WHEN ARCHITECTS JULIE AND JEREMY GRIFFIN DECIDED TO GO INTO business together, they were worried that their differences might be their biggest challenge. As it turned out, those differences became their biggest strength. Jeremy Griffin, who had spent years designing high-rises on international projects before moving into high-end residential and restaurant work, brought a precision for smaller-scale details and a global design perspective. Julie Griffin came from a background in designing K–12 schools and athletic facilities, with a natural pull toward people and process. On paper, the two didn’t overlap much. In practice, they can do it all.
“Between us, we’d already covered almost everything,” Julie Griffin says. “Opportunities presented themselves to start a business together, and we were advised to look at our differences as a good thing, to use each other’s strengths.”
That advice stuck. A decade later, Hazel & Grey Architects is a boutique residential firm based in Atlanta and built on the belief that good architecture is less about a signature style and more about deeply understanding the people who will live inside the spaces that are created. The Griffins work almost exclusively with families, and they’ve built a reputation for the kind of patient, curiosity-driven process that turns a house into something that actually fits a life.
From the very beginning of any project, Hazel & Grey sets itself apart with an old-fashioned approach: hand-drawn sketches. The reason is both philosophical and practical. Hand-drawn lines feel more approachable to clients and invite collaboration, rather than presenting a finished idea that feels locked in. The Griffins have found that clients speak more openly to a sketch than to a sleek digital rendering, and that openness is exactly what they’re after.
The ability to get clients to open up is one of the elements that sets the firm apart. The Griffins don’t just ask clients what they want their home to look like. They ask how they live. Do they entertain large groups or prefer intimate dinners with close friends? Are there young kids in the house who will eventually need a place to do homework, host friends and grow out of the Lego phase and into something else?
“Many families that come to us want to design their dream home,” Griffin explains. “But everyone’s dream is different. Some families are always outside, so outdoor space is important to them. Others like to entertain, but we have to drill down to find out exactly what that means.”
This level of specificity is where Hazel & Grey does some of its best work. Flexible spaces come up constantly in client conversations. The Griffins often talk about “home hubs,” dedicated areas where a parent can sort mail, pay bills, check homework and keep the household running without those tasks bleeding into the rest of the living space. They talk about sculleries, which tuck the mess of a working kitchen out of sight, so the main space always feels pulled together. They talk about rooms designed to serve a family across every stage of life, from craft projects and playdates to high school study sessions and, eventually, visits from grandchildren.
“For example, I love to cook, and Jeremy is my sous chef,” Griffin says. “We might talk about how you cook and how we can support that. Are you cooking three meals a day, or does your family do a lot of takeout?”
It sounds like a small question. But it shapes everything from kitchen layout to storage decisions to whether a scullery makes sense for that particular family.
The firm’s membership in the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art speaks to another thread running through their work. The Griffins aren’t interested in designs that feel trendy or easily dated. They want to build homes that could be passed down, spaces that feel rooted and considered rather than fashionable. Traditional design, in their view, stands the test of time precisely because it isn’t chasing anything.
That philosophy came through clearly in one of their recent projects in the Milton-Alpharetta area of Atlanta. This renovation started with one strange problem and expanded into something much larger. The clients had a spiral staircase in the middle of their kitchen. The interior designer on the project, Truth & Co., told them they needed an architect, and Hazel & Grey stepped in.
“As with most renovations, usually we’re there to fix one problem, then we end up designing a renovation for other things that are bothering them,” Griffin says.
Working with builder Livingston Fine Homes, the project ultimately became an extensive renovation of just over 2,000 square feet, centered on the kitchen, living and dining areas. The spiral stair was removed and replaced with a shaped staircase designed to fit within the existing roof structure, complete with a barrel ceiling, turning what could have been a purely functional fix into a quiet moment of architecture. No square footage was added, and that constraint became a design opportunity.
Before the renovation, the kitchen suffered from an awkward layout split between different ceiling heights. Part of the space sat under a loft with a low ceiling, while another section opened into a vaulted two-story volume. A sunroom bay, surrounded by windows that interrupted the view at the eye line and with heavy casings, felt disconnected from the rest of the house.
The Griffins replaced those elements and introduced pecky cypress on the walls and ceiling, salvaged by the homeowner’s father. “She was looking for a place to use it, and this small, cozy space was a good location for it,” Griffin says. A double island that had been oddly oriented was reworked. A dining room that the family never used was converted into a home office with hidden storage and a curved wall that plays off the new staircase.
There was also a leftover space near the foyer that had never really served any purpose. The Griffins turned it into a reading nook with a built-in sofa, the kind of small, specific gesture that ends up becoming someone’s favorite spot in the house.
Back in the studio, the dynamic between the Griffins works the way you’d expect from two people who have spent a decade figuring out how to use their differences productively. He leads on design, while she serves as a creative sounding board, collaboratively challenging his concepts and helping him explore alternative perspectives. She also handles the business side and keeps projects on track toward deadlines. They work on everything together rather than splitting projects between them, which means every client gets both at the table.
That matters in ways that go beyond process. When a husband-and-wife team sits across from a husband-and-wife client, something loosens up in the room. Both people feel like they have a voice. Both feel heard. It’s a dynamic the Griffins have noticed again and again over their 10 years in business, and it’s one of the quieter reasons families keep coming back to them, sometimes for a second project, sometimes for a vacation home, sometimes just to figure out what comes next.
“Relationships are the biggest reward,” Griffin says. “We have several repeat clients, and we love getting to see the family evolve and the kids grow up.” *
Robin Howard is a freelance writer in Charleston. See more of her work at robinhowardwrites.com.
