moss

Through two projects, Matt, Laura, and the moss team have been incredible partners. Their attention to detail and proactive thinking are paralleled only by their experience in responding to the issues that inevitably arise in remodeling older city homes. They have a clear design sensibility, but were focused on generating and maintaining a dialogue on the project, creating something that feels very much like it's ours. Really great people to work with, and good friends now to boot.

We used Moss to design our coworking space. The building turned out beautifully & we constantly get comments on how awesome our space is. The modern feel has some unexpected features (curves where you wouldn't expect, color where you wouldn't imagine) and makes our space unique! Plenty of photos are on our website - www.colaboraotrychicago.com! Matt, Chris & Laura are wonderful!

We had a complicated project on our hands, transforming three small storefronts into one spacious & modern family gym in Lincoln Square. When we saw Moss's other work, specifically Dollop Diner, with their industrial, sleek, and modern style we knew we wanted to work with Moss. We are so proud of the gym that they have designed and built for us. Our clients are amazed by the beautiful space and it's a dream come true for us as first-time small business owners. We highly recommend them.

Working with Matt and the team at Moss was easy and enjoyable. They shepherded our project from start to finish. Their vision, creativity and professionalism produced a beautiful, functional, light filled home. The challenges with the existing house included poorly done past renovations, a partial basement and awkward layout. Matt’s visionary design took a dark, choppy interior and created a light filled space open to the back yard. Beautiful! Matt was flexible and creative as we worked through many possible layouts for the space. The finished design is updated and modern while staying true to the character of the original house. One of the biggest changes was bringing the living space down to ground level and opening it to the backyard. Large windows and sliders bring light into the entire space. Instead of a small dark space with awkward access to the yard there is a bright living room and beautiful kitchen. With the open space and large island it’s now possible to host get togethers of family and friends. The entire home has a highly functional layout. Dormers and clerestory windows bring light into the house making it brighter and more spacious feeling. We especially like the creative touches like the custom stairway dividers. We appreciate Matt and Moss Design’s connection to the neighborhood and their commitment to improving the community. We highly recommend them!

Moss Architect is a great boutique architect firm that we have worked with on several projects from restaurants to residential. They are on top of trends and best products and have great ideas to reuse/recycle materials for eco-friendly results. They are a reliable, professional, and talented group of designers. I would use them again for future products and highly recommend them for commercial and residential projects.

We had a great experience working with Matt and his team at Moss. We appreciated their approach to our project that reflects our family's needs and lifestyle. We worked with Matt to consider a variety of ideas before deciding on a project that we still love a year after construction. Following the design phase we decided to hire Moss to manage the construction. Drew handled more of this side and was also wonderful to work with. As a whole, this team has excellent communication, patience, and expertise and delivered a high quality final project. We highly recommend Moss and will work with this firm again in the future.

So, Moss Design is composed of a small team of real nice and cool people, who all share that sleek modern aesthetic but always with a twist of warm surprise (e.g. a upcycled/reclaimed bathroom sink set in an industrial space.) We decided to work with Moss because of their distinct spatial design, their minimalist taste/style, their attention to details, and their dedication to a greener architectural process. Moss Design (architectural, interior, and furniture design) and WC Studio (architectural design and actual construction) were an essential part and a big guidance to our new and beautiful loft home. After a long and relentless search, the husband and I chose to work with the fierce head architect Matt, his incredibly personable partner and co-founder Laura, and their creative team for a major gut rehab in a loft-style condo unit, located in the edge of the Chicago West Loop neighborhood. The problems we faced were small windows/scares natural lighting in a big space and the absolute need to re-distribute the interior layout in a smart and savvy manner. Moss Design brainstormed, researched, designed, troubleshot, and then built us with exactly what we asked for while consulting us every step of the way. The team transformed the loft from its original 2 beds 1 bath to 3 beds 2 baths, in order to accommodate 3 people living in this unit. The renovation included a new master bathroom with soaking tub and walk-in shower, new kitchen, two bedrooms and an artist studio space. And their genius "indoor windows" proposal (using large glass panels as walls to define each room) solved the low-light situation we had. All the other personal preferences regarding our living space were clarified by us and achieved by Moss Design. Both the husband and I are practicing studio artists, thus we are very specific about our needs and vision of the space. We enjoyed working with the independent architecture studio rather than big-name firms because we did not want to be drowned in a sea of other projects. We wanted the personal exchanges and attention. In addition, Moss Design customized/designed and produced several statement furniture pieces for us that are not only pragmatic but also the focal point in our loft space. Moss Design understood our requests (and sometimes even took our original ideas further to present us with more/different options,) and continued to provide their services even after the project was finished. They helped us constructed our dream home.

We tried to use them for a remodel and addition on our home which ended up being a huge mistake. During the entire process they completely ignored what we kept asking for. It seemed like they had a mission to build what they wanted and completely disregarded everything we asked them to do. We repeatedly had to ask them for items on the drawings that they kept leaving off. We had to pay for tons of rework when they should have put it in the drawings in the first place when we asked. What a rip off. We told them our budget the first time we ever met. We reiterated that budget limit numerous times, and every time we were told that it was sufficient. Then their reasoning for not listening to us about the style we wanted is that their designs "tend to be more modern" and that's what their website shows. Again, they admitted that they told us they would build what they wanted just to string us along, when in reality they never had any intentions of designing the house like we wanted. On another instance we asked for no more than an extra 8-10 feet added to the back of the existing house. We were told by them before we ever even started a single document that it was no problem and they could do that. Yet, the designs were drawn up for over 20 feet out, completely disregarding what we asked for and were told. They also would change prices for services. Their invoices are extremely vague like "Design Development" would show up multiple times on a single invoice and be charged at completely different rates on each line item. And if their invoices are legitimate, they must have worked 24 hours a day on our project alone and never ate or slept. An expensive waste of time and money. There are a lot better architects for a lot less money available in Chicago.

We partnered with Moss Design to renovate the kitchen, dining room and living room of our new to us bi-level home. We wanted to respect the mid-century lines and feel of the home and actually draw them back out from bad design additions over the years. Matt was great to work with. He listens well so that he can respond with appropriate ideas from one design session to the next. He is on your side during the sometimes complicated and frustrating steps of a renovation project. We were very happy to have his help and guidance.

My wife and I really enjoyed working with Matt. It was my first time working with an architect and I was really impressed with his contribution and lack of ego. We renovated a two story loft in river north back to loft "roots" and added two bedrooms upstairs. Matt had lots of great ideas throughout and gets really engaged in the details that make lots of difference. Would use him again without a 2nd thought for any project. (Project cost is total including all the contractors)

We had a wonderful experience working with Moss Design. Our house has been transformed beyond what we thought was possible. The attention to detail was amazing -- there was no detail ignored and no problem to small to fix. They also provided much needed advice on the interior design. We also appreciated the guidance to use antique lighting fixtures and doors, as well as reclaimed wood for our floors. The whole team at Moss were so friendly, approachable and professional. They really are more than just an architect firm; they looked at the whole picture of what we wanted for our home. We recommend Moss and we love our beautiful home.