Mithun

The Architect's Newspaper has recognized Washington School for the Deaf, Divine Academic and Hunter Gymnasium with an Honorable Mention in their 2025 Best of Design Awards. This international year-in-review highlights the most impactful and innovative projects across all scales. We are grateful to be featured among projects that are shaping stronger, more inclusive communities. This recognition underscores the importance of creating education environments that amplify communication, connection and empowerment for diverse young learners. Learn more about Washington School for the Deaf, Divine Academic and Hunter Gymnasium: https://lnkd.in/gQqDdFfs Read the full feature, “Hats Off: Here are the Honorable Mentions of AN’s 2025 Best of Design Awards”: https://lnkd.in/eCJ2peXH Design-build project delivery in collaboration with Skanska. Photo by Lara Swimmer / Esto

Featured in Architectural Record, the ambitious The Bush School New Upper School expansion serves as visible sign of change for the K-12 campus. The three-story academic building weaves together 21st century learning and gathering spaces for upper school students, with a high-performance design that achieved several sustainable superlatives both locally and nationally. Integrated innovations helped the project earn an esteemed The American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2025 COTE Top Ten award. The all-electric, net-zero design includes a mass-plywood panel structural (MPP) system that reduced embodied carbon and optimized efficiency. The building became the first Phius Passive House certified school on the West Coast and largest west of the Mississippi River by maximizing thermal and acoustic comfort, healthy materials and natural light. The project also inspired a commitment by The Bush School to become the first SALMON-SAFE certified school in the country. The integration of bio infiltration and stormwater systems were accompanied by operational commitments to avoid harmful chemicals and heavy metals that could end up in the water stream. Read the full article by Matt Hickman to learn more: https://lnkd.in/gfRZEExX Photos by Lara Swimmer / Esto

Mentorship is integral to our firm culture. Mithun mentors fulfill a formal role that focuses on career mentorship and connection, and an informal role that advances the firm’s mission and enriches internal community. Above all, Mithun mentors care — about design and, more importantly, about the people around them. Each year around our founder Omer’s birthday, staff are encouraged to nominate others for the Mithun Mentor award. We are proud to announce our 2025 Mithun Mentor awardees: Erin Christensen Ishizaki and Tom Fitzgerald. You’ve made a lasting impact on our team and practice! “Erin has an extraordinary ability to recognize and nurture the unique strengths of those around her — often before they even see those strengths in themselves. She brings out the best in people by aligning their superpowers with opportunities that stretch and inspire them, even on projects they may not have imagined themselves on.” “Tom is an excellent mentor who leads by example. His ability to listen deeply and teach with clarity has made a lasting impact on my growth. I’m especially grateful for how he shares his design vision, communicates thoughtfully and guides others with his strong sense of long-term purpose.” Read more about Mithun mentors: https://lnkd.in/gQUUGm98

We are thrilled to share that Tacoma Community College Center for Innovative Learning and Engagement (CILE) has achieved LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The building achieved all possible LEED points for innovative performance, demonstrating responsible resource use and tangible occupant benefits. An on-site solar array, passive shading from preserved trees and low-carbon material choices lower both operational and embodied carbon. Thoughtful design that maximizes inclusivity, occupant health and wellbeing earned the project a Merit Award from the 2025 AIA Washington Council Civic Design program. The sustainable, daylight-rich educational environment serves as a programmatic and physical gateway that connects students to peers, faculty and staff. Learn more about highlights of the project’s sustainable design:  https://lnkd.in/gEajBDda Mithun provided integrated architecture, landscape and interior design services. O'Brien360 was the sustainability consultant. Additional project team members include AHBL Inc., civil engineer; PCS Structural Solutions, structural engineer; GFT, M/E and IT Engineer; The Greenbusch Group, plumbing and acoustic engineer; and Mayfly, stormwater. Korsmo Construction was the general contractor and construction manager (GC/CM). Photos by Benjamin Benschneider.

Mithun is honored to help UCLA with design of a new 19-story residential tower to address critical demand for sustainable and affordable student housing on their dense urban campus. When complete, 901 Levering Student Housing will provide homes for up to 1,150 students in a combination of unit types, with shared gathering spaces indoors and out. This project is part of the university’s innovative and ambitious effort to vastly expand housing capacity across multiple locations in Westwood. We applaud UCLA’s ongoing commitment to create capacity, security and access for future generations of Bruins through thoughtful campus growth. Read the full article via Los Angeles Times: https://lnkd.in/gpJ5fJuA

We’re looking for bright design minds to join our growing mission-driven practice! Mithun’s interdisciplinary teams envision and create transformative places across the nation, constantly evolving to address the critical challenges of our future. The firm is recognized for excellence in design and sustainability, including the 2023 AIA Architecture Firm Award and nine AIA COTE Top Ten Awards. Featured job openings include: - Project Architect / Architectural Designer – Housing with 8+ years of experience (San Francisco and Los Angeles) - Architectural Project Manager – Workplace with 10+ years of experience (San Francisco and Seattle) - Interior Designer with 5+ years of experience (San Francisco) Mithun is a great place to grow your career! The firm was recently honored with Emerging Professionals Friendly Firm Certification from AIA Washington Council. This award-based program celebrates firm initiatives that create supportive environments and professional development opportunities for emerging professionals. The distinction highlights our ongoing commitment to nurturing the next generation of interdisciplinary designers and thinkers. Visit our Careers page to learn more about these and other open positions: https://lnkd.in/gC76J94

