NEWS

Avalon Ocean Avenue

Exciting, enticing: housing that fits in
By John King, San Francisco Chronicle

February 16, 2013

"Infill housing" is one of those phrases that planning geeks love, shorthand for any residential development that doesn't include cul de sacs on land where crops were farmed last year. Read More

A special shout out to our Ocean Avenue Project Team: Peter Waller, Marcial Chao, John Thompson, and Matt Bokar

Michael Pyatok, FAIA
2013 AIA Thomas Jefferson Award Recipient

December 14, 2012

This year's Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture honors Michael Pyatok, FAIA, an architect who has dedicated his career to the theory and practice of public housing design. Pyatok and the other 2013 Thomas Jefferson Award recipient are celebrated for demonstrating a commitment to quality design that recognizes public buildings as an integral part of the nation's cultural heritage.

Read More Here

Revitize or Fossilize:
Pyatok Architect's Story of Moving Away from Extinction with Revit

July 17, 2012
11:30AM - 1:00PM

Join us at the AIA East Bay
1405 Clay Street
Oakland, CA

Register Today

Devine Legacy Affordable Housing
PCBC Gold Nugget Awards
2012 Grand Awards Winner

June 28, 2012

Devine Legacy is a 65-unit mixed income development located on Central Avenue, along the north-south light rail line of central Phoenix. Developed by Native American Connections, a non-profit corporation it contains townhomes, lofts and flats with 80% affordable 20% market-rate. Targeting LEED Platinum.

PCBC Gold Nugget Awards

Revitize or Fossilize:
Pyatok Architect's Story of Moving Away from Extinction with Revit

July 11, 2012
11:30AM - 1:00PM

Join us at the AIA San Francisco
130 Sutter Street, Suite 600
San Francisco, CA

Register Today

Live-Work Housing That's More Livable
and Workable

November 2011

Mike Pyatok recently spoke with Builder about what needs to happen next---and how developers, architects, buildings and property managers can change the rules.

By Amy Albert
BUILDER

The Summits at UC Merced recieved
an AIA Design Excellence Award
from the AIA Sierra Valley Chapter

September 2011

In August 2010, new students entering UC Merced were greeted by a new residence hall designed by Pyatok Architects. The Summits housing complex welcomed 360 first year students into 155 bedrooms (mostly double, with quad, triple, and singles) in two four-story buildings on a prominent site near the west entrance of the emerging campus. Fast-tracked with five bid releases, the project was designed and built in 27 months.

  • AIA Sierra Valley Design Awards Program here

Mike Pyatok - Speaker
Cozy and Busy: Social Housing for the 21st Century

2011 NAHRO Conference, St. Lious, MO
October 2011

New communities for lower income households have two high priorities: lower the cost of living while increasing incomes. Costs can be lowered by living more sustainably in more cozy or compact developments that reduce dependence on autos, lower energy and water consumption, grow food locally. Incomes can grow by nurturing more home-based entrepreneurial activity to counteract the loss of jobs resulting from the trend of abandonment of US labor and consumer markets by investors favoring overseas markets. Housing design case studies are shown which demonstrate what can be done to reduce the cost of living for lower income households at the same time providing support home-based businesses.

Mike Pyatok - Speaker
Self-Help vs Mixed Income: A Case for Separate but Equal

Taipei International Social Housing Conference
October 2011

Contemporary housing reformers believe that lower income, public housing communities are inherently 'pathological' and must be either dispersed or gentrified by adding a mix of moderate and middle income households. Efforts to mix incomes result in homogenized communities where lower income households have less power because they are fewer in numbers, and their culture is suppressed within environments designed to satisfy the diluted tastes and preferences of the dominant culture. A series of housing design case studies will be presented.

Mike Pyatok - Keynote Speaker
Equitable, Sustainable, Affordable: Communities of the 21st Century

Washington State Affordable Housing Conference
September 2011

The gap between the rich and poor continues to grow in the US, at its worst in 4 decades. Housing subsidies for lower income renters is a fraction of the federal housing subsidies given to higher income homeowners, so the output of the affordable housing industry is a mere drop inthe bucket compared to the need. In such times, the best we can do is use our developments not only to serve the needs of the lucky few who get to live in them, but to design them so they are models for what could be for everyone if the nation's priorities were ever to change.

