A Master of Architecture from the University of California Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, from Harvard is a promising way for renowned architect, Mark Cavagnero to begin what would become a prominent career.
One of four sons raised in a small town in Connecticut, Cavagnero started his career in the New York office of Edward Larabee Barnes/John M.Y. Lee Architects. After directing a number of projects, he went on in 1988 to co-fund San Francisco- based firm, Barnes and Cavagnero, which in five years time would be renamed Mark Cavagnero Associates. Since then Cavagnero has completed a wide and diverse array of projects from civic to cultural. Among his most significant undertakings have been projects such as the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, University of California Berkeley’s Durant Hall, East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, Sonoma State University Weill Commons at the Green Music Center in Rohnert Park, and the San Francisco Community School for Music and Arts. Cavagnero recalls the experience of walking his parents through the reopening of the Legion of Honor Museum in 1995 and realizing for the first time how young he was to have been given all that responsibility. His parents’ pride in that moment made him believe all the struggle and dedication to becoming an architect was worth it.
Among more than one hundred accolades and recognitions received by Mark Cavagnero Associates is the earned ranking of #10 in Architect Magazine’s Architect 50, the AIA California Council’s 2012 Firm Award as well as the AIA Distinguished Practice Award. The firm has also received press from distin- guished publications such as Architectural Record, Business Week, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, California Home & Design and The San Francisco Chronicle.
New projects continue to populate the horizon for Mark Cavagnero Associates and, while continuing to shape the face of San Francisco’s architecture, Mark graciously permitted SOMA to take a peek at his palm.
Text by Jennifer Richardson-Moulaison