A 1960s condo that had stopped matching its street.
2024Urban Apartment · Santurce
06 / 09
Ciudadela
Urban Apartment · Santurce
Quiet, on one of Santurce's loudest blocks.
2024Kitchen + Living · Dorado
07 / 09
Apolo
Kitchen + Living · Dorado
The kitchen that made the house his.
2024Cabinetry Showroom
08 / 09
Wood Studio
Cabinetry Showroom
A showroom that proves local cabinetry belongs.
2023Law Office Lobby · Milla de Oro
09 / 09
Adsuar
Law Office Lobby · Milla de Oro
A lobby that earns trust at the door.
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Services
Every project needs a different level of us. We scope it first, put a clear price on it, and start there. Most people start with a call.
Services
Ways we can work together.
Four ways to work with us. Each one starts with a real look at the space and what you're deciding.
01 — 04Drag to explore
01
Full Scope
Interior Design + Documentation
For a home or interior that has to be resolved as one whole.
We set the plan, materials, millwork, lighting, furniture, and drawing package before construction begins.
Your contractor starts with decisions already made.
Scope
Planning
Layout and spatial flow
Material Direction
Finishes, lighting, furniture
Documentation
Millwork and shop drawings
Coordination
Contractor and procurement support
02
Concept Lead
Creative Direction
For projects that already have an architect and a contractor and need one clear design voice.
We keep the design together: material direction, critical decisions, and the reviews that stop a project from losing its thread.
Direction without a heavy drawing package.
Scope
Concept
Concept development and presentations
Material Direction
Palette, finishes, and material logic
Reviews
Critical design decisions
Coordination
Team and contractor alignment
03
Focused Review
Private Advisory
One session before a purchase or a renovation, to read the project and point you at the next move.
We look at the space, the constraint, and the decision in front of you. You leave with a next step.
For when the project is close, but something still does not add up.
Scope
Assessment
Pre-purchase and design audits
Spatial Read
Constraints and possibilities
Direction
Materials and furniture guidance
Decision
A clear next step
04
Renders + Presentation
Visualization
Renders and presentation for a space that has to be seen before it's built.
We make interior renders, exterior views, axonometrics, and short walkthroughs so a client or team can read what is being proposed.
It can stand on its own or sit inside a larger scope.
Scope
Interior
Photorealistic interior renders
Exterior
Exterior visualization
Drawings
Axonometric studies
Motion
Short walkthroughs and decks
How We Work
The Process
01
Conversation
We start by listening. Your space, your timeline, your life. We do not begin designing until we understand what we are designing for. Most of the important decisions happen here.
02
Concept
A clear design direction before anything is finalized. Materials, layout, atmosphere. You see it before it exists. Nothing moves forward without your approval.
03
Documentation
Every decision becomes a document. Shop drawings, specifications, schedules. Your contractor gets everything needed to build it right. There is no guessing on site.
04
Completion
Construction is where design usually gets lost. We stay on it so it doesn't.
Common Questions
Yes. We have completed projects beyond the island and are open to the right opportunity anywhere.
Most residential projects move through the design phase in 6 to 10 weeks. The timeline depends on scope and how quickly decisions get made on both sides. We keep the process moving.
Each engagement is scoped and quoted as a flat fee before any commitment, based on the spaces involved and the depth of documentation. You know the number before design begins. The $150 Discovery Call is where that scope gets defined.
No. Come as early as you like. Early is cheaper. If a team is already in place, we coordinate with them; if not, we help you sequence the right people at the right time.
Start with Private Advisory. One session gives the project a clear read and a next move. When it grows into a larger scope, that's where most full engagements begin.
Let's Talk
A clear next step begins with the space in front of you.
Homes and commercial spaces in San Juan, for people who've outgrown the ones they have.
Abel Trejo · Principal Designer
We're a San Juan studio led by Abel Trejo.
We design interiors and architecture, homes and offices, and we don't hand a project off halfway. We stay on it through the drawings the contractor builds from. Most of our work starts when someone has outgrown a space they already own.
Material worktable · Ascend Studio
The life moved forward. The space should too.
How the studio works
We see it through to the site.
The design voice, the documentation, and the people building it stay in the same conversation.
