About SKA
Our philosophy is simple: always design with the client’s vision in mind. We believe good design must be responsible and responsive to bring harmony to function, budget, and schedule. We have built our practice and our designs around helping our clients achieve their objectives and our mutual desire to enhance the greater community in which we live.
Our office is located on the corner of 10th Street and Clay Street in Downtown Oakland. Shop owners, cigar manufacturers, auctioneers, and even Levi Strauss Company have all called The Clay Building home. In the office, whenever a door closes on its own or a noise comes from upstairs, we joke that a ghost haunts this building. Of course, the interior is too nice for anyone to actually believe it.
On November 20, 1978, The Clay Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places because of its architectural, commercial, and ethnic significance. We lovingly add to this building’s story every day.
Global warming has caused increased temperatures, and blacktops used on school campuses only make these campuses hotter. Swapping asphalt out for trees is one way to combat this problem. We are currently working on OUSD’s Living Schoolyards project that will reduce the heat island effect, create opportunities for outdoor learning, and provide natural beauty at schools.
Youngchae Lee, Pine House Edible Gardens, and Siegfried Engineering make an incredible team.
It’s back-to-school season, and with the start of a new school year comes the end of an amazing summer. This month we said goodbye to our OUSD Intern, Itzel Pena. Thank you for spending your summer with SKA!
Some notes from Itzel: “My experience here at Shah Kawasaki went really great, I got to learn how to manage many architectural softwares such as Sketchup and Enscape that I had never used before. With the help of my supervisor Youngchae and other people at the office I got to learn and experience how renderings are brought to the next level for marketing usage. Being a part of this internship allowed me to see myself as a future architect pursuing this career path.”
Congratulations to Youngchae Lee on becoming a Principal at Shah Kawasaki Architects in January 2024. Take a look at her People on the Move listing in the San Francisco Business Times!
SKA team members recently went on a site visit to our new project, the Santa Cruz County Sanitation District Operations Building at D.A. Porath Facility on January 25th, 2024. Team members reviewed the Shop and Water Lab equipment and requirements.
Pictured here is Principal Philip Luo.
Principal Philip Luo, Senior Associate Charlene Arias, and Designer Carlo Padilla attend the Grand Opening of our project, the Los Banos Police Station, on November 3rd, 2023.
To celebrate $9.25m that was invested into our project, the Lincoln Recreation Center in Oakland, Principal, Alan Kawasaki, and Principal, Youngchae Lee, attended a celebratory event hosted by the Friends of Lincoln Square Park. The event was held on Thursday, November 2, 2023.
On October 5th, 2023, SKA team members went on a site visit to our Oakland Unified School District Cole Administration Center project.