PORCH CHATS
“The porch chats were very specific to this place…We could look directly at the landscape. The issues were right in front of you. People could point and ask questions."
ORIGINS OF AN ARCHITECTURE FIRM: PART 4
“But even if a client gave us carte blanche, we would gravitate toward the quiet notes.”
INTRODUCING UNDERSERVED KIDS TO THE UPLIFTING POWER OF COLOR
“Caliber’s director had asked us for a super-colorful building, so it seemed like a perfect project to collaborate with Project Color Corps on.”
HIKING THE ANDY GOLDSWORTHY TRAIL IN THE PRESIDIO
“Then your eyes adjust, and the large tree branch that Goldsworthy suspended from the domed roof reveals itself as if by magic.”  
ALUMNI NOTES
"My first project at TEF was the first I had ever worked on where I felt the project team, interior designer, architect, intern, and principal collaborated on the design from concept to detailing.”
MODERN ARCHITECT RADIO PODCAST, S02 EPISODE 26
Modern Architect's Tom Dioro interviews our own Alyosha Verzhbinsky about his empathetic approach to crafting memorable public interfaces.
LOOKING BACK: MY 19 YEARS (AND COUNTING) WITH THE FERRY BUILDING
“The developer, Chris Meany, had the idea of removing the second floor almost entirely to open up the ground level to the nave.“
CPF SNAGS 2 CPF DESIGN AWARD WINS!
Our design for the Ferry Building North Façade Retail Kiosks and the Bayview Opera House were recognized in separate categories. Congratulations and thanks to all the consultants and team members who worked on these projects!
REVISITING THE SOUTH BEACH HARBOR BUILDING
It was a big deal for the firm: our first freestanding building.
PROUD TO BE 49'RS
TEF makes the SF Biz Time's annual list of largest Bay Area architecture firms.
PIER 17/SWISSNEX FEATURED IN METROPOLIS
Metropolis talked to Vitra's Raphael Gielgen about the workplace of tomorrow,
TEF ALUMNI NOTES
And admittedly, I had never worked in a firm with female principals before. I liked that the principals were geographically interspersed throughout the office.
BREAKFAST WITH BILLIE
We ask ourselves, “What is the one thing we would steal here?” We walk around, and then we look at each other and we say, “That’s the one we would steal.” And usually our choice is pretty consistent. It’s a very deep re...
THE ARCHITECT AS VOLUNTEER FOR EDUCATION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
There’s this thread of social and economic justice that connects a lot of our work.
METRO CENTER - A SF BUSINESS TIMES DEAL OF THE YEAR
ORIGINS OF AN ARCHITECTURE FIRM: PART 3
We believe that if architects bring their expertise — as architects, business people and as individuals — into their communities, they can effect significant social change.
ORIGINS OF AN ARCHITECTURE FIRM: PART 2
From the very beginning, we always thought we would grow. We didn’t think of ourselves as a small firm.
ARCHITECTS ADVOCATE OPEN LETTER
We've joined the Architects Advocate coalition of 200+ signatories to the open letter which will be sent to President Trump. Will you join this movement to advocate for action on climate change?
ORIGINS OF AN ARCHITECTURE FIRM: PART 1
I talked to a couple of my buddies at the firm, Ron Aguila and Bobbie Fisch, and said, “Hey, wouldn’t it be great to start a firm?”
SF MAGAZINE FEATURES "OFFICE OASIS"
The rehabilitation of the Bay Area Metro Center is featured in this month's issue of SF Magazine, with a quote from our own Bobbie Fisch.
TEF CELEBRATES 20 YEARS
Happy 2017.  This year marks TEF's 20th year of practice.  Stay tuned for stories and happenings celebrating our firm’s people, our community, and what drives us to design
DAD TURNS HIS 6-YEAR-OLD SON’S DRAWINGS
INTO REALITY
LEARNING FROM LEARNING DIFFERENCES: LESSONS FROM THE LAB SCHOOL OF WASHINGTON
FLOATING FOUNDATIONS OUT WEST
LEARNING FROM BEALE STREET
Little did I know that it was the beginning of a four-year journey during which I would cut my teeth as an architect, get my professional license, and see the building completed and occupied.
TEAM VENI.VIDI.VELO TAKES 3RD PLACE
Team Veni.Vidi.Velo takes 3rd in total donations in the City of Hope, Ride to Hope Fundraiser.
LEAP'S 34TH ANNUAL SANDCASTLE CLASSIC
There may not have been a lot of sun, but there was plenty of sand and smiles on Saturday for the 34th annual Leap Sandcastle Classic at Ocean Beach. The largest sandcastle competition in Northern California, the Sandcastle Classic benefits ...
BEST RENOVATION/ RESTORATION PROJECT AT THE 2016 ENR CALIFORNIA BEST PROJECTS AWARDS BREAKFAST!
Congratulations to the Bay Area Metro Center team -- including our own Bobbie Fisch, Paul Cooper, and David Bradshaw -- on stage yesterday to receive the award for Best Renovation/ Restoration Project at the 2016 ENR California Best Projects Awards Breakf...
