About Tierney Conner

Tierney Conner Architecture is an award winning, full-service architecture and design firm in downtown Oakland, California, founded in 2004 by principals Anne Tierney, Erin Conner, and J. Conner. The firm designs architecture, interiors, and landscape as a integrated scope of work, for private homes, multi-family buildings, and select commercial projects. Tierney Conner works across the East Bay, San Francisco, Marin County, Tahoe, and Wine Country, and takes selected projects beyond the region.

COMMERCIAL PROJECTS‍

RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS‍

HOMES ARE AT THEIR BEST WHEN ARCHITECTURE, INTERIORS AND LANDSCAPE WORK TOGETHER TO SUPPORT, ENRICH AND INSPIRE EVERYDAY LIFE.

Anne Tierney, J Conner, Erin Conner of Tierney Conner. Oakland, California

How the firm works

Founded in Oakland in 2004 by Anne Tierney, Erin Conner, and J. Conner, Tierney Conner is a design studio working across architecture, interiors, and landscape.
The three principals came together through a shared interest in modern architecture, plants, materials, and the particular qualities of California living. Over two decades, that shared perspective has evolved into a body of work defined by strong indoor-outdoor relationships, natural light, thoughtful material expression, and close attention to how spaces function over time.
Tierney Conner’s work is rooted in the landscapes, climate, and ways of living that define Northern California.
Projects respond to their sites rather than imposing a fixed architectural language. Views, topography, existing trees, changing light, weather, and patterns of daily life all inform the design. The result is modern architecture that feels specific to its setting and comfortable in use, with interiors and outdoor spaces conceived as part of the same environment.
Tierney Conner has practiced since 2004, with more than 50 years of combined principal experience. The three principals have led residential, multi-family, and select commercial projects through new construction, additions, renovations, interior architecture, landscape design, permitting, and construction observation. That depth shows up most in the parts clients can't see from the street: entitlements with Oakland, Piedmont, Berkeley, and Contra Costa County agencies, hillside and seismic constraints, and construction observation through completion. The firm works across the East Bay, San Francisco, Marin County, Tahoe, and Wine Country, including primary residences and vacation homes, and takes selected projects beyond the region.
Five principles shape every project, tested across two decades of houses, sites, and budgets. The principals return to them at each stage, from the first site walk through the last detail.
1. Connection to place. Architecture should respond to its site, context, climate, and landscape.
2. Ease and function. Spaces should flow naturally and support the way people actually live.
3. Material and light. Color, texture, craft, and unexpected pairings give a space character. Natural light, seasonal change, and the way materials weather are part of the architecture, not a consequence of it.
4. Intentional detail. From overall proportion to the smallest junction, every decision should contribute to the whole.
5. Inside and out. Architecture and landscape should feel continuous rather than separated by the building envelope.