Santa Rosa, Calif., Aug. 11, 2021 – Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA), a leading planning and design firm serving Northern California’s education industry, is celebrating its 35th anniversary.
Headquartered in Santa Rosa and operating a second office in Oakland, the 68-person firm has made a commitment to reviewing and improving its social justice and equity policies and practices through participation in the International Living Future Institute’s (ILFI) JUST 2.0 Program.
Last year, QKA employees founded the firm's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council to spearhead social justice initiatives within the firm, including submission for its JUST 2.0 label.
WHAT THE JUST LABEL MEANS TO QKA
ILFI’s JUST Program is a voluntary disclosure tool for all organizations seeking to become just and equitable. Different than a traditional verification or certification program, JUST provides a transparency platform where policy statements on a number of human resource and community stewardship practices are disclosed.
An organization’s resulting JUST “nutrition label” is outlined by 22 specific social and equity indicators that are housed within six general categories: diversity + inclusion, equity, employee health, employee benefit, stewardship and purchasing.
Throughout the JUST submission process, QKA’s DEI Council worked to revise and add many firm policies to ensure all are equitable and inclusive. In addition, the Council is currently developing a strategic plan for more inclusive hiring practices, working to set up community outreach to schools to expose underrepresented students to careers in architecture, and has focused on firmwide trainings on topics including diversity and allyship.
“Participating in ILFI’s JUST Program has allowed us to take a truthful and transparent look at how we can best support our employees, clients and community and also do our part to create social change in the industry,” said QKA Principal Aaron Jobson, AIA, ALEP. “We certainly recognize there are areas in which we can greatly improve, as well as those we have already made significant strides in, and we have made a commitment to dedicating time and resources in pursuit of social justice and equity in all facets of our operation. As we celebrate 35 years, we know that success in this endeavor is synonymous to the future success of QKA.”
PASSION FOR DESIGNING EDUCATION FACILITIES
QKA’s 35-year history has been marked by a passion for designing superior education spaces. The firm has continually been at the forefront of embracing innovations in design and sustainability, including modern learning environments that adapt to different styles of learning and teaching. Its robust portfolio of award-winning projects include the highly sustainable Americ
In 2015, QKA co-developed its own school building alternative, Folia. Folia’s pre-engineered buildings are durable, high-quality and flexible, while providing the cost and schedule efficiencies of modular construction. To date, 11 Folia-based buildings have been completed and seven more are currently in the design phase, ultimately saving several Bay Area school districts up to a year per project and millions of dollars.
“QKA has truly always been focused on people, collaboration, and innovation, and delivering great work,” said QKA Founding Principal Mark Quattrocchi, FAIA. “My partner Steve Kwok and I have long believed that investing in our staff and the culture here will result in partnerships and projects that we can be immensely proud of. This could not be truer today as we look to the future, continuing to grow, improve and learn. I am in awe of QKA’s next generation of leaders as they take us down this path, including the work to obtain and respond to our JUST 2.0 label.”
At the outset of 2020, the firm became majority employee-owned through the adoption of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
Fremont High School, Oakland, Calif., is a recent example of Quattrocchi Kwok's K-12 portfolio. Photo: Tim Maloney
RECENT QKA WORK: FREMONT HIGH SCHOOL, OAKLAND
QKA and LCA Architects recently completed for Fremont High School in the Oakland Unified School District.
The project has reinvigorated a campus that serves 1,200 students, including a new parking lot and administration entrance; a new modular 12-classroom building; modernization of an existing classroom building providing specialty CTE classrooms for Digital Media (including Audio/Video Recording Studio) and Architecture and Engineering (drafting lab and maker space), as well as upgrades to general classrooms and science labs; a new gym, wellness center, and a stadium.
New construction totaled 45,000 sf; the modernization portion totaled 40,000 sf.
The Digital Media studio at Fremont HS provides career training. Photo: Tim Maloney
ABOUT QUATTROCCHI KWOK ARCHITECTS
QKA provides comprehensive master planning and design services for K-12 and higher education, historic renovation and community facilities in Northern California. With more than $2.5 billion in projects completed in its 35-year history, QKA’s award-winning portfolio reflects a commitment to design that emphasizes environmental sustainability and community impact. Building Design + Construction has recognized QKA as one of the nation’s top K-12 and BIM (building information modeling) architecture firms. Engineering News-Record has called it one of America’s top design firms. Majority employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), QKA continually lands on the North Bay Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” list. Visit qka.com to learn more.