BART: NEW RETAIL BUSINESSES COULD OPEN IN STATIONS AS EARLY AS DECEMBER 2016
BART stations soon could be home to a slew of local and national businesses, including prospective tenants Ghirardelli Chocolates, Dunkin’ Donuts, Oakland retailer Oaklandish and others, as early as December. Several years after BART entered into ne...
UCSC'S CAMPER PARK: TRAILERS TO TINY HOMES?
TELESCOPIC 'CULTURE SHED' FOR NEW YORK
BAYVIEW OPERA HOUSE GRAND OPENING
San Francisco Celebrates Reopening Of Bayview Opera House
COOL PRODUCT: TENTSILE
STANFORD NEUROSCIENCE HEALTH CENTER IN ARCHITECTURAL RECORD
CELEBRATION FOR MTC'S FIRST MEETING AT
SF'S BAY AREA METRO CENTER
AIASF: DON FISHER CLUBHOUSE WINS CITATION AWARD WITH SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
WANT! -- 1:12 SCALE MINIATURE CINDER BLOCKS
COOL SUNSHADES
THE OPPORTUNITY/CONSTRAINT TANGO
A couple of years ago, we wrote about our experience renovating the historic Hoover Pavilion at Stanford and the challenge of adapting a 1930s hospital into a 21st-century medical office building. Just as we were finishing up our work on that project, Sta...
FORGET STANDING DESKS: WEAR YOUR CHAIR
Archelis is a new innovation in furniture design that can allow surgeons to sit during long surgeries. The wearable chair looks like a leg brace and offers support to the buttocks and legs, effectively allowing the wearer to sit.
GREATER GOOD
Don Fisher Clubhouse featured in InteriorDesign
HOW TO DETECT A BRUTALIST BUILDING
LUMINOUS REVIVALS: PG&E MISSION SUBSTATION
INSIDE ZAHA HADID’S 520 WEST 28TH RESIDENCES IN NEW YORK
THE HEIGHT OF EFFICIENCY
Cornell is building one of the greenest high-rises in the world. (Image: Handel Architects)
DESIGN BY ACCIDENT
A new retrospective champions the architect-designer Josef Frank's philosophy of "Accidentism."
ZHEJIANG VILLAGERS NOT HAPPY WITH NEW VILLAS, MIGHT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH TROUBLESOME GIANT ELECTRICAL CABLES
STANFORD OPENS NEUROSCIENCE CENTER
The neuroscience center is part of a $5 billion project to renew the Stanford campus, including major expansions and partial rebuilds of Stanford's adult and pediatric hospitals, renovation of the Hoover Pavilion, and other work.
FERRY BUILDING KIOSKS OPENING
STANFORD HEALTH CARE HOSTS RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY
Stanford Health Care hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony today to celebrate the completion of its new Stanford Neuroscience Health Center in Palo Alto. Attendees included Stanford Health Care leadership and medical staff, community members, patients, and pub...
99% INVISIBLE
Roman Mars (@romanmars) is the creator of 99% Invisible, a short radio show about design and architecture. 
ARCHDAILY'S CHROME EXTENSION: INSPIRATION IN EVERY NEW TAB
WHEN HEINEKEN BOTTLES WERE SQUARE
In 1963, Alfred Heineken created a beer bottle that could also function as a brick to build houses in impoverished countries.
BOK MODERN
Laser cut panels can be used for balcony railings, stair panels, wall screens, fences, green screens, gates and more.
TORONTO WANTS TO TURN THE UNDERPASS OF A HIGHWAY INTO A MAJOR PUBLIC PARK
9 THINGS PEOPLE ALWAYS SAY AT ZONING HEARINGS, ILLUSTRATED BY CATS
5 PLACES TO DOWNLOAD FREE, ETHNICALLY DIVERSE RENDER PEOPLE
The significance of people in architectural rendering is nothing new – the added realism, and addition of narrative elements can make or break whether a render successfully sells its project. With sites likeSkalgubbar, architects and archi...
16 OTHERWORLDLY IMAGES OF A PARISIAN COMMUNITY YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW EXISTED
The structures, an architectural feat still impressive in today, were designed by multiple architects.
CLEVER 3-WAY JOINT (KAWAI TSUGITE) EXPLAINED
FLASHBACK THURSDAY: OLD SCHOOL (LITERALLY!)
When it opened 75 years ago, Crow Island School revolutionized school design. It’s had many imitators since, but few can match its vision for experiential, child-centered learning.
DON FISHER FEATURED IN URBANLAND MAGAZINE
THE JOYFUL, ILLITERATE KINDERGARTNERS OF FINLAND
Forget the Common Core, Finland’s youngsters are in charge of determining what happens in the classroom.
SNøHETTA'S NEW BUILDING FOR SFMOMA NEARS COMPLETION
WHY DON'T ALL SCHOOLS LOOK LIKE THIS ONE?
