A curious architecture firm
Are you ready to transform your home into its best self?
We love nothing better than working with our homeowner clients to nurture and bring out the best in every house we work on. We combine our passion for residential architecture, eye for detail, and design sensibility with our deep technical knowledge, robust construction chops, and practical know-how to deliver top-notch projects for discerning homeowners.
We learn who you are and what matters to you, and we translate that into spaces that are meaningful, beautiful, and practical – and deeply personal to you and your family. This is your custom house – shouldn’t it reflect you and the way you live? We also bring our years of experience to the table, helping you understand what your house is capable of, where the potential lies, and how to balance trade-offs among big dreams, budget, codes, structure, and your Pinterest board.
I can’t imagine taking on another renovation project without Marilyn and the rest of the team at Runcible Studios. From the beginning, Marilyn took time to ensure we were comfortable with every step of the process and guided us in every decision that we had to make. She took time to get to know us and our tastes so that her recommendations were always on point. Her management of the project and rapport with the construction team ensured everything was done on time and with quality. When issues came up, she took time to explain the situation to us and provided us with clear options on how to proceed. Her involvement through the project from design through completion helped make it as successful as it possible could have been. We couldn’t be happier with the way our house came out! – Alex and Ximena, Jamaica Plain, MA
Here at Runcible, we offer full architectural services – that includes working with you from the moment the project is a twinkle in your eye, through a robust design process, contractor selection, pricing, selecting all interior finishes/fixtures/colors/cabinetry, etc, all the way through the whole construction process. You can learn more about what that entails here [link to FAQ], but in short, we’ve found it to be the best way to deliver the highest quality projects with the most efficiency.
Renovating or building a home is a huge undertaking, and can be quite stressful. Our clients are busy people, with jobs, kids, activities, and rich, full lives, and we’re here to take the lion’s share of the work, reduce stress and overwhelm, and be a resource, sounding board, and workhorse. We’ve been through this before, and we’ve got the experience to help our clients navigate the ups and downs of a project.
Working with Marilyn is a dream. Her visit to our home was one of the most illuminating conversations my wife and I have ever had when it comes to how we think about our home and our strategy for investing in improvements over time and within our budget. Marilyn is patient and wise and brings an extremely high level of construction, real estate, and architectural knowledge. She’s able to envision design opportunities that we, after living in our space for years, could not. She asks questions we wouldn’t know to ask ourselves and she truly listens. She’s a fantastic design partner and on top of all this, is one of the kindest people I know. –Caleb Dean, Medford, MA
We are currently seeking projects that are a stellar fit, and clients for whom we can do our very best work…mostly in the greater Boston area and in the Lancaster/Philadelphia area, but always happy to talk with you wherever you are.
See more of our residential projects here >>>
Hear from more of our clients here >>>
Are you ready to take your house down to the studs? Are you thinking of redoing HVAC, electrical, plumbing, bathrooms, and kitchen? Are you excited to rebuild your house from the inside out, improving structure, systems, and energy efficiency? We love working on deep renovations like this, and specialize in finding all the potential hidden in plain sight. Every house is great…sometimes it takes a bit of work to help that greatness come out!
We routinely work on old houses, and specialize in bringing these beauties back to life after haphazard past renovations and neglect. We believe in honoring the past, while also creating liveable, practical, and beautiful spaces for modern families. We’ve worked on houses as old as 1730, and have ample experience on load bearing masonry, wood frame, and other historic building types.
Have a plot of land and ready to build your dream house? We’re ready to help you make that dream a reality! Whether it’s an urban infill site or a rural greenfield, we’d be delighted to work with you on your home.
If you’ve recently bought a farm or large rural property, or if you’ve owned one for years, you know that there are usually many buildings, competing maintenance needs, and a different way of thinking about long-range planning than what’s needed for a “regular” house. With Marilyn’s experience growing up and now living on a rural property with many barns and houses, and our work on recent projects, we’re uniquely positioned to help owners grapple with the challenges and joys of stewarding these types of properties.
Don’t need the firepower of full architectural services? Just need another pair of eyes or want to run some ideas by a professional? If you’re working directly with a builder, or have a smaller project that doesn’t need full services, or already have an architect, this service could work great for you! Learn more here.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the bandwidth to work on smaller projects. For us, that means anything smaller than a significant whole house renovation – so, your individual kitchen or bathroom project is probably too small for us. Other stuff that’s not a great fit for us:
That said, you might be a great candidate for our consulting service, so drop us a line and we’ll chat!
If you don't know what you need yet, don't worry - we have an introductory consulting package that's perfect for helping you learn how projects work, how to budget, and what your next steps should be.
Learn MoreIf you'd like to learn more about our process and about how architectural services work, check out our FAQ page.
Read All FAQsRepresenting years of accumulated knowledge from many projects, and from the perspectives of the architect, client, these worksheets are a shortcut that helps rocket you and your project forward through the process!
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