About
The Studio
Meridian Studio was founded in 2019 by David Mercer and Sarah Okonkwo with a straightforward premise: that architecture firms should be as rigorous about how they manage a project as they are about how they design it. We work on a selective roster of residential and commercial projects in the Bay Area, with a practice model built around close principal involvement from schematic design through construction administration.
Our current project load spans two active Construction Documents packages and one project in Construction Administration. We use Revit for all documentation, Procore for construction administration, and maintain tight coordination protocols across our consultant teams. We are not a large firm and do not aim to be one.
People
David Mercer
Principal, AIA
Licensed architect with 14 years of experience leading projects across residential, hospitality, and commercial tenant improvement in the Bay Area. Formerly at the Gensler San Francisco office before founding Meridian in 2019. Interests: passive solar design, material honesty, adaptive reuse.
Sarah Okonkwo
Principal, AIA
12 years of experience leading commercial TI work and client relationships. Background in workplace strategy and interior architecture. Formerly at STUDIOS Architecture. Leads all commercial project delivery at Meridian from programming through construction close-out.
James Tran
Associate AIA
Priya Nair
Associate
Miles Linneaus
Project Coordinator
Approach
Material honesty. We specify what will actually be built. Specifications are written with the contractor in mind — not aspirationally. Every material decision is resolved before documents are issued.
Consultant coordination. We run structured coordination reviews at each phase gate. Drawing sets are cross-checked across disciplines before issue. RFI volume on our projects runs well below industry averages.
Principal involvement. Both principals are actively involved in every project through construction completion. Clients deal directly with the people responsible for the work.