Articles by Lydia Lee

A flexible new facility provides much-needed services to a marginalized community while demonstrating design excellence on a budget.

A playful, welcoming building in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood replaces a sunken, bunker-like clubhouse.

The 94-year-old San Francisco Opera wanted a secondary venue to attract the next generation of operagoers.

Is there a “pink ghetto” within architecture?

Some years ago, San Francisco architect John Maniscalco came across one of those opportunities that demand a certain stamina: an aging two-story house was available for a relative bargain price but required lengthy negotiations with the city’s historic-preservation board in order to overhaul.

Urban dwellings can feel highly compartmentalized, composed of segregated levels.

How does a startup still feel cozy and cohesive when it has ballooned into an 800-person organization?

Stanford University’s Central Energy Facility has a lot of serious technology, but much of it is presented in the lively hues more typical of a children’s museum.