About Us
Our Services
Observation
We are collaborators with our clients and builders, and encourage a broader sense of what constitutes a design team. Most of our work takes its cues from conversation as well as from context. Typically, we identify what works about the existing environment and, when appropriate, preserve and respond. Realizing indoor/outdoor living opportunities is a common thread in our work in the temperate bay area.
Materiality
We keep up-to-date with the ever changing array of material choices in construction, keeping in mind durability and remaining sensitive to the implications even small decisions have on our ecology. We look for opportunities to reuse and recycle when appropriate, and we support the use of sustainable and locally sourced materials.
Alchemy
Central to our design process is organizing a program which, however practical, is developed in a thoughtful, if not artful way. The result is a product that feels as if it belongs. Our aim is to create something greater than the sum of its parts, promising high returns on any investment in the creative process.
Our Projects
House additions and renovations
Secondary units (ADUs)
Bathrooms and kitchens
Commercial/ museum work
About Us
Scott Donahue is a graduate of Williams College, where he studied Psychology and Fine Arts. He apprenticed in New York City with BumpZoid, a small, highly regarded architectural firm, before moving west to attend graduate school at UC Berkeley. After receiving a Masters in Architecture in 1991, Scott joined the staff of Fernau & Hartman Architects as a Project Architect, receiving his professional license to practice in 1995. At the end of the 90s, Scott helped create exhibits and installations for three new science centers with Gyroscope Inc. The original exhibit spaces for the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland are among the projects Scott designed and managed.
In 2001, Scott formed his own business: RS Donahue Architect. Coincident with the start of their family, he and Maryann Tucker designed and built outdoor spaces while Scott continued his residential architectural practice. Scott has since overseen over a hundred and sixty projects including a score of design build efforts, making use of Scott's experience as a general contractor and deepening his appreciation of practical design.
Projects have appeared in Fine Homebuilding Kitchen and Bath (Issue #199), FH Kitchen and Bath Planning Guide (2008), For Pros by Pros: Bathroom Remodeling (2011), the Best of Fine Homebuilding Small Homes (Fall, 2016).
Awards include an Architectural Preservation Award for an outstanding restoration of a historic cottage on Santa Clara Ave in Alameda from The Alameda Architectural Preservation Society (1999) and a Design Award from the City of Piedmont for a major home renovation/ second story addition on Ramona Ave in Piedmont (2010).