About Studio Chapman
About
Studio Chapman is a small residential architecture practice focused on creating homes that feel considered, comfortable, and distinctly their own.
Studio Chapman is led by founder and architect Dru Chapman Lewis. Dru studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, receiving her BA in 2005, before gaining practical experience with a large commercial firm in her home state of Texas.
Thinking she understood what cold meant, she headed north for her Master of Architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She liked the cold well enough to stay, eventually practicing in Chicago, falling in love with her husband and Lake Michigan, and continuing counterclockwise around the lake to make a home in Grand Rapids.
She is now a proud Michigander, designing homes throughout West Michigan and beyond.
The practice
We work closely with our clients from the earliest ideas through construction, balancing the practical realities of how a house needs to work with the character and atmosphere that make it resonate with its inhabitants.
The practice is intentionally small. We take on a limited number of projects so that each one gets our full attention, and so the design process remains personal, collaborative, and enjoyable.
Established in 2019, we are licensed in the state of Michigan.
How we work
The clients have a seat at the table.
Dru sees her role as a sort of “client medium,” listening closely to what clients need, what they envision, and what they’re drawn to, then distilling it all into a cohesive design.
We don’t so much “present” designs as talk through them together, walking through each decision in a way that feels straightforward, engaging, and enjoyable. Once the design is settled, we develop the documents needed to bring it through permitting and into construction.
What we take on
Big houses. Little houses. Cottage houses. Lake houses. Historic houses. Houses that are a little bit of all of the above.
Large additions + renovations.
A dog house? Maybe. The dog needs to be cute.
A tree house? Definitely maybe.
We’re interested in projects that have something to figure out, whether that means starting from scratch, thoughtfully adding on, or giving an old house a new life.
