Our Firm

Bay Area Design

Insite has been helping residential clients meet their architectural and interior design needs since 2001. With offices based in Burlingame and Oakland, we work on projects throughout Bay Area cities along the Peninsula (Belmont, Burlingame, Hillsborough, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Millbrae, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Mateo), San Francisco, and the East Bay (Berkeley, Oakland, Piedmont, Orinda), to name a few.

Design and Construction

Expertise and Care

Insite clients always work directly with a principal, ensuring that clients receive the highest level of expertise and care through the entire design and construction process. We have a broad portfolio ranging from modest interior renovations to new custom homes and everything in between.

 

Audrey Tse

Principal, Architect

Audrey received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and complemented her architecture degree with a fine arts degree in Interior Design from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. She supplemented her design education with an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. An early career stint in Asia, where Audrey was based in Hong Kong, provided incredible design influence and experience that has directly shaped her strength in working with challenging spaces and delivering results with speed and efficiency. She has a keen eye for aesthetics, quality workmanship and fine details. These qualities are complemented by her approach to client relationships with an emphasis on customer service. Co-founding Insite Design with her business partner Lauren is one of her proudest accomplishments. Their partnership has led to a large body of successful projects throughout the greater Bay Area from the Peninsula to San Francisco and the East Bay. She loves helping clients achieve their project objectives and seeing their bright faces at the end of the process admiring their new spaces and homes.  Audrey is in her second term as a City of Burlingame Planning Commissioner, where she applies her architectural design experience and aesthetic values to enhance commercial and residential design projects throughout the city.

Lauren Lee

Principal

Lauren is a native of the Bay Area and received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and later received a fine arts degree in Interior Design from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. Prior to co-founding Insite, Lauren worked for architecture and interior design firms in San Francisco gaining valuable experience within the industry. She then expanded her professional experience as Facility Manager and Lead Corporate Designer for Evolve Software and AirTouch Communications often becoming the client of architecture and interior design firms. Her diverse professional background has given Lauren a unique insight into all aspects of design projects from both the client and service provider perspectives and values a high level of quality customer service and relations. After years of working for firms and corporations, Lauren co-founded Insite Design with Audrey Tse. Realizing their unique combination of both architecture and interior design expertise, they have been able to provide a full scope of services as a "one stop shop" benefiting their clients by working on projects from design inception to construction completion and everything in between.

Kind Words

"We love the results of our addition and whole house remodel. Insite made this possible by listening to our goals and designing a floor plan that works for us and creates a great layout for enjoying time with family and friends. Working with Audrey gave us confidence that we were in good hands. One of the things we most appreciated was the flexibility and options she provided in the design process to continuously hone and refine design details and aesthetics throughout the house."

Laurie Orosco

"Lauren with Insite Design has been absolutely key to the success of my kitchen/family room remodel. She was involved every step of the way - so helpful, resourceful, and creative with areas like the general contractor bid process, the creation of drawings, and the selection of materials and finishes. While I appreciated her valuable expertise and knowledge, I was particularly thankful for her patience, timely follow-up, and attention to detail. Having her by my side made a potentially overwhelming experience into an stress-free, efficient and fun one. I couldn't have asked for a better partner!"

Ninette Wong

"Of all the things we loved about working with Audrey and Lauren, two things stand out. First, they are great listeners who asked thoughtful questions about our lifestyle, and created a design that fit like a glove for our family. Their design and finishes reflected our desire to integrate modern elements in our kitchen and bathrooms while maintaining the character of our traditional 1927 Tudor home. Secondly, they are masters of maximizing usable living space in an artistic, balanced way. With only a 200 square-foot addition, we gained a master bathroom, home office, and a new family room. We can’t recommend Insite Design highly enough!" Emily & Duff Beach

"Working with Insite was a joy! The company offers the great advantage of combining architectural expertise with design. They created an innovative design for us that opens up our existing space, providing the room we need for our large family without requiring an expansion. They also provided excellent customer service and project management, holding our hands through the entire design and construction process. They kept us posted on developments and managed the contractors until the very last item on the punchlist was completed."Annie Kishiyama

"Over the years we’ve gotten to know Insite well. They always have a crystal clear understanding of their clients’ needs and preferences, and they are impeccable planners, staying on top of budget and timeline goals. Along the way, they create spectacular, timeless designs— and, of course, they are very cool people to work with."
Tony Arroyo, All Natural Stone

