Studio21 Architects

My husband and I bought a tear down in the historic area of Schaumburg. After interviewing 5 architects we knew right away that Studio21 Architects, and Bill Styczynski, were the perfect pick for our dream home! We hired Studio21 for the design + build process of our idea for a modern farmhouse with a historic flare. Working with Bill Styczynki and Gregg Stahr was a great experience overall. Renee Dion, the designer that works with Studio21, helped us with all the beautiful interior finishes and selections in our home, that brought it all together. They all took the time to learn about how we lived and how we envisioned living in the house, they listened carefully to our wants and needs, and their attention to detail and creative suggestions resulted in a quality home. Studio21 was easy to communicate with and we always got quick responses to calls, texts and emails. I’ll never forget the day we walked into their conference room and up on the screen was an image of a BEAUTIFUL home, and I said “that’s the kind of home I want” and their response was “this is your home”. It truly took my breath away, as they really understood us and made our dream a realty. After living here over a year now I can honestly say I wouldn’t change a thing. From the design, through the construction and up to the finish, Studio21 made it an enjoyable experience. When we sit on our wrap around front porch, people walk by all the time and comment on what a beautiful home we have and we have to agree with them 100%!

This is a firm of talented Architects who create beautiful spaces - whether the are updating an existing space or new build. They are talented, courteous, and responsive.

After interviewing many architectural firms, Bill was the only architect that asked us what we wanted in our home and listened. That immediately impressed us. We knew what we wanted, we just did not know how to incorporate it in the existing home. We were not looking for an architect to control the entire project. We have been doing the general contracting on our own and Studio 21 was the perfect firm for us. They drew out the plans and submitted for permits once that was all approved we took off flying with it. We did run into a unforeseen bump on the road with the crawl space foundation where and an existing addition was done in the 1940's, three cinder blocks deep. Gregg was able to amend the blueprints for us to get us back up and running. We now have a 100% full basement instead of 5% crawl space for the addition that was existing. We have yet to finish our total gut rehab/addition but we could not have envisioned working with any other architect firm other than Studio 21. As busy as they are, they took the time to answer our questions and go above and beyond anything we could have imagined possible in our home. Words cannot express their attention to detail, knowledge and creative minds. Bill and Gregg did an excellent job. We cannot wait to move in and finally enjoy the home. Studio 21 can tailor the project for your needs. They can go as much as doing everything for you to letting you fly on your own. If you are looking for an architectural firm definitely add them to the list of the potential candidates. We highly recommend them.

We had the pleasure of working with SWA architects when we built our first home. What we thought would be a stressful and daunting process was an absolutely pleasurable experience. SWA listened to us with great attention and did not miss any details that we wanted included. It was amazing to see how they pulled our idea of an ideal home from our minds and conceptually put them on drawings. We also outsourced the construction progress supervision to them, and they managed the process from start to finish for us. Their ownership of the process was amazing; supervising the project as if it were their own home. They gave us input and suggestions as construction commenced, most of which we incorporated, and the end result was stunning. We have lived in this home for 5 years, and we are very pleased with the layout, openness, aesthetics and functionality. SWA keeps in touch with us, asking for feedback as we continue to dwell in the house. SWA is not just an architectural firm, but a firm with vision, creativity and engineering elements all rolled into one. Above all else, the firm has a great team of individuals who aims to please their clients.

We had a fantastic experience working with SWA Architects. We had a bit of a more challenging job, because we were building a home out of state, but there was nothing difficult about working with this firm. We took our time and were never rushed in the extensive planning of our "dream home" and it showed with the completion of our home. The entire process was very enjoyable and we would and have recommended SWA Architects.

We first met with Bill, SWA Architects, in January to discuss plans for putting an addition on our 1928 Cape Cod. We love our house, and have made many improvements in the 12 years we have lived in it. We love our neighborhood too. We were struggling with the limitations of the small rooms in our house. We reluctantly started our search for a new house. While looking at homes for sale in our neighborhood, we fell in love with an addition SWA Architects did on one of the homes we viewed. At our initial meeting with Bill we knew that he was someone we would enjoy working with on this project. SWA Architects did the plans for our addition. During the process we developed a great relationship with Bill and decided to have them do the build too. Bill was our GC and we could not have been happier with the process or the end result. Bill is very knowledgeable, professional, personable, and fair. He respected our budget and worked hard to stay within it. Bill is a stickler for details and very conscientious about green building. We were gently guided to spend money where it isn't always glamorous (behind the walls!) and we haven't regretted it for a minute. Bill was on the job site at least once a day. Often after hours to tend to "dumpster management" as we called it. Little things like this, making sure that all of the construction materials were recycled when possible and compact and that we were getting the most out our dumpsters while ensuring that the job site was always neat. Bill also took on some of the work himself in order to help us stay within our budget. The trades that Bill brought into our home were also professional, prompt, conscientious and skilled. There was an obvious mutual respect and friendship between Bill and the trades he hired. We lived in our house through the construction and when the project was complete it was hard to say goodbye to some of the people who had been with us for months - especially Bill! Our project was a 1000 ft. addition. We added a master bedroom and bath, large family room with fireplace off of our kitchen, and basement with 9 ft. ceilings. The entire house was resided with Hardy board. The addition is seamless and we still receive compliments two years later on how beautiful our addition looks. Our family enjoys being together in our new large rooms. Entertaining is functional and fun (and possible!). I highly recommend SWA for design and/or build services.

My wife and I contracted SWA to design our basement and outdoor living area. Bill and his staff were thorough and creative in their design process. We are very happy with the end product we received from their designs.

They do great work and are very creative. We have worked with the firm for well over 18 years now. We are currently working with the firm again too.