DOES Architecture

DOES Architecture Architecture should nurture the body, delight the senses, and enrich the soul.

DOES Architecture is an international design consultancy based in San Francisco, California. We specialize in residential and commercial projects in a variety of styles, with an emphasis on sustainable, finely crafted designs that meet the budget, tastes, and needs of our clients. Founding Principal Eric Staten, AIA, LEED AP B/D+C founded the practice in 2010 after more than 20 years with some of

the most noted architectural firms in the Bay Area, including the Stanley Saitowitz Office, SMWM, and Tannerhecht Architects. His experience ranges from custom interior renovations and single and multi-family housing design to restaurant, hospitality, retail, health care, and transportation architecture.

I saw so much in the three weeks I was in Spain and England that trying to post about it seemed overwhelming. Now that I...
06/10/2026

I saw so much in the three weeks I was in Spain and England that trying to post about it seemed overwhelming. Now that I’m back, here’s the Palacio Real de Madrid. It had all the usual palace things: an imposing staircase, frescoed ceilings, gilded domes, rooms covered in silk with embroidered appliqué, a state dining room, endless reception rooms, and a LOT of chandeliers: they’re really into them. Then there’s a room covered in porcelain - because why not? And if you get bored you can always stuff a salon full of your portraits painted by Goya, just before you’re deposed. Everything in this place has political or social significance, nothing is arbitrary. And in case you forget where all the money for this place came from, there’s a handy statue of Columbus oppressing the American natives. Between this place and the Prado, which unfortunately does not allow photography, it was a full morning.

Las puertas de Madrid y Toledo
05/13/2026

Las puertas de Madrid y Toledo

Madrid: ciudad de balcones y miradores. Also, yours truly and the one and only .
05/09/2026

Madrid: ciudad de balcones y miradores. Also, yours truly and the one and only .

Some beautiful work today. I especially liked the work by - a bit in awe at the precision and consistency of her mark ...
01/26/2026

Some beautiful work today. I especially liked the work by - a bit in awe at the precision and consistency of her mark making. I’ve been doing some marking drills lately, and I can tell you it is NOT easy.

I saw the new by the Peter Zumthor. Without any experience of the interior, seen from the surrounding area I can saf...
12/11/2025

I saw the new by the Peter Zumthor. Without any experience of the interior, seen from the surrounding area I can safely say that it is a stunning addition to the landscape. When I came up Wilshire, I could hear the neoclassicists screaming “It looks like a freeway!” Which is exactly the point. As Rayner Banham said years ago, freeways are one of the four “ecologies” of LA: they’re the “genius loci” of this place and using their form as the jumping off point for a new monumental architecture is a fantastic idea. Like his other work, it’s the proportions and scale that he’s so good at. The construction quality, particularly the concrete, does not look up to the standards of his European projects; I can only imagine his frustration. And the fence along Wilshire does not say “welcome to this beautiful public space.” It seems like a missed opportunity. Whether the building meets its purpose remains to be seen. I predict the view up and down Wilshire will be fantastic.

Coincidentally I happened to see the Danziger Studio, a very early work by Frank Gehry. It’s a long way from the Disney ...
12/06/2025

Coincidentally I happened to see the Danziger Studio, a very early work by Frank Gehry. It’s a long way from the Disney Hall, but In three simple stucco volumes he started to invent his language of architecture. I had the pleasure of attending a small symposium with him, and had the opportunity to ask a question. Like another great architect I heard speak, Zaha Hadid, he answered clearly, directly, without jargon, and with a certain humility, but with conviction and more than a little poetry. His buildings embody many of those qualities. They are human spaces, meant to delight as much as to be useful, using material and form to shape space and provoke an emotional response in way almost no architect has done since the Baroque period. Unlike my professor all those years ago at The Cooper Union, I don’t think his work was a fad. Thank you, Frank Gehry, for the work you leave behind.

When you have old and frumpy, sometimes you need new and sleek. A little functional art - reflective nickel-finished cei...
10/28/2025

When you have old and frumpy, sometimes you need new and sleek. A little functional art - reflective nickel-finished ceiling fan to cool down a drafty Victorian without much insulation. Works like a charm.

A little high-desert modernism: the National Parks standard design for shelters in Capitol Reef National Park, borrowing...
09/19/2025

A little high-desert modernism: the National Parks standard design for shelters in Capitol Reef National Park, borrowing some Neutra spider-legs, and some 50’s streamline modern in Moab.

Abstraction or representation? Or both? Thievery, or reference? Originality or tradition? The Theibaud show at the Legio...
06/27/2025

Abstraction or representation? Or both? Thievery, or reference? Originality or tradition? The Theibaud show at the Legion of Honor, definitely worth a visit before it leaves. He’s more than just cake pics. Check it out.

Burbank Village cottages in The Sea Ranch by William Turnbull Associates. Intended as worker housing, the cottages are a...
06/03/2025

Burbank Village cottages in The Sea Ranch by William Turnbull Associates. Intended as worker housing, the cottages are affordable by design - simple forms with simple construction, minimal applied finishes, compact size. Yet, with their iconic profiles and careful siting, they have a presence that bigger structures in TSR lack.

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22 Montezuma Street
San Francisco, CA
94110

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Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm

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