-
Brian Spitzer
Tuvia has been great to work with! He is a very knowledgeable and communicates well through the process while being fiduciary for us as his clients.
-
Selena Medlen
Tuvia is an inspirational and supportive teacher. He introduced our class to a new world of design principles with encouragement and without ego. He challenged us, and because it was obvious how much he cared, we pushed ourselves to higher levels of learning and performance. He is one of those teachers you remember for a lifetime.
-
Tad Laird
Tuvia handled the design and architectural services needed for the remodeling and updating of our landmarked property. He was good to work with, offering good ideas and well thought out solutions to the many problems inherent in the project. We was patient and understanding to the needs of us as the owners, and handled the many difficulties presented by trying to operate in the City of Berkeley. I would definitely recommend that Tuvia be contacted for any project
-
Jay Heyman
Tuvia did incredible work on our remodel and addition project. What would have turned out as just another room, with his ideas, made amazing changes to the way the entire house now feels!
-
Deb Gesimondo
Tuvia was wonderful to work with. He brought creative, interesting yet practical ideas to our project while keeping our budget in mind. He was also extremely patient and worked with us through the several design iterations. I enjoyed the process of working with Tuvia. He was thoughtful and really seemed to “get” our thinking around our preferences. I would recommend Tuvia without hesitation
-
Cat Chang
Architect Tuvia Poliskin is a wonderfully sensitive and skillful designer. Always addressing a client's goals, he balances a project's budgetary considerations to provide solutions that deliver functionality but also go beyond with beautiful artistry. I have found myself in conversation many a time with Tuvia that has helped me frame architectural strategies to difficult scenarios; his insight is very valuable. Any client of his is very fortunate to work with him.
-
Pat O'Hara
I have had the privilege of working with Tuvia Poliskin over the past 15 years. Tuvia is a conscientious, creative and pragmatic architect. He is able to provide accurate cost estimates, realistic project schedules and harness his building knowledge when working out the design and construction details which are cost effective. Tuvia believes in achieving the best quality for the dollar while providing clients with honest, courteous and value added service. Together we have built numerous successful projects and I have been a very satisfied client. I always knew Tuvia would listen to what I was trying to achieve and develop a design that went beyond my expectations and was of the highest quality while being economical. A good working relationship between the client and architect speaks to the success of any particular project. I can speak to this, Tuvia has proven that he listens to and then accomplishes his clients project objectives with vision and sensitivity. His clients are fortunate to have him as their architect.
-
Larry Miller
I worked with Tuvia Polskin over 17 years ago on a project that was critically important to me at that time; the design and construction of my home. Tuvia assumed the duties of architect and designer at an early stage in home planning and building. He was able to translate my vision of how the house was to look and to be used into 3-D and eventually 2-D representation. He listened carefully to my thoughts and offered creative solutions to many problems. These are things I’d expect of any professional architect. What I didn’t expect, and later appreciated greatly, was Tuvia’s devotion to seeing the project completed at a high level of craftsmanship bordering on artistry. He was not only my guide to evaluating the work of sub-contractors but he pitched in to improve efficiency at times when it was clear I was holding up the work of others. The house was finished on time and on budget because of Tuvia’s diligence. I have now lived in the house in El Granada for 17 years. It remains a showcase home in a neighborhood of creatively designed houses. I enjoy pointing out elements of the design that were Tuvia’s ideas and others that were cooperative decisions. Most importantly, I enjoy living in the home. Visitors consistently comment on how comfortable it is. I don’t know if I’ll ever build another home for myself, but if I do I would love to work with Tuvia again. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
-
Gerd Fisher
Tuvia was the first architect we ever worked with and we call our selves very lucky that it was him. Although we interviewed a number of architects, Tuvia became immediately our first choice, a choice we never regretted. We needed to expand our house’s foot print to create more space for us and our three boys. What impressed us the most was that Tuvia did not jump right into possible design solutions and ideas. Instead he asked us a number of questions to gain an understanding of how we as a family live and interact in the space we had. Based on that understanding Tuvia was able to identify our bottlenecks and pinch points, and propose ideas about how we could live without these constrains to increase our family’s quality of living in our house. It was fundamental for Tuvia to develop a feeling for us, the house, and how we live together before he started to develop design ideas and solutions for expanding our space. This very approach of Tuvia’s really appealed to us and helped us to become part of developing with Tuvia the look and feel of the new living space. Tuvia also took our budget very seriously and was creative in designing an attractive architectural design within our financial limits. He helped us to strike the right balance in creating a space we love and choosing materials that met our expectations but did not stretch our budget. We also enjoyed that Tuvia shared his thoughts, ideas, and rationale during all phases of the expansion. Most importantly he considered and implemented many of our own ideas and suggestions that we brought to him based on the research we did. After all said and done, we highly recommend Tuvia to everybody who wants to give their home an attractive face-lift or to improve their home’s layout to facilitate and enhance the quality of living as a family.
-
Ken Flexer
My wife and I needed a bathroom design. Our old master bathroom was small - you know, the kind that two people can barely fit into. We needed to borrow space from a hall closet, a clothes closet and from outside under the eve while keeping budget and style in mind. In short, an embarrassment. Luckily we found Tuvia Poliskin. Throughout the whole remodel process he showed exceptional skills and problem solving ability in planning, designing, structural analysis and shepherding the project through the permit process and working with our contractors. Tuvia brought a lot to the table. He would: always listen understand unique needs back up advice with real information creative think out of the box current cast a vision In short, he brought an interesting, new perspective to our home design and provided innovative design solutions to solve an old remodeling problem.
-
Judy Macias
I wasn't sure how to update a 1950 home to give it a "fresh look" inside and out. After meeting with Tuvia he came up plans that worked and helped me see the project finish before we started. I was pleased with his approach and professionalism for my home remodel project.
