Gemmill Design, Architectural Studio was founded in 1999 by Timothy Gemmill, who has nearly 30 years of professional experience in designing high-end custom homes, residential and commercial interiors and small-scale commercial architecture. The firm’s work is executed in a variety of styles, with consistent themes of simple articulated form, spatial connection, natural light and view, always accompanied by a rigorous attention to detail. Strong emphasis is placed on collaboration to create a unique environment that embodies the character of the owner, while meticulously addressing functional requirements and tailoring the space to the owner’s lifestyle.
Mr. Gemmill began his practice after working in three renowned architectural offices, where he gained extensive experience in high-end residential architecture as well as larger-scale commercial interior architecture, including resort hotels and luxury offices. His long-term interest and experience in residential architecture led him to start his own boutique firm in order to specialize in this area. His unique vision, combined with an ability to create work in a variety of styles, allows each project to respond directly to its own unique set of circumstances, while the firm’s small size and Mr. Gemmill’s philosophy of personal dedication allows for his intensive hands-on involvement in every project.
Mr. Gemmill received his Bachelor of Architecture from Texas Tech University in 1984. He started his professional career during his first summer of architecture school in the office of Frank Welch, one of the most respected residential architects in Texas. He continued each summer thereafter, going on to spend his first three years of practice in that office working on custom homes and completing his architectural internship.
In 1987, he relocated to San Francisco to join Charles Pfister & Associates, one of the premiere firms of the era, known for prestigious projects like New York’s 21 Club and Citicorp headquarters in London. While there, Mr. Gemmill expanded his focus to interior architecture, working on numerous corporate offices, resort hotels and restaurants.
In 1990, Mr. Gemmill followed partner Richard Brayton from Charles Pfister & Associates to help start the Brayton & Hughes Design Studio. He served as Vice President and helped build the firm from three people to over thirty. He was project architect and project designer on numerous custom homes in San Francisco, many luxury office suites such as Kolberg Kravis & Roberts in Menlo Park and McKinsey & Co. in Los Angeles and resorts such as the Four Seasons, Kona Coast, Hawaii. His work also ranged all over the world, from the Baie des Citron Resort in Noumea, New Caledonia to satellite offices for Hellman & Friedman in Hong Kong to law offices for Landerer & Co. in Sydney, Australia, where he lived for several months coordinating the project.
Since founding Gemmill Design in 1999, Mr. Gemmill has worked exclusively on residential projects, primarily in the Bay Area. His projects have ranged widely in scope and style, from a new house in wine country in an early California Colonial style, to a Victorian house remodel in Pacific Heights, to an art collector’s minimalist modern condominium in the Four Seasons of San Francisco to the remodel of a 1920’s adobe in Marfa, Texas for a repeat client.
