Leadership
Cristin Franklin
Founder, Principal
Sridhar Yalamanchili
Studio Director
Cris Franklin has dedicated her career to creating timeless exterior spaces for unique properties. Initially focused on domestic and international hospitality projects, she expanded her expertise to residential design after a client approached her to design their estates. With her diverse background, Cris brings a unique perspective to developing beautiful residential environments.
Now focused on private estates, she possesses a deep understanding of proportion, scale, design aesthetics, environmental considerations, and the experiential and service needs crucial for any successful property. By combining the natural qualities of every site with the unique goals of each client, she continues to create exterior spaces where people thrive, relax, play, and celebrate life's big and small moments for years to come.
Cris began her career in Hawaii as the designer and project manager for various resorts in Hawaii, the South Pacific, and South East Asia. During this time she worked directly with the legendary Hideo Sasaki after being handpicked by him upon seeing her early work. She then returned home to California and cofounded InSite Landscape Architecture and Planning. During more than sixteen years of leadership at InSite, Cris directed the creation of award-winning and financially successful resort and hospitality destinations, alongside the design of many beautiful estate gardens.
After the passing of her partner, Cris founded C&C Studio, shifting her focus to creating beautiful residential estates and winery gardens. Cris has received awards and acclaim for her outstanding work in both residential and resort design from publications and organizations such as Elle Décor, Conde Nast Traveler (multiple Gold List Awards), Punch Magazine, Garden Design Magazine (featured projects and Awards), Travel & Leisure (multiple Worlds Best Hotel Awards), Hospitality Design magazine, Forbes, Town & Country Travel, Contractors Associations, and Mayor Awards, among other prestigious publications and organizations.
Her extensive portfolio includes notable land planning and resort design projects such as The Calistoga Ranch, an Auberge Resort in Calistoga, CA; Silver Oak Cellars, CA; The Peninsula Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand; Princeville Resort, HI; Mauna Lani Luxury Residences, HI; Hyatt Grand Champions Resort in Indian Wells, CA; Royal Hawaiian Country Club, HI; Thai Country Club, Bangkok, Thailand; and a number of residential estate gardens in California and abroad.
Sridhar is a Studio Director with a multidisciplinary background in landscape architecture, architecture, and interior design. His experience spans private estates and residential landscapes throughout California, as well as international hospitality, resort master planning, and commercial developments.
Early in his career, Sridhar worked as a master planner with an international architecture firm specializing in large-scale hospitality and luxury resort destinations, with projects across China, Japan, Vietnam, Russia, Europe, and Latin America. This work shaped his understanding of how landscape and architecture come together across different scales and cultural contexts. His practice later shifted toward residential landscapes in Northern California and Wine Country, deepening his focus on materiality, planting, craft, and the character of each site.
Sridhar believes the experience of home should extend naturally into the landscape. His approach connects architecture, interiors, and gardens to create spaces that invite people outdoors and closer to nature. He designs gardens that support everyday life while offering a sense of retreat and belonging, with room for both gathering and solitude.
With experience in traditional design practice and design-build, Sridhar brings an understanding of how projects move from early planning and conceptual design through documentation, permitting, and construction. He values close collaboration with clients, consultants, and builders to preserve the design vision through each stage of the project.