Related Stories
| Mar 16, 2011
AIA offers assistance to Japan's Architects, U.S. agencies coordinating disaster relief
“Our hearts go out to the people of Japan as a result of this horrific earthquake and tsunami,” said Clark Manus, FAIA, 2011 President of the AIA. “We are in contact with our colleagues at AIA Japan and the Japan Institute of Architects to offer not only our condolences but our profession's technical and professional expertise when the initiative begins focusing on rebuilding."
| Mar 16, 2011
Are you working on a fantastic residence hall project? Want to tell us about it?
The feature story for the May 2011 issue of Building Design+Construction will focus on new trends in university residence hall design and construction, and we’re looking for great projects to report on and experts to interview. Projects can involve new construction or remodeling/reconstruction work, and can be recently completed, currently under construction, or still on the boards.
| Mar 16, 2011
Foster + Partners to design carbon-neutral urban park for West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong
Foster + Partners has been selected by the board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority to design a massive 56-acre urban park on a reclaimed harbor-front site in Hong Kong. Designed as a carbon-neutral development, “City Park” will seamlessly blend into existing streets while creating large expanses of green space and seventeen new cultural venues.
| Mar 15, 2011
What Starbucks taught us about redesigning college campuses
Equating education with a cup of coffee might seem like a stretch, but your choice of college, much like your choice of coffee, says something about the ability of a brand to transform your day. When Perkins + Will was offered the chance to help re-think the learning spaces of Miami Dade College, we started by thinking about how our choice of morning coffee has changed over the years, and how we could apply those lessons to education.
| Mar 15, 2011
What will the architecture profession look like in 2025?
The global economy and the economic recession have greatly affected architecture firms' business practices. A Building Futures survey from the Royal Institute of British Architects looks at how these factors will have transformed the profession and offers a glimpse of future trends. Among the survey's suggestions: not only will architecture firms have to focus on a financial and business approach rather than predominantly design-led offices, but also company names are predicted to drop ‘architect’ altogether.
| Mar 15, 2011
Passive Strategies for Building Healthy Schools, An AIA/CES Discovery Course
With the downturn in the economy and the crash in residential property values, school districts across the country that depend primarily on property tax revenue are struggling to make ends meet, while fulfilling the demand for classrooms and other facilities.
| Mar 14, 2011
Renowned sustainable architect Charles D. Knight to lead Cannon Design’s Phoenix office
Cannon Design is pleased to announce that Charles D. Knight, AIA, CID, LEED AP, has joined the firm as principal. Knight will serve as the leader of the Phoenix office with a focus on advancing the firm’s healthcare practice. Knight brings over 25 years of experience and is an internationally recognized architect who has won numerous awards for his unique contributions to the sustainable and humanistic design of healthcare facilities.
| Mar 11, 2011
University of Oregon scores with new $227 million basketball arena
The University of Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena opened January 13 with a men’s basketball game against USC where the Ducks beat the Trojans, 68-62. The $227 million arena, which replaces the school’s 84-year-old McArthur Court, has a seating bowl pitched at 36 degrees to replicate the close-to-the-action feel of the smaller arena it replaced, although this new one accommodates 12,364 fans.
| Mar 11, 2011
Temporary modular building at Harvard targets sustainability
Anderson Anderson Architecture of San Francisco designed the Harvard Yard childcare facility, a modular building manufactured by Triumph Modular of Littleton, Mass., that was installed at Harvard University. The 5,700-sf facility will remain on the university’s Cambridge, Mass., campus for 18 months while the Harvard Yard Child Care Center and the Oxford Street Daycare Coop are being renovated.
| Mar 11, 2011
Holiday Inn reworked for Downtown Disney Resort
The Orlando, Fla., office of VOA Associates completed a comprehensive interior and exterior renovation of the 14-story Holiday Inn in the Downtown Disney Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The $25 million project involved rehabbing the hotel’s 332 guest rooms, atrium, swimming pool, restaurant, fitness center, and administrative spaces.