-
Gary Watts
We are happy to give a reference for Tuvia Poliskin of T2 Design + Architecture. T2 Design has successfully worked on three different projects for my husband and I. Having worked in the construction, real estate and design industries myself throughout the last 35 years, I have a lot of ideas and expectations. I have really enjoyed working with TP for a few major reasons. He is an artist with a very good eye for design and I like the ideas he comes up with. That is the easy part, the difficult part is coming up with cost effective ways of creating his visions. He has succeeded in that on our projects. He is thoughtful and his work has always considered a balance of cost vs. benefit. He has met all of his commitments as promised and has been a very good communicator. He has given us timelines that he has met and taken the time to go to the building departments to research and prevent potential challenges. We did not have exact budgets on our projects, although costs were critical. I can think of numerous times that he came up with clever design ideas and continue to be impressed with his ability to come up with cost effective designs. T is a good listener, but will let you know if he thinks an idea will not work. Fortunately he has "redirected" my ideas on several occasions. There will always be field changes on any project, but we have not had a time when we thought that he "missed" something. We work with many consultants and contractors and feel fortunate that we found Tuvia Poliskin. I consider myself to be opinionated in this industry, but just cannot come up with anything critical to add. My husband and I would definitely hire Tuvia and T2 Design again for our future projects.
-
Sheri Li
I hired T2 design for my home renovation project from 2013-2014. I'm a very happy customer of T2's architectural design service. T2 designed the extension of my kitchen and master bathroom by extending both rooms outwards 3 feet. I2 provided a full architecture service along with permit application process. The original house is a 1987 built traditional house. The new addition not only blends in well with the original design but adds a modern touch of it hence gives it a newer look and more importantly updated functions which I enjoy very much everyday. I have received a lot of complements from friends and relatives. While working with T2 design, I'm very impressed by its highly professionalism, its ability to educate customer with its design philosophy, attention to details, and precise time and budget management, all of which are from extensive experience and expertise. A few examples are a beautiful broom closet proposed by T2 design in the kitchen, 30in wider counter top instead of standard 24in, corner window utilizing the outside lake views in the master bath, and etc. Those features will not come to me without the involvement of T2 design yet I appreciate so much that they become part of my daily enjoyment. They make me feel money worth spent, thanks to T2 design. Money is a very important factor in T2's design. I'm always provided with not only the options or features but the comparison of cost for the options. Such focus truly helped me maintain my budget well. All in all, I highly recommend T2 design for anyone who would like to have a remodeling project focusing on quality work and very well controlled budget. Again, thank you T2 design! -Sheri
-
Randy Hoskins
Tuvia was the lead architect for a recent construction project of mine. I found Tuvia's work to be of the highest quality and would work with him again without hesitation. Tuvi is extremely creative. He would take my vague ideas and turn them into functional ( and beautiful) realities. Tuvia also was adept at handling all the administrative challenges of permits and city approvals - everything went off without a hitch thanks to his ability to seamlessly navigate the endless bureaucracy that goes with a building project. FInally, Tuvia cares. He lives his work and it shows in his professionalism and the product he delivers.
-
Eric Jaecks
Tuvia Poliskin was really amazing to work with, and we highly recommend him as an architect. From our first meeting, he impressed us with an amazing ability to hone in on the essence of what we wanted in our home remodel project, and to almost intuit what we were thinking. He then expanded on these initial ideas and displayed excellent creativity and craftsmanship in developing these into a concrete plan. He possessed the necessary knowledge base and organizational skills needed to shepherd the project through permitting without any glitches (and he did all the legwork for us). He then worked with our contractor very effectively and with exemplary professionalism to bring our home remodel project to fruition. Even now that the work is nearly complete, he has displayed and maintained an active interest in making sure the details are all coming out as intended. He is clearly invested in his work/our project and has a strong sense of pride in his creation. Todd receives our highest recommendation, without any reservation. You will be very satisfied with the experience, should you choose to employ him.
-
Marcene Austin
We bought a house in a superb location; however, the home is definitely a fixer-upper. We interviewed five architects/designers/contractors and easily selected Tuvia Poliskin. He approached our project with enthusiasm and creativity. He continually ensures we're selecting labor and items that fit into our theme and budget. He is a master at communication, including being very good at listening actively. He created a project management plan and is totally on track with it. I'd highly recommend Tuvia to anyone who is wanting a fresh approach to renovating.
-
Shelly Ford
We are happy to give a reference for Tuvia Poliskin of T2 Design + Architecture. T2 Design has successfully worked on three different projects for my husband and I. Having worked in the construction, real estate and design industries myself throughout the last 35 years, I have a lot of ideas and expectations. I have really enjoyed working with TP for a few major reasons. He is an artist with a very good eye for design and I like the ideas he comes up with. That is the easy part, the difficult part is coming up with cost effective ways of creating his visions. He has succeeded in that on our projects. He is thoughtful and his work has always considered a balance of cost vs. benefit. He has met all of his commitments as promised and has been a very good communicator. He has given us timelines that he has met and taken the time to go to the building departments to research and prevent potential challenges. We did not have exact budgets on our projects, although costs were critical. I can think of numerous times that he came up with clever design ideas and continue to be impressed with his ability to come up with cost effective designs. T is a good listener, but will let you know if he thinks an idea will not work. Fortunately he has "redirected" my ideas on several occasions. There will always be field changes on any project, but we have not had a time when we thought that he "missed" something. We work with many consultants and contractors and feel fortunate that we found Tuvia Poliskin. I consider myself to be opinionated in this industry, but just cannot come up with anything critical to add. My husband and I would definitely hire Tuvia and T2 Design again for our future projects.