The studio

A practice, deliberately small

Twelve people. Two principals. One studio in a converted ferry-terminal warehouse on Bainbridge Island. Founded 2014.

Why we stayed small

The math of architecture at this size is unkind to growth: every doubling of the staff cuts the time a principal can spend on any given project roughly in half. We hit twelve people in 2019, kept the door closed for a year, and decided to stay. The cap means we turn down work we’d otherwise enjoy. It also means every project we take on has a principal on it from the first sketch to the last punch list, which is the only thing we’ve found that consistently produces buildings we want to put our name on.

What we work on

• Residential. Primary residences for long-term clients, almost always on difficult sites. We don’t do additions or spec work.
• Civic and cultural. Libraries, museums, community centers. Smaller publicly-funded buildings on the Salish Sea coast.
• Adaptive reuse. Working warehouses, boathouses, ferry terminals. The category that taught us the most about material.

Principals

Margaret Yoshida, AIA. Founder. Cornell B.Arch. 2001, MIT M.Arch. 2005. Practiced at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson before founding Hillcrest. Civic + adaptive reuse lead.

Theo Park, AIA. Principal since 2018. UW B.Arch. 2006, Yale M.Arch. 2010. Joined Hillcrest in 2015 as a project architect. Residential lead.

Recognition

• AIA Seattle Honor Award, 2025 (Cedar Cove House)
• WA State AIA Merit Award, 2024 (Salish Sea Boathouse)
• The Architect’s Newspaper, Best of Design 2024
• Architectural Record House of the Month, October 2023 (North Slope Studio)