MICHELLE ANAYA

Michelle Anaya has worked with me on three very different projects over the past three decades, and across each one she has proven herself to be an architect of rare and remarkable gifts. Our first collaboration was a multi-site set of patient suites in a major urban hospital — a project that went on to win a design award and was recognized as being at the forefront of contemporary hospital design. The result was not only beautiful but deeply humane. Michelle demonstrated an exceptional understanding of the needs of our young patients and their families, ensuring that comfort and dignity were woven into every design decision. That experience made the choice easy when it came time to renovate our personal residence. She transformed what had been a dark, dated, and stodgy house into a breathtakingly beautiful light and airy home. We lived there for more than 25 years, and I can honestly say we felt grateful to Michelle every day —thankful to be surrounded by something so beautifully and thoughtfully conceived. What sets Michelle apart is her rare ability to balance exquisite design sensibility with a deep understanding of how a space must actually function — both practically and for the people who live within it — without ever sacrificing one for the other. She is also unusual among architects in her command of interiors. Where many architects treat the interior as someone else's domain, Michelle designs every project with a clear and confident vision of how furnishings, fixtures, lighting, hardware, and color should coordinate and enhance the whole. She has impeccable taste and encyclopedic knowledge, and the spaces she creates are radiantly beautiful in every detail. We are now in the midst of our third project together: the renovation of our Cape Cod cottage. This could not be more different from the two projects that came before. In the summer, this small and beloved house is packed with family members of all ages, along with all the gear that comes with them — towels, bikes, buckets, nets. Every square foot has to earn its place. Michelle has described it as designing a boat, and she has risen magnificently to the challenge, finding use in every nook and cranny while creating a bright, cheerful cottage that remains faithful to its 1920s origins. Beyond all of this, Michelle is simply a joy to work with — engaged, enthusiastic, and genuinely invested in understanding and meeting the needs of the people she works for. One project still lies ahead — our retirement residence — and there is only one architect we will call.Read More

Michelle helped my wife and I do a *massive* remodel on our 1926 Mission Revival home (all bathrooms, entire kitchen, 90% of the floors, new plumbing, major electrical work, and even some minor reconstruction among other things). She managed to balance maintaining it's original charm and integrity of style while significantly modernizing the interior, all on a super tight schedule as we were about to have our first kid. She has a truly remarkable aesthetic sense and guided us towards a house that is maximally functional while including many thoughtful and compelling style choices, particularly in the fixtures, storage access, and tile work choices - she even consulted a bit on furniture recommendations. She has a network of trusted craftspeople and was very sensitive to working with our budget. If you want an architect that has an A+ palate for interior recommendations you can be confident Michelle is a great choice.Read More

Michelle Anaya Architects has a great wealth of talent in all areas of construction, including site planning, working with city and county approvals and permitting, Very responsive with great communication! Fast and very reasonably priced. From preliminary site plans to interior decoration, she does it all!! She really took the time to try and understand our vision for our renovation and incorporate both architectural and design ideas that continually exceeded our expectations. If it were possible to give more than 5 stars for this review, we definitely would !!Read More

I highly recommend Michelle Anaya Architect! She was the architect and interior designer for our home addition and remodel. We couldn’t be happier with the outcome. She totally transformed our dated house into a bright, beautiful and charming home! She was easy to work with, listened, and went out of her way to understand our needs. Michelle is a uniquely creative and innovative designer! She is truly a genius!Read More

Michelle has done four projects for me. A home design and remodel adding 2000 sq ft to our residence was how I met her.. She was creative, imaginative and brilliant. The project was completed on time and under budget. I wish I had another home for her to design. I would hire her for any project. I have worked with many architects over the last 30 years and she is by far the best. I also used Michelle to to design and build out three office spaces over the course of the last 8 years. The space sizes ranged from 3500 sq feet to 20,000 sq feet. She is as creative, professional, and innovative with office space as she was with our home design.Read More