In recent years, Pyatok Architects has developed award-winning affordable, market rate, and student housing; multi-use facilities;

preservation projects; and TODs.

International Impact
Social justice means designing for the most vulnerable, with respect and skill.

Cozy Communities
Affordable housing has led the way to promote high-density communities.

People Designing Places

When local residents participate in the process, the results reect local values.

Going Green
Smart building envelopes and a weighted matrix promote sustainability.

CHANGE BY DESIGN
P YATOK A RC H I T EC TS ::: SP R I NG 2 0 0 8
MORE THAN 35 YEARS have passed since the rst Earth
Day. As young designers of that era, we thought our warnings about the environment and our ideas for change would reach mainstream America quickly, but we were wrong. We can only hope now that changes in attitude and behavior will be comprehensive, and not just narrow, technological xes. Change is the slogan of the current presidential campaigns, but the environmental movement knows how long attitudes and policies take to really change. Lest we forget, global warming is as much the result of peo-

International Impact
In 2007 the U.N. reported that more than three billion people live on less than two dollars a day. While the majority of Pyatok Architects work is in the western US, the rms commitment to high quality, sustainable, culturally- and climatically-sensitive designs that serve the working poor and those in extreme poverty has attracted the attention of developers and governments in the Philipines, Malaysia, Russia, and Dubai. The rm is committed to social justice, recognizing that the most vulnerable suffer under the strains of a warming planet and a cold, global economy.

ple exploiting people as it is of exploiting resources. Thoughtless consumption by the Golden Billion has long created desperation among the other ve billion. Poverty in America continues to grow; the average CEO earns 300 times what the average worker earns; 15% of Americans own 85% of the wealth; and once again, the global economy is in chaos because of the greed of a few on Wall Street who this time exploited the housing dreams of modest Americans. These same American workers are inextricably linked to the global workforce, for if workers in the Philippines arent paid livable wages, dont get health care and decent housing, then US workers have a harder time getting these, for capital seems always ready to chase after cheaper labor.

Cozy Communities
With global warming now a fact, North Americans are slowly agreeing to cozy up to each other in sustainable, compact communities. For more than 20 years, Pyatok Architects work has been used across the US, Canada, and Mexico to change public opinion about affordable housing and the value of high-density living demonstrating the ways this work can be a model of sensible living for all people. In 2007 alone, the rm was invited to present more than 50 times in 35 cities. A broad cultural change is in the air and Pyatok, together with their nonprot clients, are leading the way.

SO WHAT CAN ARCHITECTS DO in this global web

of interdependence and injustice? In our modest way, we can work with clients who develop affordable, sustainable communities in the US and abroad. But we need to understand that until policies and funding priorities change, we will not make substantial change. The most we can expect is that our talents will create environments that consume less and inspire others to view them as successful models. As poets, we can present models of what the world could be like, helping others imagine a better future. After all, imagination and

People Designing Places

Continuing its history of incorporating lay people in the design process, Pyatok Architects worked with neighbors and residents of Nystrom Village last year to transform a 1940s public housing project in Richmond, CA into an affordable neighborhood with 400 rental and ownership opportunities. Pyatok Architects, with the California Local Government Commission, also helped residents of Salinas, CA resolve issues resulting from years of disinvestment in their local Chinatown, once made famous by writer John Steinbeck. A 7-day charette produced a plan that preserved the areas history while adding housing, retail, and ofce space.

hope are the foundations for long-term change. While Pyatok Architects is best known for its work in the greater Bay Area, we are working in neighboring states and Hawaii, and in several developing countries. We have designed and proudly watched the development of more than 35,000 units of affordable housing. Individually and collectively, staff has advocated for housing reform, volunteered on community boards, and renovated deteriorated homes. We donate a sizable percentage of our modest prots to the nonprot developers and housing advocacy organizations. We promote the incorporation of locally created art into our projects. And, we continue to do what we can to lighten the carbon footprint of our ofce and of the buildings we design. It has taken all these years for warnings about the environment and youthful optimism about alternative lifestyles aided by new technologies to reach the mainstream. Now we need to ensure the changes will be comprehensive. Photovoltaic cells, green roofs, and sustainable fads applied to buildings will not produce real change unless economic and social equity are also our goals.

Going Green
Since its founding, Pyatok Architects has practiced sustainable design through the promotion, design, and development of high-density, urban inll communities. By designing in ways that discourage reliance on automobiles, by creating smart building envelopes that maximize natural light and ventilation, and by using green materials, the rms work emphasizes the usefulness of inll locations. Recently staff at Pyatok Architects developed a weighted sustainable measures matrix, focused on affordable housing, helping developers to set early goals for sustainability.

Recent projects are located in communities throughout the Bay Area, Southern CA, the Central Valley; Washington, Arizona, Hawaii; the Philipines and Malaysia.

Some Recent Awards NAHRO Award

Lion Creek Crossing Master Plan, Mixed Use 415 units

Samples on the Boards Palamanui

Kona, HI Market Rate and Affordable Housing, 200 units

Two of Many in Construction Seven Directions

Oakland, CA Affordable Family Housing and Health Clinic, 36 units

CA Preservation Foundation
Altenheim Senior Housing 93 units (rehabilitation) PYATOK ARCHITECTS

Wood Street
Multifamily Market Rate Housing 301 units P. 510.465.7010

Orchards on Foothill
Senior Housing 65 units

1611 Telegraph Avenue Suite 200, Oakland, CA 94612

F. 510.465.8575