Four One Nine is a socially minded space for the San Francisco creative scene
Four One Nine by Síol Studios blends creativity with nature, light and a social purpose

Joe Fletcher - Photography
A new creative hub for San Francisco, Four One Nine by Síol Studios ambitiously combines art display, product development, and digital content production. The brainchild of business coach, creative director and photographer Sonya Yu, Four One Nine was conceived to cater for the creative community as a place to serve local talent and generate positive change; and its design and interior, carefully crafted by the Síol team and led by studio principal Robo Gerson, reflect those values through openness, green elements and bright, welcoming and flexible spaces.
Síol Studios, co-founded by Jessica Weigley and Kevin Hackett, was guided by functionality and versatility in the design. A large, column-less gallery makes for a multifunctional space for shows and events, while a small but practical kitchen serves as the venue’s food preparation spot as well as a location for photoshoots. Office and meeting rooms around these spaces flow in a largely open plan arrangement with a dramatic staircase at its heart (built in collaboration with steel fabricator Henry DeFauw and concrete fabricator Concreteworks), which becomes a real centrepiece in the overall interior architecture.
A strong green element defines the design. A planted wall (including a thriving beehive) designed by Habitat Horticulture, the firm behind the greenery at SFMOMA, gently dominates the terrace area and remains visible inside through large windows. Outdoor furniture, water features and landscaping help complete a rich open-air experience for users – one that also seeps into the indoors, thanks to the strategically planned vistas.
Art, such as the colourful murals by Dave Muller, blend with natural, tactile materials – white ash wood, three-dimensional tiles, Caesarstone countertops – to deliver a layered interior experience. Meanwhile, bespoke elements ensure every part of the space is entirely fit for purpose.
‘While the interior is protected from unwanted noise pollution, it’s also acutely connected to the world around it. Throughout the interior, massive, carefully placed skylights flood the space with light and create a visceral link between Four One Nine and the changing weather, cloud cover, and sun intensity, all of which register on the interior walls,' say the design team.
INFORMATION
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Seven designers rethinking wood at London Design Festival
At this year’s London Design Festival, wood proves itself anything but static. We highlight seven designers shaping, colouring, and engineering it in surprising ways
-
Inside Kazakhstan’s brutalist Tselinny cinema – now a hub for contemporary culture
Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture, a modernist landmark redesigned for its new purpose by Asif Khan, gears up for its grand opening in Kazakhstan
-
Oliver Spencer’s orbiting installation offers a meditative shopping experience during London Design Festival
At Oliver Spencer’s Shoreditch store, a sensory light installation by Studio Rhythmics offers a calming moment during LDF
-
Herzog & de Meuron and Piet Oudolf unveil Calder Gardens in Philadelphia
The new cultural landmark presents Alexander Calder’s work in dialogue with nature and architecture, alongside the release of Jacques Herzog’s 'Sketches & Notes'. Ellie Stathaki interviews Herzog about the project.
-
Meet Studio Zewde, the Harlem practice that's creating landscapes 'rooted in cultural narratives, ecology and memory'
Ahead of a string of prestigious project openings, we check in with firm founder Sara Zewde
-
The best of California desert architecture, from midcentury gems to mirrored dwellings
While architecture has long employed strategies to cool buildings in arid environments, California desert architecture developed its own distinct identity –giving rise, notably, to a wave of iconic midcentury designs
-
A restored Eichler home is a peerless piece of West Coast midcentury modernism
We explore an Eichler home, and Californian developer Joseph Eichler’s legacy of design, as a fine example of his progressive house-building programme hits the market
-
How LA's Terremoto brings 'historic architecture into its next era through revitalising the landscapes around them'
Terremoto, the Los Angeles and San Francisco collective landscape architecture studio, shakes up the industry through openness and design passion
-
Inside a Donald Wexler house so magical, its owner bought it twice
So transfixed was Daniel Patrick Giles, founder of fragrance brand Perfumehead, he's even created a special scent devoted to it
-
The Pagani Residences is the latest ultra-luxe automotive apartment tower to reach Miami
Rising up above Miami, branded apartment buildings are having a renaissance, as everyone from hypercar builders to crystal makers seeks to have a towering structure bearing their name
-
A modern cabin in Minnesota serves as a contemporary creative retreat from the city
Snow Kreilich Architects' modern cabin and studio for an artist on a lakeside plot in Minnesota was designed to spark creativity and provide a refuge from the rat race