Our Approach

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Curious by nature, collaborative at heart, and committed to co-creating boldly good spaces with our clients and communities.

/ Pushing the Boundaries of Traditional Practice

As a 100% women-owned virtual practice, we’re known for doing things differently than your typical architecture firm.

We are a diverse and intentional group with a desire to create enduring, high-performance, living-centered environments.

Identified by our peers as a uniquely feminist practice, we are inclusive, curious, compassionate, and adaptable activists and designers.

Project Highlight: Grace Village

/ Innovation Driven by Curiosity

Our human-centered design approach is rooted in research and driven by the real needs and experiences of the communities to serve.

Each team member actively engages with emerging bodies of research and best practices to inform our work. Our Specialties range from building science and sustainability, to equitable and livable communities.

We don’t know it all and we don’t pretend to. So we engage in outside expertise to best inform each project’s unique challenge — from disability-forward design led by The Kelsey, to aging-in-place strategies from the Lifelong Homes Initiative, to trauma-informed design in partnership with Shopworks Architects and Dr Christina Bollo.

Project Highlight: Solaire Apartments

/ Equitable, Diverse, Inclusive Processes

Everyone has a place. Everyone has a voice.

Through Engage FORA, our community engagement branch, we elevate community values, identity, and priorities at every step from inception through occupancy.

Our tailored toolkit fosters inclusive participation—meeting people where they are, in the languages they speak, and in ways that reflect their cultural values. By identifying community -rooted values and building trust, we ensure each project celebrates the diverse voices of it’s community and is grounded in context.

Project Highlight: Mitchell Park Place

/ Compassionate, Transparent, and Fun

Our clients and our partners and love working with us.

As experts in affordable housing design, we bring deep knowledge of the complex processes that carry a project from concept to completion and move-in. We take pride in delivering high-quality, community-centered projects with care, communication, and accountability.

Our commitment to these human values extends to our commitment to the wellbeing of our employees; we are proud to be recognized as a JUST Organization. As a virtual practice, we’ve built a diversely experienced and talented team whose workflow is transparent, accessible, equitable, and sustainable.

Project Highlight: 38th Avenue Apartments

/ Resilience Through Adaptability

Tech-savvy and nimble, we act to protect people—now and in the face of a changing climate.

Our work celebrates the healing power of natural elements while leveraging technology to optimize building performance. We strive to reduce our impact through low energy, low carbon, and low water solutions and are signatories of the AIA 2030 Commitment and AIA Materials Pledge.

By future-proofing every project, we create healthy, adaptable homes that protect residents. Our designs are shaped by a deep care for future residents, so we ensure they are adaptable, affordable, and easy to maintain—prioritizing health, safety, and a strong sense of belonging.

Project Highlight: Iamesi Village

/ Actively Advancing the Boldly Good

We’re dismantling barriers by advocating for just local and state policies.

At Architects FORA, we know that design alone cannot solve the housing crisis—systems must evolve alongside spaces. That’s why we actively advocate for policy changes that remove obstacles to delivering equitable, affordable, and sustainable housing.

Our team members proudly participate in organizations, such as Housing CA, SV@Home, WHA, YIMBY, Strong Towns, influencing local and state decisions, using our on-the-ground experience to inform recommendations, and push for policies that support, rather than hinder, the creation of homes for all.

Project Highlight: Wolfe Road Educator Housing

What we bring to the drawing table, everyday:

We love what we do - and it shows. We show up every day for our clients and communities, ready to create, because we believe in the power of thoughtful design to enrich communities, harmonize with nature, and create joy for residents.
We can do both - we are both knowledgeable and playful, bringing energy and expertise to all of our work. As a tech-first virtual firm, we’ve mastered transparent, equitable, and most importantly, fun, collaboration tools.
As designers, we are keen and receptive listeners above all. When our mission and goals align with our clients and communities, we work better together and our designs achieve greater success. “We” is certainly better than “me.”
Design is an impactful process. We seek to create healing and empowering places through a genuine, restorative, and responsive process. We make sure all voices are heard and the best creative ideas, no matter the source, are embraced and carried forward.
Each project team is selected based on their specialized expertise, ensuring we provide meaningful designs and maximum value. At our weekly design crits, we put all of our brains together to tackle design challenges specific to each project. We depend on and challenge our team members to bring their expertise to the table.
We have an innate drive to dig deep. We immerse ourselves in context, considering the social and environmental context as well as the past, present, and future contexts that influence design outcomes. We constantly zoom in and out to reexamine our designs across scales; think global, act local is our mantra.
Humility over pride. We are open communicators who deliver the right information, at the right time, in the right format. Our deliverables are always purpose-built and clear.
Buildings are more than structures—they shape how people live, feel, and connect. We approach housing design with a deep sense of responsibility, placing empathy at the heart of our process. By engaging directly with communities, developing resident personas, and mapping daily experiences, we design homes that reflect and support the real lives of those who will live there.