  • Washington State Affordable Housing Conference here

Cal Poly Wins BofA Low Income Housing Challenge

May 2011

Congrats to Cal Poly for winning the 19th Annual Bank of America Low Income Housing Challenge last week! Pyatokian Adrianne Steichen joined four other judges to review proposals and pick the winner. The Cal Poly team proposed an 135-unit affordable family housing community. "I was really impressed with the way they engaged the community in the process, " said Adrianne. (More...)

  • Cal Poly proposal here

Peter Waller, Erick Mikiten, and Rick Williams Present "A Virtual Tour of Affordable Housing"

May 2011

Architects Peter Waller, Erick Mikiten, and Rick Williams presented "A Virtual Tour of Affordable Housing" on May 12 in Concord, CA. The program addressed Concord's projected growth (19,000 households) and the need for safe, high quality, affordable homes. The event was part of EBHO's 15th Annual Affordable Housing Week.

Mike Pyatok Leads High-Density Design Discussion

April 2011

Mike Pyatok joined architect Steve Rajninger, Mary Hennesey from EBALDC, and a property manager from Mercy Housing to discuss strategies for creating higher density housing for families that is both affordable and liveable - a key goal in this economic climate. This panel was one of many at Housing California's 2011 conference in Sacramento, CA.

Will the Living Building Challenge Work?

April 2011

Stimulating greenbag conversation in-house today about the Living Building Challenge. The LBC describes itself as "a philosophy, an advocacy platform, a certification program, an evocative guide, a beacon, and a visionary path to a restorative future." The voices around Pyatok's lunch table were supportive but critical. "Seems too subjective." "Closed-door process." "Arbitrary." To some extent , the LBC seems like blue sky thinking that has a ways to go to prove itself to this crowd as something truly relevant to building and development. Stay tuned...

Waterman Gardens Master Plan Ready To Go

April 2011

Mike Pyatok and Marcial Chao will present the Waterman Gardens Master Plan to the San Bernadino County Board of Supervisors. After a 6-month community design process to redesign the 1943 public housing development, Pyatok Architects has prepared a plan that doubles the housing, maximizes open space, adds a full service community and rec center, and integrates Waterman Gardens into the surrounding communities.

Uptown District Recognized for Redevelopment

March 2011

Oakland's Uptown district, which includes Pyatok's Fox Courts, will receive an Award of Excellence at the California Redevelopment Association conference tomorrow (3/31) in San Jose. The award recognizes the revitalization of the historic Fox Theater and new market-rate and affordable housing. Congrats to all the devs, including our partner, Resources for Community Development!

SPUR Panel Addresses Need for Student Housing in San Francisco

March 2011

What are the keys to designing great infill student housing? Pyatokian Curtis Caton will join Tim Stephens (Sasaki), Bert Gregory (Mithun), and Jennifer Devlin and Chuck Davis (EHDD) for an "Infill Student Housing Panel" at SPUR on March 21. This is the 2nd of a two-part series on the much-needed development of student housing in San Francisco.

New Staff at Pyatok Get Revitized

Feb 2011

\re-vi-ti-zing\ v. - 1) using building information modeling software to design housing; 2) training others to Revitize; 3) learning Revit families, objects, and extruding. Pyatok used all three definitions last week as its senior staff trained the newbies how to "build the building before you build the building."

Examples: Ocean Avenue – Harrison Street Senior – Tree House

Fox Courts Featured in Green Building + Design

December 2010

"Architecture is not an art that can exist in a cocoon, independent from the social order or the urgent conditions of the planet." It is with this consciousness that Pyatok Architects took on the Fox Courts development in Uptown Oakland (recently featured in Green Building + Design Magazine Nov 2010 and are working on Waterman Gardens in San Bernadino, CA