A home designed around how you live changes everything.

Symbiotic Living was born from a deeply personal understanding of what it means to find restoration in a space. For Sharlene Young, the interior designer and architectural thinker behind the practice, a period of profound loss brought into sharp focus a truth she had always known. The homes we live in have far more influence over how we feel than most people realise.

“The quality of light, a connection to the outside world, the materials we touch and the spaces we move through each day are not incidental to how we live. They are central to it.“

That conviction is the foundation of everything we do. Our Chicago studio offers the full scope of interior architecture and design. In London, every project benefits from our team's full architectural training, bringing a depth of spatial thinking and technical rigour to interior design that goes far beyond decoration.

Whatever the scope or the setting, our starting point is always the same. We begin every project by getting to know you, your priorities and the vision behind the space, because a private home, a boutique hotel or a workplace that is genuinely personal to the people it serves looks, feels and performs entirely differently from one that is not.

Biophilic and wellness design that is deeply personal.  

Our work is guided by biophilic principles and informed by a growing body of evidence connecting the design of our built environment to our physical and mental health.

Research consistently shows that access to natural light improves sleep, focus and mood. That views to the outside world increase mental function and memory recall by 10 to 15% and that the acoustic quality of a space, the materials within it and the air we breathe all have a direct and measurable effect on how we feel.

But evidence only takes a space so far. The rest is deeply, unmistakably personal. A hand-painted mural that speaks to your history. Furniture designed and made specifically for the way you live. Materials chosen as much for how they will age alongside you as for how they look today. These are not finishing touches, they are the difference between a space that is beautiful and one that is genuinely, irreplaceably yours.

For many of our clients, that realisation arrives after years of investing carefully in every other aspect of their health and wellbeing and suddenly understanding that the space they come home to every day has never been designed with any of that in mind. We change that.

A sound investment in your most significant asset.

Thoughtfully designed spaces are also, consistently, worth more. According to the Global Wellness Institute, homes and spaces built around wellbeing report resale values 10 to 25% higher than comparable properties, with commercial spaces achieving significant rental premiums per square foot. And with 80 to 90 percent of health outcomes shaped by environmental and lifestyle factors rather than genetics, the space you inhabit is not incidental to your wellbeing. It is one of the most significant contributors to it.

The most meaningful return, though, is felt long before any sale or lease. It is felt in the quality of your sleep, your sense of calm, and the quiet sense of refuge that comes from being somewhere that is truly, lastingly yours.

Your Trusted Design PartnerFrom Concept to Completion

We approach each project with a focus on meticulous planning and budget management of furniture fixtures and fittings. By understanding your unique needs and goals, we create truly personalised environments. This holistic approach considers every detail, from sustainability and space planning to material selection, ensuring your project stays on track and within budget. Seamless project coordination ensures a smooth and stress-free experience, focusing on how design impacts your daily life.

It is time to design for how you actually want to live.‍ ‍

‍ ‍