Born and raised in Los Angeles, Cynthia Salah Kraus appreciates and is passionately attuned to the California residential architecture she has always known. She holds her architecture degree from the University of Southern California and is currently completing her lighting design certificate at Otis College. She is a licensed architect in the state of California and is an accredited professional with the US Green Building Council for twenty years.

OPENHAUS was founded in 2013 by Cynthia Kraus and colleague Claudia Wiehen.