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.
Last week SKA celebrated SKA Founding Principal Alan Kawasaki’s birthday with a delicious lunch at T’Chaka. Happy Birthday Alan!
SKA is committed to bringing community voices to life, and the community wants Living Schoolyards. A survey at Manzanita Elementary School showed a strong desire to integrate nature into the school environment by adding elements such as trees, landscaped plants, outdoor classrooms, and natural play areas. We’ve been working with Pine House Edible Gardens and Siegfried Engineering to transform Manzanita Elementary School and match this vision of the campus. Take a look at our progress!
Alan Kawasaki led a tour of San Francisco Fire Station 35 as part of AIA SF’s annual Festival for Arch + Design! Tour attendees participated in discussions between Alan and SF firefighters about the challenges of this project and design solutions. The tour also highlighted the historic Mediterranean style station that connects to the new Fire Station 35 and showcased the building’s incredible views. A huge thanks to the team at Fire Station 35 for opening your doors to the public!
Construction of San Jose Station 8 is underway, and we’re excited to share how everything is progressing. San Jose Station 8 compliments nearby civic & public buildings with its bold colors and dynamic massing. The station is sure to come to life when the firefighters move in and can be seen from the street using the fire pole or engine and when the 3D mural is installed. Check out the ‘Projects’ page to learn more!
Friends of Lincoln Square Park showcased designs for the new Lincoln Recreation Center at this year’s Easter Pancake Breakfast. This event, hosted by Wa Sung Community Service Club, brought incredible performances, activities, and food to the community. Be sure to check out this wonderful event next year if you missed it, and we hope you’re excited for the Lincoln Recreation Center!
Principal Architect, Youngchae Lee, reflects on her collaboration with the Oakland Chinatown community on the new Lincoln Square Recreation Center. Check out this article by Friends of Lincoln Square Park for the behind-the scenes story. Turning a community vision into reality is anything but an easy task.
San Carlos Fire Station No. 16 is officially complete, and SKA celebrated at the grand opening on November 12, 2024! There’s nothing like watching a ribbon cutting ceremony, but hearing from the fire chief about how satisfied his team was was what made all our hard work worth it.
Fire Station No. 16 replaces a 1960’s era back-in fire station with a new, two-story, drive-thru station. In order to accomplish this on the existing site, the floor plans are extremely functional and efficient. The lower floor includes two apparatus bays, apparatus support and an exercise room. The upper floor contains the living quarters and offices.
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.