A design studio in the business of telling stories through spatial experience. Subtle stories with the resonance turned up.

Always thoughtful. Never Prescribed.

About

Social

Press

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

CAYMUS-SUISUN Winery

SUISUN VALLEY, CA

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

THE CULINARY HOUSE AT CAYMUS-SUISUN

FAIRFIELD, CA

Opening late Summer '26

THE CULINARY HOUSE AT CAYMUS-SUISUN

FAIRFIELD, CA

Opening late Summer '26

THE CULINARY HOUSE AT CAYMUS-SUISUN

FAIRFIELD, CA

Opening late Summer '26

Intuit

SAN FRANCISCO

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

Intuit

SAN FRANCISCO

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

Intuit

SAN FRANCISCO

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

Intuit

SAN FRANCISCO

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

Intuit

SAN FRANCISCO

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

Intuit

SAN FRANCISCO

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

Intuit

SAN FRANCISCO

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

Intuit

SAN FRANCISCO

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

Intuit

SAN FRANCISCO

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

Intuit

SAN FRANCISCO

Photography: Yoshihiro Makino

Under Construction

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA

Residence

Under Construction

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA

Residence

Under Construction

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA

Residence

Under Construction

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA

Residence

Under Construction

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA

Residence

Under Construction

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA

Residence

Under Construction

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA

Residence

Under Construction

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA

Residence

Under Construction

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA

Residence

Under Construction

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA

Residence

Under Construction

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA

Residence

Under Construction

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA

Residence
Video Thumbnail

Making

LA

I

Making

LA

I
Video Thumbnail

Making

LA

II

Making

LA

II
Video Thumbnail

Making

LA

III

Making

LA

III

About the Studio

Based between California’s Bay Area and Los Angeles,The Bureau (f. 2019) is a multi-award-winning architectural and interior design studio founded and led by Sarah Giesenhagen. 

 

The studio, composed of a small team of specialists, works across multiple practice areas of workplace, commercial environments, hospitality, wineries, residential, and site-specific art and design exhibitions. 

 

From concept to completion, The Bureau incorporates the context, history, and objectives of the client,  to transform their aspirations to multi-dimensional, tangible outcomes. The studio’s meticulous approach considers the protagonists of the environment from all angles. The Bureau’s design process wholly considers details and the experiential––spatial navigation and pacing, energy mapping, sensory inputs, color, materiality, form, and craft––to achieve a sweeping composition. 

 

With the client, The Bureau’s ideas are stitched and infused together to compound upward. Realized projects model expansive points of view to achieve larger intuitive resonance, reverberating on a spectrum, from the singular individual to the welcomed public. In addition to its architectural and interior design services, The Bureau offers consulting and curatorial services in furniture and art respectively, collaborating directly with fabricators and artists to create custom work.

 

The Bureau’s select clients include Reddit, Intuit, Caymus-Suisun Vineyards, Palisades Hospitality, and private residential clients across the West Coast. The Bureau’s breadth of work has been featured in select press such as AN Interior, Interior Design Magazine, Dezeen, Food + Wine, Yuzu Mag, Hospitality Design, THE PLAN, IDEAT, onOffice, and The San Francisco Chronicle.

 

About the Founder

Sarah Giesenhagen is the Founder and Creative Director of The Bureau. With a background that spans high-end residential, hospitality, and large-scale commercial work, her career is built on bringing range and refinement to every scale of design.

 

Before launching The Bureau, Giesenhagen served as the first female Design Director at Rapt Studio, where she led projects for companies such as Google, Reddit, venture capital firms, social and wellness clubs, and many others. She played a key role in expanding the studio’s scope, introducing hospitality and custom fabrication into a traditionally corporate portfolio, and designing immersive installations including work shown at Salone del Mobile.

 

Early in her career, Giesenhagen worked with Erin Martin Design in the Napa Valley, where the focus was on thoughtful, detail-driven hospitality and residential projects, including Four Seasons resorts, Napa 

 

Valley restaurants, and purpose-built homes. She began her professional path in 2003. By her late twenties, she was leading and operating her own design-build firm, drawing from a long family lineage of general contractors and architects. 

 

Bay Area-based Sarah enjoys running, discovering fashion and California wines, and championing community initiatives. She’s a devoted gallery, design and architecture wanderer, always planning the next museum trip, social event or hospitality discovery with her partner and daughter in tow.

 

Reach out:  hello@thebureau.design

 

The Bureau Awards & Recognition

IIDA Northern California Honor Award 2026 (Work Medium)

Intuit San Francisco

IIDA Northern California Honor Awards Finalist 2026 (Craft)

Commissioned mural by Studio Gigi Allen for Intuit San Francisco

Interior Design Magazine Best of the Year Awards Finalist (2022)

Caymus-Suisun Winery — in collaboration with BCJ Architects and Thad Geldert

IIDA Northern California Honor Award (2022)

Category: Play — Caymus-Suisun Winery — in collaboration with BCJ Architects and Thad Geldert

IIDA Northern California Best in Show Nomination (2022)

Caymus-Suisun Winery — in collaboration with BCJ Architects and Thad Geldert

ARCHITECT Magazine Architecture & Interiors Awards — Honor Award (2022)

Caymus-Suisun Winery — in collaboration with BCJ Architects and Thad Geldert

AIA California Design Award (2022)

Caymus-Suisun Winery — in collaboration with BCJ Architects and Thad Geldert

AIA San Francisco Honor Award (2022)

Caymus-Suisun Winery — in collaboration with BCJ Architects and Thad Geldert