After 2 ½ years of design and construction, the Contra Costa County Public Works Department’s new office building and childcare center have finally opened! At 12,000 sf, this addition will alleviate overcrowding within the Public Works Department and provide daycare facilities and outdoor play yards for employees’ infants, toddlers and preschoolers.

Shah Kawasaki Architects is again honored to be published in Architectural Record. The work we did with Maki & Associates on the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Art at Washington University in St. Louis has received incredible praise from numerous sources, and we look forward to the upcoming opening of our current project on WashU's campus, the renovation of Steinberg Hall.

The article can be viewed at http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/archives/0710samfox-1.asp and in print in October's Architectural Record.

Shah Kawasaki Architects has always enjoyed working on projects stemming from our on-call contracts. These contracts allow us to stay in touch with our current clients while getting to know our newer ones. In the past year, we have signed new agreements with Contra Costa County, the City of Oakland, Alameda County, the Port of Oakland and UC Berkeley, and our team looks forward to working with each agency throughout the next few years.

Alan Kawasaki was invited to speak at the California Association of Museums' annual Director's Luncheon. This year's topic, Culturally Sensitive Design and Diverse Museum Audiences, provided an active discussion among the panel and the museum Directors who attended. We would like to thank Bill Moreno, the Claremont Museum of Art's new Executive Director, for moderating the presentation.