Light, material, proportion
01
Read the conditions
We begin with the space and the decision behind it.
02
Resolve the design
Plan, materials, millwork, lighting, and furniture are considered together.
03
Carry it through
The decisions become drawings and coordination the site can work from.
What guides the work
A point of view, held in the details.
We don't start from a look. We start from what's actually wrong with the space, or missing.
01
We design for the place, not a style.
Every space has conditions. The work responds to them instead of overriding them.
02
It has to be clear before it's pretty.
Function and atmosphere are resolved together, so the result works long after the first impression.
03
One person you deal with the whole way.
The client works directly with Abel from the first conversation through the decisions that reach site.
12+ completed projects · Established 2020 · San Juan, Puerto Rico · English / Spanish
Let's Talk
A clear next step begins with the space in front of you.
How Ascend Studio handles information you share through this site.
Who we are
Ascend Studio is an interior design studio based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, operated by Abel Trejo. This policy covers how we handle information you share with us through this website.
If you have questions about this policy, reach us through the contact form on this site.
What we collect
When you fill out the contact form, we collect your name, email address, phone number, and project type. We don't collect payment data. We don't create user accounts. We don't track your activity on other websites.
We don't use third-party analytics services or advertising pixels on this site.
How we use it
We use your information to respond to your inquiry. If your project is a fit, we follow up to start the conversation.
We don't sell your information. We don't share it with marketers. We don't add you to mailing lists without asking.
Data storage and security
Form submissions are stored through the service that handles this site's contact form. We keep your information for as long as it's relevant to your project inquiry and delete it when the conversation is complete.
We take reasonable precautions to protect what you share with us, but no internet transmission is fully secure. If you have concerns, reach out before submitting.
Cookies
This site uses functional cookies to keep it running properly. We don't use advertising cookies, retargeting pixels, or analytics services that profile your browsing behavior.
If you disable cookies in your browser, the site still works.
Your rights
You can ask us to show you what information we hold about you, correct anything inaccurate, or delete it entirely. Send your request through the contact form and we'll respond within 30 days.
If you're in the European Union, GDPR applies to you. If you're in California, the CCPA applies. Both give you the right to access, correct, and delete your personal data.
Contact
Questions about this policy? Use the contact form on this site. We'll respond as quickly as we can.
Last updated: June 2025
Ashford
02Residential Interior
Ashford
An interior that stands beside the bay.
The apartment already had the water and the whole curve of Condado in the windows. Most interiors would get out of the way. We gave this one weight: a matte-black kitchen against the glare, pale stone to open it up, dark private rooms in walnut and slate. The closet lights up as you walk in.
01
Year
2024
02
Location
Condado, PR
03
Program
Kitchen + Private Rooms
04
With
Wood Studio
In the morning it's all glass and bay. At night the dark wood takes over.
Make the view earn its keep
An apartment that should live up to its view is exactly our kind of project. Tell us about it.
Next Project
Finca Elena
→
Apolo
05Residential Interior
Apolo
The kitchen that made the house his.
He'd had the Dorado house for a while; it just never felt worked on. We started where a house changes tone, the kitchen: a grey stone island with a waterfall edge, warm wood under it, open to the living room. Enough to reset the whole floor.
01
Year
2024
02
Location
Dorado, PR
03
Program
Kitchen + Living
04
With
Wood Studio
Everything in the room lines up to the island.
Start with the kitchen
One room can reset how a whole house feels. Send us yours.
Next Project
Ciudadela
→
Shoreline
01Coastal Residence
Shoreline
A house that steps down to the Atlantic.
The most complete thing we've done: site, building, landscape, interior. It sits on the Atlantic past the Aguada resorts. We built for shelter first and let the view come second. Three terraces step down to the water. Inside, wood and stone hold the warmth against all that glass.
01
Year
2024
02
Location
Aguada, PR
03
Program
Full Residence
04
With
Wood Studio
The overhangs come first here. The view is the easy part.
A house by the water
Building on the coast is mostly about the site. Bring us yours early and we'll start there.
Next Project
Ashford
→
Ocean Park
07Facade Renewal
Ocean Park
A 1960s condo that had stopped matching its street.
