Red Dot Studio is an emerging Bay Area practice focused on residential and small business clients. Our process elicits discovery and fun, a synthesis shared among studio, client and construction team. Red Dot Studio believes that the built environment can support, enhance, uplift, enlighten and foster good for people and the community. Our projects are narrative allowing the life that occurs within to continue to shape the space.

What’s in a name? Red dots are ubiquitous from a Bindi to a sold sign for artwork. Each one a simple “solution” to complex requirements. Our design approach, akin to the simplicity of a red dot, looks for everyday beauty and meaning, drawing from the Bay Area Tradition, the natural world and an appreciation of craft.

Born and raised on the East Coast, Karen Curtiss studied in Scotland and lived in Hungary when the iron curtain fell, while training in the sport of fencing, before settling in San Francisco in 1995. Her time overseas gave her an appreciation for old and new architecture rubbing shoulders with each other and informed her respect for cultural context, and improving the human experience.

Karen holds an MA in Philosophy from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, a MA in Interior Architecture and obtained her architecture license through apprenticeship while an Associate at EHDD Architecture. Karen absorbed the Bay Area Tradition, taking every opportunity to tour Esherick houses and through working on complex institutional projects, developed excellent project management skills. With a profound respect for the skill of a good construction crew and the client relations, Karen sees her role on a project as both the generator and the keeper of good ideas no matter who proposes them.