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MattBaran

@mattbaran.bsky.social
723 followers 243 following 408 posts

Architect. Developer. AIA. NCARB. Founder @ Baran Studio. Professor @ USF, AAU, UCB ARCH & MREDD. Posts on design, construction, R.E., entrepreneurship & tech. OAK. LAX. DTW. LAS. www.baranstudio.com

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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Anyone? Thanks @markasaurus.bsky.social for pointing this out.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Yes. That’s standard.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Does this mean you’re in San Diego or just not on Twitter?
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Someone told me all the architects are here.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Yes you didn’t need to go on the unwanted date. PS. The lighting mechanism on the grills is often out. And the gauge on the pump in the bike room is busted but you can see that someone left an extra pump so we’re good.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Stopped by to see how it’s going over here with transit people talking to other transit people. So. How’s it going?
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Blame the realtor.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Oakland, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and San Clemente have not.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
30 days to deem complete then 60 days to provide comments. Another 60 days after we respond. Third party plan check always finds something to comment on even if I submit a set that’s been approved before. Berkeley still beat this. And it’s RTI. Oakland is over 6 months just for entitlement.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
We followed local height, access, open space and front setback limitations. Final Parcel Map, Demolition Permit, and Building Permit approved in about 4 months. 🤯 Pre-construction and hazardous materials abatement completed and demo has begun! Let’s goooooo!
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Construction has STARTED! This 2 unit fee simple subdivision is the FIRST all-new development the City of Berkeley has approved under SB 684 🏘️ We used 100% the underlying R-2 Zoning to qualify for state law that reduces most lot requirements… ⬇️
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
🏘️ Have a conversation with planning, or submit a pre-app using SB 330 to lock in the regs. If it all checks out, you’re on your way to more housing!
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
🏘️ See what fits (this is important). Just because the density calculation looks good in your proforma doesn’t mean it works on your site. You’ll need a quick site test-fit to see how your site will lay out and function. Call me (or at least hit follow).
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
🏘️ Check zoning requirements. Use the greater of 66% of 30 units/acre or 66% of your zoning’s base density as your minimum, up to 100% max. You may need to create a remainder lot to keep it to 10 units max.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
🏘️ Find an empty single family parcel with subdivision potential, or a multifamily parcel - with or without a unit or units. 🏘️ Fill out the SB checklist from your local agency (or get one at the link below) to confirm your project qualifies.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
We know increasing supply is key to lowering the cost of housing. SB-1123 can help. Here’s the process for 1123 feasibility that I’ve been running with developers all over California🧵⬇️ Hope it helps! Pictured below: AI Render of SB-1123 test fit for 6 units on an R-1 Lot in Los Angeles
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
uscssi.maps.arcgis.com/apps/mapview...
uscssi.maps.arcgis.com
Map Viewer
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
Check out this interactive map that shows how SB-79 will (may?) play out across the state. Link below.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Supply & demand deniers are sure to claim it’s a conspiracy and do everything they can to stop developers from ‘making money’. www.sfchronicle.com/realestate/a...
sfchronicle.com
Are new laws speeding up California home permits? Here’s what the data says
In recent years, California lawmakers have made strenuous efforts to streamline housing permitting and close the supply-demand gap — and catch up with other states. Has it helped?
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Supply & demand deniers are sure to claim it’s a conspiracy and do everything they can to stop developers from ‘making money’. www.sfchronicle.com/realestate/a...
sfchronicle.com
Are new laws speeding up California home permits? Here’s what the data says
In recent years, California lawmakers have made strenuous efforts to streamline housing permitting and close the supply-demand gap — and catch up with other states. Has it helped?
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
“The economic conditions kind of override everything” Even less would be built if it weren’t for new state laws. California is consistently outpaced by other states and the country as a whole. Affordability continues to suffer. The shortage is deepening and prices are set to skyrocket.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
The result is a culture where challenge is avoided instead of growing from it, institutions over-protect instead of prepare, and public discourse collapses into shouting matches because there’s no gray area left. Ultimately this messes with individual psychology and poisons collective conversation.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Once in that mindset, nuance disappears: disagreement feels like violence, discomfort feels like danger, and those who challenge your worldview are the enemy. It encourages catastrophizing (treating setbacks as existential threats) and moral tribalism (splitting the world into “us” vs. “them”).
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
If you believe I belong to one “side” or the other: You may be suffering from a cognitive distortion called dichotomous thinking. It leads people to see life as a battle between pure good and pure evil, victims and oppressors, safe and unsafe.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
This CA SB-684 project was approved for West Oakland last week. This one has been through a lot. Multiple owners, multiple entitlements, multiple permits. Really hoping it sticks this time because there aren’t many people building in Oakland, and that’s going to have an impact down the road.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