When it opened 75 years ago, Crow Island School revolutionized school design. It’s had many imitators since, but few can match its vision for experiential, child-centered learning.
CITY PLANNING FEUD DRIVES NEW OPERA
New York City's seminal 1960s urban design battle will be turned into an opera, with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winner poet Tracy K. Smith. Here's why that is not such a weird thing.
TEF/MIN DAY DESIGN FOR BART ENTRANCE WINS IN ....NEBRASKA
MARLA BAKERY OPENS IN FERRY BUILDING
Two of our projects -- the Ferry Buidling North Arcade kiosks, including Marla Bakery, and our work at Ghirardelli -- made 7x7's list of "tartiest foodie happenings"
TRANSFORMATIONAL DESIGN: PRESERVATION MEETS THE PRESENT
To me, preservation isn’t just about rejuvenating a part of the past.  It’s also about transforming the present. Historic buildings can provide a lot of character in a new neighborhood.
CHILD'S PLAY: THE DON FISHER CLUBHOOUSE
The Boys and Girls Club opened its new Don Fisher Clubhouse in Hayes Valley this February. On a spot where the Central Freeway once touched down, now kids from the Western Addition, Hayes Valley, and the Tenderloin neighborhoods have a place to swim, play...
THE KIOSK KRAZE
In the 12 years since San Francisco’s historic Ferry Building was renovated, the artisanal food market on the ground floor has been going gangbusters. On top of that, three times a week, the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market just across the Embarcadero dra...
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TABLE: WHEN THE ARCHITECT BECOMES A CLIENT
Recently I had the opportunity to spend some time on the client side of an architecture project. It was an eye-opening experience. In my case, it came about because of where I live, in the Forest Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. Just to the west of Twi...
ONGOING EVOLUTION
They say nothing is permanent except change. Well, we’ve been living proof of that, particularly over the last couple of years. We’ve added new principals and staff members, changed our firm name, moved from downtown to our new digs on Sutter ...
YOU ALSO HAVE TO REMEMBER TO LOOK DOWN
ADVOCATING FOR CHILDREN
Every year, 6,000 incidences of child abuse and neglect are reported in San Francisco, and more than 10,000 children are exposed to violence. Even in a city known for its innovative thinking and concern for the marginalized, our most vulnerable residents ...
KIDS ON THE MOVE
San Francisco is notorious for having the lowest percentage of children than any other major U.S. city.  And, if you believe the local media hype, families are leaving in record numbers, threatening the diversity that makes it so special. While we ca...
NEW YEAR, BIG CHANGES
2013 was full of big changes for the firm, and 2014 is shaping up to be another exciting year. For starters, we have a new name:  TEF. As most of you know, our partnership is evolving and we decided it was time to shake things up a little with a moni...
FORTIFYING THE FUTURE OF SERVICE
When I got my BA in architecture in the mid-1970s, there was a recession. So I became a VISTA volunteer in the underserved Pico Union neighborhood in central Los Angeles. Working as a staff architect in the office of John Mutlow, I helped design a communi...
SUMMER READING: FINAL OF THE SERIES
The end of September and beginning of October are our warmest days in San Francisco. This is when we finally enjoy real summer weather. Basking in these sunnier days, we present the last of our summer reading reviews.
PROGRAMMING A NONEXISTENT EXISTING BUILDING
The recently completed San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Headquarters has been getting a lot of attention for its LEED Platinum targeted green design and its building-mounted wind turbines. What a lot of people don’t know i...
SUMMER READING: JULY
This summer we’ve been asking our fellow team members at Tom Eliot Fisch what books they’ve read recently and why. From Swiss architectural monographs to the O.K. Corral, here’s presenting the second post in our summer reading series.
RECHARGING THE STREET
We’ve been asked to design everything from an equestrian center to pump stations to a nuclear medicine suite, but perhaps the most unusual assignment we’ve ever been given is to design a wall. Not just any wall, but a freestanding one—te...
MAKING THE GRADE: CAMPUS NOTES FROM A PRACTITIONER
TEF’s 5 year working relationship with Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco is one of longest client collaborations in the firm’s 15 year history. Boys & Girls Club is a national after-school program designed mostly, though no...
BACK TO THE HEALTHCARE FUTURE
When Stanford University Medical Center asked us to renovate the Hoover Pavilion, we were aware that this was a building loaded with history. That was part of the challenge: how do you fit next generation medical services into a 1930s structure made ...
LEARNING BY “LEAP” AND BOUNDS
Catherine Howley is a junior designer at Tom Eliot Fisch. Currently, she is working on several projects in the Presidio. We asked her about working with the nonprofit arts education organization Leap, participating in Leap’s famous sandcastle contes...
SWIMMING & ARCHITECTURE
A few years ago, I had my first chance to work on designing a lap pool. It was an opportunity to finally bring together two of my passions—architecture and swimming.
WRITING ABOUT DANCING ABOUT ARCHITECTURE
Someone once said, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” As if the two were so opposite that it was absurd to think of the one having anything to do with the other. But I’ve come to think they have a lot in common, es...