A firm built on context, craft and time
An interdisciplinary architecture and interior design firm with studios in Austin and San Antonio, creating places that celebrate their environment and exalt the human experience.
One office, two doors — Austin and San Antonio
What began as a small architecture practice in 1983 is now an interdisciplinary firm of more than forty architects, interior designers and creatives working from studios in Austin and San Antonio. Our Texas roots run deep, but hospitality, winery, ranch and residential work regularly takes us far beyond the Lone Star State.
We draw no bright line between where architecture stops and interior design starts. Our architects and designers work with the same tools — sketches, drawings, models — so the intent behind a building and the life inside it cohere. There is no signature Clayton Korte style; every project is a one-off, shaped by its context and its client.
- Architecture, interiors & experience design under one roof
- Studios in Austin and San Antonio, Texas
- Over 100 awards for design excellence to date
Principals
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Awards for design excellence
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Architects, designers & creatives
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Studios: Austin & San Antonio
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Practicing since
A reverence for context and time
Remnants of buildings, landscape and other natural features are a record of time. We approach every project knowing our work will contribute indelibly to that record.
No signature style
Projects share a spirit — detailed, authentic, inspirational — but each one is a one-off, never to be duplicated.
Architecture and interiors as one
From the plaster on the walls to the proportion of the furniture, every detail contributes to a single experience.
Built to last, built to weather
Honest, regional materials — limestone, weathering steel, white oak — chosen to patina rather than date.
Buildings that stay subservient
The best work partners with its setting: quiet, stewarding the place it is in, carrying its own beauty.
Sketching, reflecting, interrogating, refining
Arriving at original, tailored solutions takes time. Realizing them takes close collaboration with visionary clients, engineers, craftspeople and builders.
- 01
Read the Place
We start with the site and the story already there — topography, structure, remnants, climate, and what the client actually needs.
- 02
Sketch & Interrogate
Ideas are tested by hand and in model. We push design conversations forward until the concept holds up from every angle.
- 03
Refine the Detail
Materials, joints, light and proportion are resolved together with our engineers and interior designers, drawing by drawing.
- 04
Build & Steward
We stay close through construction, working alongside builders and artisans so what gets made is what was drawn.
The people behind the practice
Paul Clayton
AIA, LEED AP — Principal
Brian Korte
FAIA — Principal
Kristen Brown
AIA, RID — Partner
Wendy Smith
Interiors Practice Lead
Nathan Quiring
AIA — Director
George Wilcox
AIA — Director
Over 100 awards for design excellence
- 2026
House of the Year, Silver — Vineyard Residence, California
WAN Awards
- 2026
People + Places Award, Architectural Interiors — Yuki Aspen
AIA San Antonio
- 2025
Best Projects, Office/Retail/Mixed Use — Pullman Market
ENR Texas & Louisiana
- 2024
Winner, Small Projects — Hill Country Wine Cave
Architecture MasterPrize
- 2023
Small Project Award — Kingsbury Commons at Pease Park
AIA National
- 2022
Small Project Award — Hill Country Wine Cave
AIA National
- 2022
The American Architecture Award — Kingsbury Commons
The Chicago Athenaeum
- 2019
Small Project Award — Saxum Vineyard Equipment Barn
AIA National
Tell us about the place you have in mind
Whether you would like to work with us as a client or a designer, or simply want to say hello, we would love to hear from you.