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Although 450 Architects specializes in contemporary architecture, featuring passive private residences—read: built to energy efficient standards—sustainable buildings, and public space developments with ecological hyper-awareness, there is nothing passive about their portfolio. Co-founded by the late David Bushnell (who died in 2018) and Richard Parker, the firm continues to pursue the same core beliefs in 2025 with which it began.
Those beliefs and the company’s processes support what might be called “soulful architecture” and elegantly simple solutions. By following design practices that protect the environment, express ecological awareness, and use state-of-the-art technology and materials, the 450 team strives to support and sustain healthy communities. Longtime advocacy activities related to social justice create nourishing public spaces for all people; underscoring the founders’ dedication to provide for the greater good and seeking a regenerative, uplifting world.
Architects Daniel Penalva Serrano, Eva Shaw, and Alexandra Waterson have joined Parker in recent years; adding significant expertise in everything from high-end to student housing, relevant historical and cultural elements that impact a specific project, and designs crafted not only to offer practical and breathtaking results, but buildings that encourage clients to honor the environment and foster community engagement.
Among its other notable commercial, educational, and public space projects are Contraband Coffee’s South of Market location, Mission Terrace neighborhood’s Golden Bridges School, a Sherman Elementary School modernization project that created San Francisco Unified School District’s first green schoolyard, the LEED Gold Certified 23,000-square-foot San Francisco Waldorf School, and a project with the Francisco Park Conservancy and other pubic agencies that led to a 4.5 acre, ADA-compliant public open space with sweeping views of the Bay Area located in the densely populated neighborhood of Russian Hill.
Parker is a certified permaculture designer and green roof professional, and 450 offers LEED consulting services for architects and contractors. The firm advocates for better draft guidelines, codes, and policies throughout California and centers its work on intelligent, whole-world thinking and approaches to energy use and water management via projects that assign equal value to landscapes, wildlife, and people.