"We have worked with Insite for over 15 years and have built an excellent working relationship.  Their processes and attention to detail makes it easy for our team to provide our services to their clients in a very streamlined and efficient manner.  Audrey and Lauren are always a pleasure to work with and we appreciate their professionalism and commitment to serve their clients.  We look for forward to working with them for years to come."
Peter Sung, Principal, Sung Engineering

"We had the pleasure of working with Audrey and Lauren on a house redesign project. As newbies to the process, Audrey and Lauren were so helpful in explaining all the steps, walking us through different design options, mitigating costs, and identifying great contractors. They are a full-service team that is on top of every detail. We knew nothing would fall through the cracks under their watch. To top it all off, they have great aesthetic taste!"Sonali Arurkar

"Insite Design was extremely thoughtful and creative in coming up with a solution for our family bathroom remodel. Insite turned our small, dark space into a bright, relaxing, beautiful, shared family bath with an elegant spa feeling. Insite was fabulous to work with and seemed to anticipate our design needs before we even really knew what we wanted ourselves!  Their team has clearly done this for many years and the experience and expertise was evident throughout our design and build process. Thank you Insite Design!" Meena Deo

"Working with Lauren has been such a great experience and I am eternally grateful for her expertise and vision."

Sally Slome

"I wholeheartedly recommend Insite Design for your architecture and interior design needs.  Their comprehensive design services gave me the assurance I needed that my project was moving forward every step of the way.  Audrey was a strong advocate for ensuring the design decisions were of the caliber I expected for my new home.  She is very knowledgeable about material finishes and created a classy and elegant style for my modernized Tudor style home.  Insite is the full package paying attention to both exterior and interior details and engaging third parties and sub-contractors to provide a holistic approach to residential design."

Dimitrios Papadogonas

"I feel so lucky to have worked with Insite on our major home remodel. They made it such an enjoyable and easy process. Insite’s full service option was worth every penny, because I did not want to spend time finding and managing subcontractors and vendors. Insite is organized, professional and easy to work with. They responded quickly to our questions and concerns and communicated thoroughly. They also have an aesthetic eye for design, and paid detailed attention to color, shape, balance, and symmetry. They were honest with their opinions, yet accommodating to my personal tastes. Though I absolutely want our home to be finished, I’m actually wistful that our working relationship is coming to an end. I half jokingly told my husband that we should buy another new house just so we might work with Insite and our contractor again. Our whole family loves our new home."
Elaine Chen

"We hired Insite Design for an extensive remodel of our house and couldn’t be happier with the results! As a full-service architecture and interior design firm, they were able to help us from start to finish. Lauren and Audrey took the time to really understand our needs and we were able to achieve the perfect balance of function and aesthetic. With a young, active family, it was important to us that our kitchen be a “working” kitchen but with very modern, clean lines. They worked with us to obtain competitive bids from contractors and were able to keep our costs manageable. They saved me from insanity by managing all the millions of details from beginning to end. Lauren and Audrey were amazingly easy to work with — creative, knowledgeable, organized, honest, flexible, and proactive."Brenda Wagner

"As a general building contractor, I am concerned with producing a product with which my customers will be happy and doing that within the proposed budget. Proper plans and scope are essential, not only for bidding and construction, but in order to meet the owner's expectations.  There can also be a lot of miscommunication and missed expectations if there is not competent project management.  The Insite team continually provides us with plans ready for bidding and with proper detail and scope.  Their project management team provides excellent communication between the contractor and the customer.  Even when conflicts arise, they are handled professionally and, in my experience, with the idea of coming to cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing solutions.  When I bid an Insite job I know that I can bid accurately and am able to maintain budget.  It's always a pleasure to see Insite plans come across my desk."Richard James, General Contractor, Red Boot Construction

"Insite's creations will take your breath away.  From space/floor plan design that one would never conceptualize on their own, to interior design, aesthetics, color and finishes that define one's individual style - from modern, to mediterranean, to traditional - their eye for excellence is unmatched.  I will always use Insite for all my design and build needs and highly recommend her to all of my friends, family and acquaintances."Abbie Higashi

"I've used Insite Design for projects ranging from a kitchen remodel, to a second floor addition, and a 6,000 sq ft new custom home.  Audrey and Lauren are great listeners and take the time to understand my goals.  They provide a rare combination of architectural creativity and competence paired with tasteful interior design across a wide range of styles."Steven Sarver