Built on Trust
FORMA Construction has become a trusted builder for architects, designers and design-forward clients across San Francisco and beyond.
Unlike most builders, Victor Mezhvinsky came to the industry via his fascination with design. Obsessed with the homes he pored over in A&D magazines, Mezhvinsky founded FORMA Construction in San Francisco in 2008 with a desire to “work with the architects and designers whose projects I had been lusting over in publications”. Since then, the company has grown into one of the Bay Area’s most respected residential builders, completing 100-plus projects across more than 20 ZIP codes to bring ambitious, architecture-led homes into built form.
For Mezhvinsky, the measure of success has always been relational as much as architectural, with FORMA positioned not only as a contractor but as a creative and technical partner embedded in the design process. Collaborating with practices including Studio VARA, Butler Armsden Architects, and Marmol Radziner, the company has built its reputation on an ability to protect design intent while navigating the practical realities of complex construction.
Centrally, Mezhvinsky has built a culture at FORMA based on a distinctive management philosophy centred about peer accountability: “Disappointing each other is what our employees fear most,” he has said. It’s an ethos that is deeply respected by architects, one that translates to incomparable commitment to their design visions, no matter how complex.
That commitment is evident in the firm’s willingness to engage with difficult sites, detailed material assemblies and unexpected conditions. From shou sugi ban cypress cladding, in-house fabricated staircases and board-formed concrete chimneys to motorized retractable skylights and zero-lot-line excavations, FORMA’s work is shaped by both precision and adaptability. “What defines a great team is getting excited by the challenge – not looking at it as, ‘How are we going to do this?’ but, instead, as, ‘I can’t wait to see how we solve this.’”
One project exemplifies this approach. The Pre-War Penthouse is a 464-square-metre, full-floor penthouse in a 1926 Samuel Lightner Hyman-designed building in San Francisco. FORMA partnered with architect Sean Bailey Design and interiors studio Peruri Design Company to completely reimagine the heritage space, retaining period features such as Palladian windows and friezes while adapting it to contemporary living. It presented myriad challenges for Mezhvinsky and his team: with no elevator access, more than 300 tonnes were craned in and out of the penthouse through a 1.5- by 1-metre window.
Behind FORMA’s capability is an operational culture built around technology, training and accountability. Early adoption of construction management and accounting systems has allowed the company to provide clarity around budgets, schedules and decision-making. Equally important is its internal continuing education program – internally referred to as FORMA University – in which senior staff members transfer knowledge to the next generation. “This underlines our commitment to long-term thinking, not just project-to-project execution.”
For Mezhvinsky, the goal is not scale for its own sake, but respect. “We want to be the most well-respected partner for highly complex and detailed residential construction projects. Not necessarily the biggest, but the most well-respected.” There is also something deeply personal about his work: raised in San Francisco to Russian émigré parents, Mezhvinsky feels a strong affinity to his fellow San Franciscans, and is committed to delivering residences where homeowners will thrive. It is a sentiment that speaks to the essence of FORMA: a founder-led builder defined by care, craft and the enduring value of trust.