It’s also important to keep in mind that it is much more difficult to design something of quality with limitations on space, budget and time. Choose your direction wisely.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
You get what you pay for… Quality matters, but not everything calls for the highest quality. Matching quality to context is essential. In a development deal, if you over-build you’ll never recapture the expense. If you under-build you leave money on the table. Finding a balance is key.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
Oh wow, thanks!
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
You’re welcome!
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Neighbors often tell you that if you had just notified them, they would have been nicer. In my experience that’s not the case. They’re almost always angry about change. (Photo of our Chapman project in Jingletown. Ask me about the neighbors!)
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
It’s just been my singular experience. I’m sure there are many others who love it!
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Yesterday I asked Ai for Berkeley code that allows for averaging of front setbacks in an R-2 zone. It sent me the Missing Middle Ordinance. I said that’s not adopted yet. It said ok here’s code section 23.304.030. I said that’s for MULI zones. Then it just went into a loop. Section 3.33333…
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
I mean it is pretty toxic here.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Last week I walked this 100k prefab SFD / ADU in North Hollywood. The guy who makes them placed 4 on his property as part of an SB-9 deal. He estimates install cost for all 4 units was another 100k. All in 500k. For 4 units.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
www.baranstudio.com/baran-studio...
baranstudio.com
DENSITY GUIDE | Baran Studio
Using Baran Studio projects, this guide provides a visual representation to developers and planners on different forms of density. Over the years, we have multiple projects where our dense development...
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
The Baran Studio Density Guide provides a framework for unlocking housing capacity through replicable, policy-aligned design strategies. We break down key mechanisms like ministerial approvals, subdivision reforms, and ADU policy shifts into deployable tactics across diverse site types. Link👇🏼
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
This is a great opportunity for me to blow the whistle on you. I’ll settle for 500k. It’s peanuts.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
This level of stupid is difficult to comprehend.
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Reposted by MattBaran
Jonathan Berk 🏠 @berkie1.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
"In 2020, [Portland, OR] approved building [middle housing] on lots zoned for single family homes... A new report from the City says, it's working. 1,400 new units built in just a few years and each one is $300,000 less expensive than a typical single family home." @nbcnews.com
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Their solution was to propose upzoning for their site, a risk no real world developer would take given the uncertainty of the time frame and outcome. It was a stark reminder that even with all that’s been done to encourage housing production, there are still many cases where it just isn’t enough.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Great time at UC Berkeley MREDD final reviews yesterday. One of the most interesting presentations showed how housing in Rockridge would not pencil under current zoning regulations, even with new state law or density bonuses.
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Reposted by MattBaran
Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 28/04/2025
Read the whole thing.
What is true for the labor market holds true in the housing market. Where housing is scarce and expensive, landlords, homeowner associations, and developer cartels hold the power, and tenants and homebuyers are cast into the role of supplicants, forced to accept subpar accommodations at whatever price and in whatever neighborhood is dictated to them. But where housing is plentiful, the roles are reversed: Landlords, sellers, and incumbent developers need to compete on both price and quality. Tenant harassment becomes exceptionally bad for business, because tenants have plenty of other housing options to choose from. Wealthy homeowners are no longer able to maintain economic moats around their communities and monopolize the benefits of homeownership. The dignity, freedom, and stability that come with housing security become accessible to everyone. This is the future that YIMBYs want.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Are they subsidizing market rate developers yet?
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Which of these will most help convince developers to build in California again? A. Permit Streamlining B. Upzoning C. Single Stair Buildings D. More Bike Lanes
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
The difference between a project penciling or not comes in part through an understanding of complex local codes and local politics and using design to work within those constraints. A good reading of code paired with good design can bring down the cost per unit and relative total project cost.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Project costs have been increasing exponentially, including A&E, high city fees, and construction, along with less tangible costs such as subjective design standards and risk of NIMBYs that work to block density. These in turn cause delays that can cost LOTS of time and money.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
This is how you get elected. Promise things that sound great and people will love, like making housing cheap or free. Then enact policies that ultimately make housing more expensive. You can always blame developers later.
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
These people said I ruined their neighborhood character and ran me out of town!
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MattBaran @mattbaran.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
I’m now officially a “Palisades Fire Incident Contractor”. Not sure whether the fact I was able to obtain this permit is a sign of progress—or the fact I needed it at all a symptom of the opposite.
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