We were thrilled to join San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉, community activist Oscar James and project partners for the ribbon-cutting of Oscar James Residences. Now complete, this affordable housing development in San Francisco’s Hunters Point Shipyard neighborhood provides 112 new homes in two buildings for low-income families. “As a native resident born on Navy Road it is a privilege to have the opportunity for people from our community to rent a new space back in their own neighborhood,” said community leader and Bayview Senior Services board member Oscar James. “It has been a long time coming and we have been waiting for this day for over 50 years.” Gathering spaces for residents include a community room, lounge, courtyard gardens and a rooftop terrace with expansive views of the Bay. A high priority is placed on urban greening, with native plantings and lushly landscaped courtyards that are visible to the neighborhood and accessible to residents of the community. The all-electric buildings are targeting GreenPoint Rated (GPR) Platinum Rating for energy efficiency, healthy materials and water conservation. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gCfmhaKb Oscar James Residences’ co-developers are Bayview Senior Services and Jonathan Rose Companies. The project team includes integrated architecture, interior design and landscape architecture services by Mithun, with associate architect Kerman Morris Architects LLP, civil by KPFF Consulting Engineers, structural by Mar Structural Design, MEP by Engineering 350, waterproofing by STEELHEAD ENGINEERS INC, specifications by VVAS - Vivian Volz, Architectural Specifications, acoustical by CSDA Design Group, lighting design by Weller Design Architectural and irrigation consulting by Dickson & Associates. Baines Group, Inc. - Nibbi Brothers General Contractors Joint Venture is the general contractor.  

What a night! Four Mithun projects were recognized for design excellence by the AIA Washington Council Civic Design Awards program! These publicly funded projects across the state reflect the highest standards in sustainability, innovation, building performance and overall integration with the client and surrounding communities. The Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth’s Washington School for the Deaf (WSD), Divine Academic and Hunter Gymnasium received an Honor Award. A full suite of academic, administrative and physical education programs support WSD’s bi-lingual and bi-cultural educational goals. The project celebrates and promotes the community’s unique Deaf culture by creating a continuum between the individual (private) and the group (public/collaborative) — in equilibrium. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dBnDRWt4 13th and Fir Family Housing earned a Merit Award for fostering a community of families near transit, jobs, healthcare, education and cultural amenities in this historically integrated area of Seattle. The project showcases a powerful collaboration between the landowner, Seattle Housing Authority, various project funders and the skilled development team of SEATTLE CHINATOWN-INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT PRESERVATION & DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (SCIDpda) and Community Roots Housing. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dKBz3WXW Tacoma Community College Center for Innovative Learning and Engagement (CILE) won a Merit Award. The programmatic and physical gateway connects students to peers, faculty and staff, provides access to contemporary learning environments and opens doors to career pathways. Read more: https://lnkd.in/d2djzk2M The University of Washington | Cascadia College Innovation Hall was recognized with a Merit Award. The jointly developed academic facility unifies the institutions’ shared campus in Bothell, Washington, advances STEM education with state-of-the-art labs and learning environments, and heals the native landscape of a remarkable site. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dMQcagx8 Congratulations to the visionary clients, community partners and project collaborators who contributed to these exemplary built environments!

Washington School for the Deaf Divine Academic and Hunter Gymnasium has been hailed as an inclusive reimagining of education for Deaf and hard of hearing students in Washington state, and a compelling model for accessible, inclusive education for students nationally. The mass timber design centers the Deaf experience and supports occupant well-being — reducing stress, improving daylighting and increasing engagement in a conducive, home-like learning environment tuned to maximize American Sign Language (ASL) / English bilingual instructional practices, equipping students to thrive. We are thrilled to share the project has been recognized with new awards at the state and national level. As part of the AIA Seattle Honor Awards program, WSD recently won an Award of Merit. The design jury shared during the ceremony, “Coming from a legacy of universal design, the way that this [project] recognizes pluriversality as the basis for the recognition of people of many abilities renders a very positive view about the world in general, not just a school of this kind.” In the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) National Design-Build Project/Team Awards, the project earned an Award of Merit in the Educational Facilities category. The Skanska / Mithun progressive design-build team was recognized for innovative design-build strategies, collaboration, and commitment to budget, schedule and construction excellence. Congratulations to this incredible design-build team and school community! Photos by Lara Swimmer / Esto. #DesignforPositiveChange #GoTerriers

We have so much to learn from Host Nations. Knowledge that has been generously offered for millennia, guided sustainable communities for millennia and can help all of us survive together for millennia to come. We are grateful to have collaborated with and learned from Modern Formline and Charlene Aleck as part of Sea2City: Reimagining Reconciliation in Design and Policy. Both visionary and technically informed, the precedent-setting plan "seeks to address the harsh realities of sea level rise by working together with host nations to arrive at mutually beneficial long term green solutions." Thank you to American Society of Landscape Architects for recognizing this multi-faceted effort with a 2025 Honor Award in Analysis and Planning. It has been an honor to work alongside this incredible team. South False Creek team credits: Mithun + One Architecture & Urbanism (ONE) (team leaders) with Moffatt & Nichol (civil, waterfront engineering and coastal ecosystem adaptation), Herrera Environmental Consultants (blue green stormwater systems and coastal ecosystem adaptation), Cory Douglas/Modern Formline (cultural advisor, Squamish Nation), and Charlene Aleck (knowledge keeper, Tsleil Waututh Nation). North False Creek team credits: PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc.+ MVRDV (team leaders) with DELTARES USA INC (civil engineering), Happy Cities (social planning), Westmar Advisors Inc. (shoreline engineering), GW Williams Associates (environment), Goudappel (mobility), MODUS Planning, Design & Engagement (policy planning), Cory Douglas/Modern Formline (cultural advisor, Squamish Nation), and Charlene Aleck (knowledge keeper, Tsleil Waututh Nation).