About the studio
Architecture for gathering, fitness, recreation, learning, playing, and building community.
We are a focused studio of five humans and a dog, based in Austin's Montopolis neighborhood. We design experiential venues, commercial interiors, and adaptive reuse projects across Texas, with a portfolio anchored by a five-location climbing-gym network, an 18-acre community retail hub, an award-winning public installation, and the studio's own building, recently published in Dezeen.
Philosophy
Things fail when forced. So we take a path of less resistance — not less effort, less friction.
We build clarity through process, working through constraints rather than around them. The result is architecture that does not announce itself, but earns its weight in use.
You won't find us chasing trends or selling false certainty. Our work is calm, considered, and structurally honest — designed to last and to mean something to the people who occupy it.
- Strategic when the path is unclear.
- Responsive when the variables shift.
- Direct when decisions matter.
For the long-form version of how this translates into how we work — and the five principles we hold ourselves to — read the approach.
Film
Design vs. Build
A short documentary on how the studio works — the conversation between drawing and construction. A short film on how the studio works — the conversation between drawing and construction, the moments where intent meets material, and the practice of staying honest about both.
Studio
Five humans and a dog.
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Tim Derrington
Founding Principal
Tim founded Derrington Building Studio in 2011 to practice an idealistic pragmatism — design ambition disciplined by what buildings actually have to do. He trained at the University of Houston under John Zemanek, whose teaching tied modernist rigor to a craftsman's attention to detail; that pairing, refracted through study of the Japanese Sukiya tradition, remains the studio's intellectual root. Tim is licensed to practice architecture in Texas. He directed the studio's short documentary "Design vs. Build," which makes the case that drawing and construction are one continuous conversation rather than two separate professions. He lectures and writes occasionally on adaptive reuse, the Type IIB shell, and the experiential-venue typology.
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Natalia Lopez
Office Manager
Natalia keeps the studio running. She was exposed to architecture early, on job sites with her architect father in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico, and believes that good design is a basic human necessity — not a luxury. She manages the studio's operations, contracts, and project logistics, and is most often the first point of contact for new client conversations.
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Michael Rahmatoulin
Project Designer
Michael leads adaptive reuse projects in the studio. From Cyprus, with a multidisciplinary background in architecture, urban design, fabrication technology, and historic preservation, he frames the practice's adaptive-reuse work around the transformation and reuse of our existing structures — buildings as cultural memory that the project either honors or erases.
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Minta Stohrer
Project Designer
Minta bridges architecture and design strategy with technical craftsmanship and a writer's discipline around communication. She believes the future of the profession is responsive and responsible architecture that helps make good design accessible to all, and her project work consistently sharpens the studio's case-study writing.
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Alejandra Chona
Architect
Originally from Colombia, Alejandra is an architect with a Master's degree in BIM Management, combining design sensibility with a strong technical and coordination-driven approach. Her work is rooted in a deep understanding of both the creative and operational aspects of architecture, allowing her to navigate complex projects from concept through execution. She is particularly interested in how thoughtful design, efficient processes, and emerging technologies can enhance the built environment. She believes that architecture is not only about creating spaces, but about shaping meaningful experiences that respond to both people and place.
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Osa
Dog
Dog.
The studio
912 Montopolis Drive
We work out of the Architect's Studio, the 1,000 SF building we designed and built for ourselves on a corner lot in Austin's Montopolis neighborhood. The building is its own argument — a cavity-free assembly that demonstrates the construction approach we recommend to commercial clients. It was featured in Dezeen in October 2025 .
See the project