When her San Francisco interior design firm tripled in size in as many years, founder Nicole Hollis embarked on a year-long search for a new space. When she found it?a 5,000-square-foot former industrial building in the rapidly growing SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco?it was a tech office “with small rooms and bad carpet.” What she wanted instead was “a creative laboratory?a white canvas where the staff have all the tools they need but can also be inspired and encouraged to collaborate,” she says.
Hollis, whose firm is a member of the Remodelista Architect/Designer Directory, saw past the gloomy interiors and capitalized on the building’s former, loft-life glory. She tore down walls and poured new concrete floors, and the result is signature Hollis: high-design nods, a graphic black and white palette, plus a dash of noirish glamour. Photography by Laure Joliet, courtesy of Nicole Hollis.

Above: The reception desk, a brass-clad box by Oakland’s Chris French Metal, is Hollis’s “ode to Donald Judd.”

Above: Though it serves as headquarters for the firm’s roughly 40 employees, the studio “is also for clients to see how we work,” Hollis says.

Above: Interior walls are blackened with shou sugi ban, a Japanese wood-charring technique.

Above: Near the front desk, a dramatic entry salon has ebony walls that are integrally colored Italian plaster and a fireplace façade with a custom metal...