We want to improve your built world, and in the process, work together toward the betterment of our collective urban and rural landscapes…one project at a time.
Let’s make it yours.
About
You’ll find the team at OneStoryDesign working at a range of scales and with a keen interest in innovating on the normal, the mundane, the familiar, and the modest. OneStoryDesign was established in 2023, but is informed by decades of firsthand experience in design, research, travel, and construction. As a practice, we have many interests, including combatting housing scarcity, promoting environmental, social, and economic sustainability, continuously adapting to the ever changing demands of contemporary living, and learning from our collective history.
Just as every project has a story, it also has a context. Our design ethos centers on encouraging projects to develop from both the physical parameters and the non-physical ambitions of their client. This approach affords many avenues for exploration, from the relative mundanity of planning and development overlays and code restrictions, to threading new patterns into existing urban and rural fabrics while acknowledging the past, present, and future. You never know where an opportunity might exist in the journey from conceptual idea to completed project.
As designers we love minimalism as much as the next person, but our approach to the interrelationship between site, client, and design output is a maximalist one! We seek to create maximum value from our design work, which is often informed by inspiration found in unexpected places. As a result, our work demonstrates a sensitivity to the unique circumstances brought to us by you, the client, and the project you have in mind.
OneStoryDesign is a licensed architectural design practice that works across a variety of project types, including private new-build construction, renovations and additions, and speculative proposals at a range of scales. Our team offers experience in large-scale planning exercises, master planning, and strategy planning; interior design, including furnishings, finishes, and equipment; graphic design, including wayfinding, print and digital media and publications; services related to development, including property analysis, prospectus development, real estate scoping, regulatory navigation, wholistic concept, and development strategy guidelines; industrial operations and site planning, facility organization and reconfiguration, stockpile optimization; and in the facilitation of public-private outreach efforts. But more than anything,
OneStoryDesign likes to design nice things for nice people.
Leadership
OneStoryDesign is a licensed, insured, and registered professional S-Corp governed by a board of directors who provide oversight and guidance for the organization. The board is composed of a group of leaders with varied perspectives and insights. The board meets regularly throughout the year to review and develop organization strategy, finances, and operational tactics.
Inaugural members of the board include:
Brandon Clifford [Matter Design, Cambridge, MA]
Rob Busch [Drawing Dept, Cincinnati, OH]
Ted Twyman [First Edition Rare Books, Cincinnati, OH]
Zachary Angles
zach@onestorydesign.com
Zach is a licensed architect in the State of Ohio with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (2014) and a Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2018).
Before co-founding OneStoryDesign with Joss Kiely in 2023, Zach collaborated with award-winning architectural firms including Landing Studio in Cambridge, MA and Matt Fajkus Architecture in Austin, TX. His experience ranges from designing parks and infrastructural landscapes to speculative and custom residential design.
Zach has taught and lectured around the world at a variety of institutions, among them the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, the University of Stuttgart, the Adolfo Ibanez University’s Design Lab in Santiago, Louisiana State University School of Architecture in Baton Rouge, the School of Architecture and Interior Design at the University of Cincinnati, and at Miami University in Oxford, OH.
In his free time, Zach enjoys playing world-building strategy games, traveling the globe, and drinking iced coffee. In addition to Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Massachusetts, and Louisiana, Zach has called Chile and Germany home for periods of time.
Joss Kiely
joss@onestorydesign.com
Joss received a Master of Architecture (2010), a Master of Science in Architectural History and Theory (2011), and a Ph.D. in Architecture (2018) at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Before co-founding OneStoryDesign with Zachary Angles in 2023, Joss was a founding partner of / studio jot / which focused on brand identity and print media design for institutional and commercial clients in the Great Lakes and France.
Joss is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Cincinnati where he teaches courses in architectural history and advanced design studios that focus on housing, airports, and embassies. He has previously taught at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan and in the School of Architecture at Louisiana State University. He serves on a variety of boards and councils, including the Southeastern Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH). He is currently co-authoring the book entitled Master Plan: Soft Power and the Politics of Architectural Expertise (Princeton University Press, 2026) with Michael Abrahamson.
Outside of the design studio, Joss is fond of traveling the world, writing, and reading novels. In addition to Michigan, Ohio, Louisiana, and Connecticut, he has lived in Beirut, Paris, and Italy.