We caught up with Thiep Cung of The Warner Group Architects for a little Q & A.
How did you find your way into residential architecture?
I studied in Florence, Italy and fell in love with the Tuscan architecture – the landscape, scale of the buildings, and everything about the surroundings. After finishing my studies, I moved to Montecito, finding it to have many of the same qualities that I originally cherished in Florence. I like to be fully involved in the design process, from initial sketch to finished product, and working on residential architecture affords me clients who also appreciate that care.
What’s the best thing about your job?
The most successful projects are the ones where we can incorporate the interior design and landscape designs into the architecture to create the whole package. I have a passion for improving the quality of the space, tailoring each project to our clients, maximizing the amount of light, and creating a marriage between the interior and exterior spaces.
Tell us a little bit about your work at The Warner Group.
I’m celebrating 25 years at The Warner Group Architects where we have done everything from a 50,000 square-foot projects to a small guesthouse. We are able to work on a variety of architectural styles from traditional Spanish to contemporary. We have projects all over the world including the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Costa Rica and throughout the U.S. We also get to work in some great coastal towns up and down the California Coast, from Carmel to San Diego.
What’s your favorite project with Allen Construction?
We recently completed a Spanish Mediterranean home remodel with Allen where we were able to take on older home that lacked adequate light and transform it into a space with positive energy, an improved flow, and an abundance of natural light. We did the interior design of the home with our in-house team spearheaded by our lead designer, Jaime Hallows, and worked with Sam Maphis Landscape for the exterior.
We really enjoyed working with the Allen Team. Together we worked through the challenges of building this home during the disaster of both the fire and mudflow in Montecito. The end result is a cohesive design that reflects the owner’s taste of classic casual living.
What projects are in the pipeline for The Warner Group?
We are working on several residences in Santa Barbara, Newport Beach, Santa Monica, Hope Ranch, and Montecito. We look forward to working with Allen Construction again on another project soon.