strategic design.

The firm employs a dynamic team of architects, interior designers, engineers, and construction professionals with diverse backgrounds in education and construction. Since Dan Ionescu Architects & Planners’ inception in 1982, it has built a comprehensive portfolio after working with a wide range of projects.

Dan Ionescu NCARB, AIA, is the firm’s Founder and Principal. He has over 40 years of vast industry experience and leads a team of innovative international staff. The firm is a proud member of the American Institute of Architects. Learn more about them at www.diap.com.