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Bay Area Architect Architects ranked by permits

San Francisco directory · Ranked by permits issued

Commercial architects in San Francisco

754 architects and designers have 2 or more commercial permits issued in San Francisco since 2018, counting offices, shops, restaurants, hotels, clinics and schools. We rank them by how many the city issued with their name on the record. Pick one project type below to rank that work alone.

Updated October 20, 2026 · Nobody pays to be listed or ranked

Architects ranked
754
Commercial permits filed since 2018
42,759
Architects who filed in the last 2 years
527

Where is the project?

Pick a neighborhood to see who works there most. Bars count the architects and designers for whom it is a top neighborhood.

All 39 neighborhoods in the list filter

Sheet
A-210
Drawing
Commercial architects, San Francisco
Date
Oct 2026
Scale
2+ issued to be listed

754 listed, most commercial permits issued first

  1. No. 1
    Offices 91%

    Their permits by project type, drawn as a plan.

    632 issued

    Revel Architecture & Design

    Architect · License C36455 · San Francisco

    Commercial issued
    632 of 698
    Share of their work
    93%
    Median to issue, all types
    5.3 mo

    682 permits of all types issued since 2018. Mostly offices 91% · apartments and multifamily 7% · hotels, clinics, schools and other commercial 1%. Last filed Oct 2026.

    Most active in

    • Financial District/South Beach
    • Mission Bay
    • South of Market
    • Chinatown
    2018 Permits filed per year 2026

    Open profile

  2. No. 2
    Offices 95%

    Their permits by project type, drawn as a plan.

    548 issued

    Huntsman

    Architect · License C9223 · San Francisco

    Commercial issued
    548 of 575
    Share of their work
    98%
    Median to issue, all types
    7.6 mo

    560 permits of all types issued since 2018. Mostly offices 95% · apartments and multifamily 2% · retail and shops 1%. Last filed Oct 2026.

    Most active in

    • Financial District/South Beach
    • Chinatown
    • Mission Bay
    • South of Market
    2018 Permits filed per year 2026

    Open profile

  3. No. 3
    Offices 78% Apartments 11%

    Their permits by project type, drawn as a plan.

    520 issued

    Gensler

    Architect · License C38081 · San Francisco

    Commercial issued
    520 of 568
    Share of their work
    88%
    Median to issue, all types
    4.6 mo

    591 permits of all types issued since 2018. Mostly offices 78% · apartments and multifamily 11% · hotels, clinics, schools and other commercial 8%. Last filed Oct 2026.

    Most active in

    • Financial District/South Beach
    • Mission Bay
    • South of Market
    • Chinatown
    2018 Permits filed per year 2026

