YB + ST Architects is a Santa Barbara-based, women-owned architecture firm founded by Yianna Bouyioukou and Susanne Tejada. Together, they bring more than four decades of combined experience in custom home design, construction documentation, and project management – much of it developed and deepened through their years at the internationally recognized practice of Barton Myers Associates. 

Their work focuses on custom steel and high-end residential architecture, combining a refined design sensibility with technical precision. The projects produced are architecturally distinctive, shaped by a deep understanding of climate, site, and material performance, and held to a consistently high standard of excellence, as reflected in their award-winning portfolio.

TWO PERSPECTIVES. ONE PRACTICE.

Yianna Bouyioukou joined Barton Myers’ (BMA) studio in 2003, after earning her architecture degree from Sci-Arc and her Master of Architecture from UCLA. Over the next two decades, she became a central figure in the firm’s residential practice, leading the design and construction documentation of BMA’s celebrated steel house projects across the US. Her long-standing collaboration with Barton Myers – as mentor – shaped a design approach defined by rigor, clarity, and precision: an ability to hold the big idea and the smallest detail at once. In parallel, her independent work has demonstrated a rigorous commitment to excellence, reflecting a clear and distinct architectural voice. Today, based between California and Greece, the exchange between the two cultures is intuitive – unmistakably present in her sensitivity to light, materiality, and the relationship between architecture and land.

Susanne Tejada, a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Bachelor of Architecture program and the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Architecture program, built her career working across the United States until she joined Barton Myers Associates in 2015. She has established deep roots in Santa Barbara, where she is now widely respected within the local design and building community, having led complex high-end residential projects from concept through construction completion. As former President of the AIA Santa Barbara Chapter and current President of the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara, she brings leadership and credibility within the profession, alongside years of experience collaborating closely with clients, consultants, and builders. Her strengths are both relational and methodical, reflected in comprehensive project management and a disciplined approach that keeps clients clearly informed and actively engaged throughout the process.

Yianna and Susanne first collaborated at Barton Myers Associates on a series of steel projects across the country. What began as a professional collaboration became a genuine partnership, one built on mutual respect, complementary strengths, and a shared vision for the work.

A MEDITERRANEAN SENSIBILITY. GROUNDED IN CALIFORNIA.

YB + ST’s design perspective is shaped by a rare cross-cultural fluency. Working between California and Greece – two landscapes defined by light, sea, and mountains – informs a sensibility that feels at once rooted and instinctive. Together, they recognize how Santa Barbara’s Mediterranean climate, its culture of indoor-outdoor living, and its terrain of coast and canyon resonate with Mediterranean spatial traditions. Courtyards that open to gardens, structures that extend into the landscape, and materials that age gracefully in the sun are fundamental to their shared design philosophy – architecture that belongs to its place, attentive to craft, and designed to be fully lived in and enjoyed.