A condominium in Ocean Park, a block from the beach. The building had aged, and the balconies sat open to the street. We rebuilt the facade around wood-slat screens that give the balconies shade and keep the street from looking straight in. Behind them, a plain white wall; down at the sidewalk, the building's old breeze-block. We did this one with Iván Valle: the renders they approved it from, and every drawing the crew needs to build it.
01
Year
2026
02
Location
Ocean Park, San Juan
03
Program
Facade + Documentation
04
With
Iván Valle
Most of the block is low houses and short walks to the sand. The building had stopped fitting in.
A building that's aged out
When a facade stops matching its address, that's where we come in. Send it over.
Next Project
Wood Studio
→
Wood Studio
07Commercial Interior
Wood Studio
A showroom that proves local cabinetry belongs.
Wood Studio makes cabinetry here in Puerto Rico and wanted to be judged next to the imported names. So the showroom had to do the arguing: kitchen vignettes, a wall of materials, and room to sit and spec a project, all under real light where you can see the joinery up close. Walk in and the level settles it before anyone talks.
01
Year
2024
02
Location
Puerto Rico
03
Program
Commercial Showroom
04
With
Wood Studio
Up close, under real light, is where doubt shows up. So that's where we put everything.
Let the space make the argument
When clients judge the work the moment they walk in, we build for that. Let's talk.
Next Project
Adsuar
→
Adsuar
08Commercial Interior
Adsuar
A lobby that earns trust at the door.
Adsuar Muñiz works from one of the most serious addresses in Puerto Rico. The lobby had to carry that. We anchored it on a dark stone wall and a reception desk that means it, then kept the rest warm enough that it doesn't feel like a bank.
01
Year
2023
02
Location
San Juan, PR
03
Program
Law Office
04
With
A Interiors (Adela Rivera)
These people have been here a long time, and intend to stay.
Before anyone sits down
The lobby is where a client reads your firm before the meeting starts. Let's make it count.
Next Project
Shoreline
→
Lajas
04Residential Interior
Lajas
A campo house built around the kitchen table.
A Puerto Rican engineer built this as the house to keep coming back to. It turns on one long island-table, so the kitchen never sits off to the side. The rest stays plain, built for campo heat and the breeze.
01
Year
2024
02
Location
Lajas, PR
03
Program
Full Residence
04
With
Wood Studio
Whoever is at the stove is already in the conversation.
A place to come back to
Tell us what you're picturing out in the campo, and we'll help you build it.
Next Project
Apolo
→
Finca Elena
03Residential Interior
Finca Elena
A house that feels earned.
The house was already standing. The remodel went to the kitchen, the bar, and the closet, the rooms in use before anyone else is up. Everywhere else the palette stays quiet. The attention lands here instead, down to a closet laid out around what actually hangs in it.
01
Year
2024
02
Location
Puerto Rico
03
Program
Kitchen + Bar + Closet
04
With
Fokali
Three rooms changed. The whole house feels different.
Make it feel like yours
Tell us which rooms matter and we'll take it from there.
Next Project
Lajas
→
Ciudadela
06Residential Interior
Ciudadela
Quiet, on one of Santurce's loudest blocks.
Ciudadela drops you in the middle of everything, walkable and loud. Inside, we kept it calm: oak, low even light, and a terrace with a sunken jacuzzi you won't want to leave on a Friday. The city's right there when you want it.
01
Year
2024
02
Location
Santurce, PR
03
Program
Full Apartment
04
With
ReForma (Ivan Valle)
In a district built around going out, the best amenity is a reason not to.
Calm in the middle of the city
Quiet inside a loud block is harder than it sounds. Tell us about the apartment.
Next Project
Ocean Park
→
Ascend Studio
Discovery Call
30 min·Video call
A brief call to understand your project before we discuss next steps.
$150Discovery Call · 30 min
Available Times (AST)
Discovery Call — 30 min
$150
Fee
Select a date & time
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Booking Confirmed
Your Discovery Call is scheduled. We will follow up with a video call link within 24 hours.
Ascend Studio
Start with the space.
Send the scope, the address, or the decision in front of you. We will respond with the next step.
