Dreyfuss + Blackford: Seventy Years

With offices in San Francisco and Sacramento, Dreyfuss + Blackford Architecture has 48 employees and has been in continuous operation since 1950. The firm achieved international recognition early on with the design of several notable game-changing landmark structures, including the recently rehabilitated SMUD Headquarters Building in Sacramento, CA. This project recently received the California Preservation Foundation’s 2020 Preservation Design Award as well as the Trustee’s Award for Excellence. Now in their seventh decade, they continue to be one of the preeminent architectural firms in the region, providing architecture, planning, and interiors services to a broad spectrum of public and private sector clients.

Their unwavering commitment to design excellence is reflected in the quality of their built work. They believe great planning is about more than how people use the spaces they create — it’s how they feel inside of them. Positive experience provides the space for engagement and positive communication — resulting in an opportunity for making change in the world through the sharing of knowledge and collective experience. When they combine this understanding with a consistent pattern of outstanding design and efficient construction, the structures can provide lasting aesthetic quality and durability for generations. The firm has been recognised for design at local, state, and national levels with more than 150 awards over its 71-year history.

This book celebrates 70 years of outstanding design by Dreyfuss + Blackford Architecture. It starts with historical milestones, shows some examples of process and practice, and concludes with a few consequential recent projects.