Desai Chia Architecture is proud to announce that it has been honored with the Architizer A+ Award in the Best Small Firm category. This recognition celebrates the firm's commitment to design excellence, innovation, and thoughtful architecture.

Katherine Chia, FAIA, and Arjun Desai, AIA, are the founding principals of Desai Chia Architecture. Since 1996, they have established the firm’s reputation for authentic design, creating inspiring environments expressive of their use and materials. Desai Chia’s portfolio includes cultural, residential, and commercial projects, as well as commissions for product design and collaborations with artists. Projects are currently in development throughout the United States and abroad.

Desai Chia Architecture’s work is defined by conceptually bold design, deliberate eloquence, and graceful simplicity, all aimed at enriching collective experiences of space and place-making. The firm addresses complex design challenges for institutions, organizations, and private clients, guided by the belief that architecture has the power to transform communities. The studio is recognized for its commitment to socially driven and humane design, as well as for producing iconic projects shaped by sustainable technical strategies and deep expertise in materials.

With roots in a multidisciplinary background, the firm blurs the boundaries between building and nature, often using light as a unifying element across projects. Each design is informed by previous work and accumulated expertise, allowing the team to pursue new research, challenge conventional expectations, and ask more expansive questions in service of building thoughtful, spirited architecture.

The studio manages each stage of the building process—from a concept uniquely tailored to the client, to agile and meticulous project management, through to the completion of construction. The result is a body of work that is distinct, evocative, sustainable, and enduring, crafted to support a range of collaborative experiences and to meet each client’s unique needs.