    Open profile

  1. 4
    Rmw Architect · C29609 · Offices 88% · Apartments and multifamily 4% Financial District/South Beach, Mission Bay, Chinatown, North Beach
    466 issued of 491
    6.1 mo median, all types
  2. 5
    Brereton Architects Architect · C27238 · Offices 96% · Retail and shops 2% Financial District/South Beach, South of Market, Chinatown, Mission Bay
    381 issued of 402
    8.1 mo median, all types
  3. 6
    Asd | Sky Architect · C38312 · Offices 90% · Apartments and multifamily 7% Financial District/South Beach, Chinatown, Tenderloin, South of Market
    380 issued of 412
    4.1 mo median, all types
  4. 7
    Interior Architects Architect · C37053 · Offices 91% · Hotels, clinics, schools and other commercial 6% Financial District/South Beach, Potrero Hill, Chinatown, Sunset/Parkside
    189 issued of 200
    — too few to time
  5. 8
    Forge Architecture Architect · C14087 · Offices 82% · Hotels, clinics, schools and other commercial 10% Financial District/South Beach, Chinatown, Mission Bay, Bayview Hunters Point
    154 issued of 168
    8.2 mo median, all types
  6. 9
    Lawrence Smith Architect · C26160 · Offices 95% · Apartments and multifamily 2% Financial District/South Beach, Chinatown, South of Market, Mission Bay
    149 issued of 164
    — too few to time
  7. 10
    Costa Brown Architecture Architect · C25678 · Offices 63% · Hotels, clinics, schools and other commercial 21% South of Market, Chinatown, Financial District/South Beach, Inner Sunset
    113 issued of 119
    10.3 mo median, all types
  8. 11
    Fme Architecture Architect · C25185 · Offices 87% · Retail and shops 9% Financial District/South Beach, South of Market, Chinatown, Mission Bay
    104 issued of 119
    — too few to time
  9. 12
    Constructive Solutions Architect · C32363 · Offices 40% · Hotels, clinics, schools and other commercial 15% Financial District/South Beach, Sunset/Parkside, South of Market, Mission
    99 issued of 115
    18.1 mo median, all types
  10. 13
    Smith Group Architect · C25429 · Offices 95% · Apartments and multifamily 4% Financial District/South Beach, Chinatown, Mission, Tenderloin
    98 issued of 102
    2.7 mo median, all types
  11. 14
    Studios Architecture Architect · C27880 · Offices 89% · Apartments and multifamily 8% Financial District/South Beach, Mission Bay, South of Market, Mission
    94 issued of 104
    8.3 mo median, all types
  12. 15
    Shatara Architecture Architect · C24700 · Apartments and multifamily 36% · Home remodels 29% Mission, Bayview Hunters Point, Noe Valley, Potrero Hill
    93 issued of 138
    16.7 mo median, all types
  13. 16
    D-Scheme Studio Architect · C33350 · Apartments and multifamily 25% · Hotels, clinics, schools and other commercial 22% South of Market, West of Twin Peaks, Bernal Heights, Financial District/South Beach
    90 issued of 109
    9.3 mo median, all types
  14. 17
    Ia Interior Architects Architect · C32542 · Offices 90% · Hotels, clinics, schools and other commercial 7% Financial District/South Beach, Sunset/Parkside, Lakeshore, Mission Bay
    89 issued of 100
    7.5 mo median, all types
  15. 18
    Msa Architecture+Design Architect · C31273 · Offices 61% · Retail and shops 21% Financial District/South Beach, Chinatown, Pacific Heights, Castro/Upper Market
    86 issued of 105
    4.3 mo median, all types
  16. 19
    Mbh Architects Architect · C12815 · Offices 49% · Retail and shops 30% Financial District/South Beach, Chinatown, North Beach, Marina
    86 issued of 103
    7.7 mo median, all types
  17. 20
    Fennie & Mehl Architects Architect · C34811 · Offices 83% · Retail and shops 9% Financial District/South Beach, Mission, Chinatown, Mission Bay
    84 issued of 87
    3.6 mo median, all types
  18. 21
    Martinkovic Milford Architects Architect · C33430 · Home remodels 31% · Offices 16% Financial District/South Beach, Marina, Russian Hill, Noe Valley
    79 issued of 90
    10.2 mo median, all types
  19. 22
    Forge Architect · C26557 · Offices 58% · Hotels, clinics, schools and other commercial 33% Financial District/South Beach, Mission Bay, Chinatown, Bayview Hunters Point
    75 issued of 81
    6.8 mo median, all types
  20. 23
    Gensler Architect Architect · C19329 · Offices 42% · Apartments and multifamily 24% Financial District/South Beach, Tenderloin, Mission, Mission Bay
    74 issued of 76
    5.7 mo median, all types
  21. 24
    Rapt Studio Architect · C35493 · Offices 97% · Retail and shops 1% Financial District/South Beach, South of Market, Chinatown, Mission Bay
    71 issued of 72
    9.6 mo median, all types
  22. 25
    Ware Malcomb Architect · C34838 · Offices 71% · Hotels, clinics, schools and other commercial 12% Financial District/South Beach, Bayview Hunters Point, South of Market, Noe Valley
    70 issued of 75
    — too few to time

Ranked by commercial building permits issued in San Francisco since 2018 with the firm named on the permit record; firms need 2 or more to be listed. The line under each name shows the firm's two largest project types as a share of its permits. Median time covers all of a firm's plan-review permits of every type, and needs 3 or more issued with dates; the blue dimension line under it is drawn to scale, with the longest times running to the full width. Neighborhoods are where it filed the most permits of any type. A listing is not an endorsement, and nobody pays to be ranked. Some firms appear twice when the city recorded them under two names.

Source and notes

Source: San Francisco Department of Building Inspection building permits and permit contacts on DataSF. We include new-construction, plan-review and over-the-counter alteration permits filed since 2018, sorted into project types from the building's use and the permit description. Owner-builders and other private individuals are left out, and we never publish project addresses. Is your firm listed wrong? Send a correction.

Common questions

Which architects have the most commercial permits in San Francisco?

On city permit records since 2018, Revel Architecture & Design is named on the most issued commercial permits among architects and designers (632 issued of 698 filed), counting offices, shops, restaurants, hotels, clinics and schools.

How long does a commercial building permit take in San Francisco?

It depends on the project. For commercial permits that went through plan review since 2018, the median ran from 3.9 months for offices to 7.4 months for restaurants and bars. Of 42,759 commercial permits filed, 3,141 went through plan review.

How is this list ranked?

By the number of commercial building permits (offices, shops, restaurants, hotels, clinics and schools) issued in San Francisco since 2018 where the firm or person is named on the permit record in the city's public contacts data. Nobody pays to be listed or ranked. Sponsored placements, when they exist, are labeled and shown apart from the ranking.