This fall, SB Architects, an international architecture firm renowned for localizing the look and feel of its hospitality, residential and commercial projects, co-sponsored and participated in the 8th Annual Bike to Hope cycle, an event benefitting City of Hope, which was recently named the leading cancer center in the West by US News & World Report and is supported by the Northern California Real Estate and Construction Council. For the fifth consecutive year, SB Architects assembled a team of riders from its Miami and San Francisco offices to complete the Bike to Hope cycle, helping to raise $271,000 dollars to support the center’s research and treatment of cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases, surpassing the annual fundraising goal of $200,000. Reflecting on the success of this charity event, which forged new community relationships, unified teams, and aligned with the firm’s core values of health and wellness, SB Architects will continue to direct both its design ethos and philanthropic efforts toward addressing the broader social and cultural needs of communities in 2020.
“Just as compassion is at the heart of City of Hope’s approach and the driving force behind their research, SB Architects carries the empathy behind human-centric design to areas where we can make a significant impact in bettering lives,” said Bruce Wright, Vice President and Principal. “We believe in better-connecting architects to their communities and extending our passion as designers of experience into supporting crucial causes related to wellness, education, and environmental concerns.”
From Immersing Guests in Nature to Immersive Expressions of Philanthropy
Over the 60 years that SB Architects has been in practice, its portfolio has reflected the integration of sustainable design with wellness amenities for the overall health of the user, project, and environment, and is largely focused on connecting guests with nature, whether designing resort rooms that give each guest an ocean view, or arrival experiences and spaces that blur lines between inside and outside.
Experienced in creating bonds between properties and the natural environment, and connecting properties and people through authentic experiences, SB Architects is sensitive to the impact that natural disasters have on land and communities. When Hurricane Dorian devastated the Bahamas, wiping out communities and displacing thousands in an area near the firm’s renovation of Malliouhana Resort in Anguilla, and Baha Mar, a large-scale resort where the firm designed three restaurants, including the Costa Restaurant at the Rosewood Baha Mar, the firm supported the efforts of “boots on the ground” charities such as World Central Kitchen, which in the two weeks following the hurricane served more than 250,000 meals to survivors, and All Hands and Hearts Response, an organization dedicated to re-building and constructing new communities after disaster strikes. In addition to donating to these organizations, members of SB Architects’ Miami office donated items to those affected by the hurricane’s ongoing devastation.
“We are committed to helping to protect the natural beauty, culture and people in areas that have granted us such incredible opportunities,” said SB Architects President and Principal Scott Lee. “The root of the word ‘philanthropy,’ means ‘love of mankind,’ and SB Architects has great concern and care for both the surrounding communities and natural environs of our projects.”
In response to the recent Kincade Fire, which impacted members of the Healdsburg community where SB Architects is designing the experience-driven mixed-use project, Mill District, the design firm’s San Francisco office members joined a “Unity and Community” ride, which raised recovery funds for those displaced by the California wildfires. At Mill District, SB Architects is transforming the former Nu Forest lumber mill site into a destination paying homage to Healdsburg’s renowned, culinary and wellness features. The firm’s participation in the cycle reflects how its hands-on approach in site-sensitive projects and focus on integrating wellness elements into them align with its community-based recovery efforts.
Concern for Nurturing and Enriching a Sense of Community and Home
In designing and planning urban mixed-use communities – from a pedestrian-friendly district at the seminal San Jose project Santana Row, to the urban mixed-use destination Miami Design District and FATVillage in Fort Lauderdale, SB Architects has helped to make work, living, shopping, transportation and green spaces more integrated and easily accessible; this practice of district stewardship has instilled in the firm a heightened sensitivity to local values and awareness of the socio-economic shifts that impact master planning and design. With a dually local and global perspective, the firm supports causes such as Habitat for Humanity, a world-wide organization acting locally to ensure that people have a safe, affordable place to live and access to things they need to thrive.
Investing in Passion Projects That Serve Public Interest and Deepen Firm Expertise
In addition to its active participation in charity events and relief efforts, SB Architects has integrated pro-bono work into its practice, creating visions for new builds and restoration projects that reflect its values of innovation, cultural enrichment and environmental conservation. One such project involves the restoration of a wellness-focused center destroyed by wildfires in 2017. Slated to open in 2020, the new center is being designed by SB Architects to reflect the simplicity and untouched beauty of nature. Such pro-bono projects create places of sanctuary that positively impact visitors, and also strengthen the firm’s expertise in capturing the history and future of a place; in promoting community and wellness through design; and in creating design supportive of the surrounding landscape and nurturing and enriching to the guest experience.
Building the Next Generation of Giving and Forward-Thinking Architects
SB Architects’ San Francisco and Miami offices support the architects of the future through long-term relationships with schools and community organizations. For 13 years, SB Architects’ San Francisco office has hosted the Town School for Boy’s third-grade class for discussions and hands-on activities that engage them in the design process. For the 6th consecutive year, SB Architects’ Miami office has partnered with KAPOW (Kids and the power of work) to host a group of curious students for a morning of architecture and discovery. This past year, Southside Elementary School 5th graders learned how to use materials that would otherwise be considered refuse to build a model of their dream playhouse. Teaching youth how to explore opportunities, identify problems, and find solutions for them by collaborating with others, SB Architects shares its passion for human-centric design and inspires a new generation of architects to help transform communities, contribute to their well-being, and heal the environment.
About SB Architects
With nearly 60 years of continuous practice, SB Architects has established a world-wide reputation for excellence in the planning and design of large-scale hotels, resorts, destination resort communities, and all associated resort amenities, as well as large-scale multi-family residential and urban mixed-use projects. The dedicated staff in the firm’s San Francisco, Miami, Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh offices successfully merge six decades of experience with the energy, drive and dedication of a second generation of partners. For more information about SB Architects, visit www.sb-architects.com.
Media Contacts: Hwee Peng Yeo, Claire Xu, Marguerite Munoz, or Danyelle Simpkins at Glodow Nead Communications, 415-394-6500 or SBarchitectspr@glodownead.com.
