Parker Klebahn
Q: Where are you from?
Born and raised in San Francisco, west coast best coast!
Q: Where did you go to school?
I went to Lick-Wilmerding High School here in SF and then Syracuse University in upstate NY, where I studied architecture and European history. After living on the East Coast for five years it was time to come back to San Francisco!
Q: Tell me about your family.
I have a younger sister who is currently in college in New York, my parents are both in education here in the Bay Area and I have two black labs, Atlas and Stella!
Q: What is the most interesting aspect of architecture to you?
I have always deeply appreciated the emotional connection that architecture creates between the designer and the client. I think that this is especially prevalent and important in the kind of work we do, single family residential. Working with clients to craft great spaces for their families is a beautiful and powerful thing to do every day. I think that this is something that often gets lost at larger scales and especially in commercial architecture. Creating spaces to enrich and galvanize our clients’ lives is extremely rewarding!
Q: What makes our office unique?
There are many things that make FA unique, it is an unbelievable group of people to work with every day, everyone is super talented and driven but there is such a high level of commitment amongst the whole office to promote a healthy, positive, and fun studio culture. Having worked here as an intern for two summers it felt very much like I was coming home to FA as opposed to starting a new job!
Q: Did you pick up any new hobbies during quarantine?
My dad and I started smoking our own barbeque! We had a smoker in out backyard for a solid 8 or 9 years without ever actually using it to smoke anything so we started trying to smoke our own brisket. It was pretty bad the first go around but we improved a lot in our next attempts and I think that now they’re better than anything you can get in the Bay Area!
Q: What’s your favorite part about coming to work? (in person or virtually)
Everyday at FA is fun, even when there are days up against a deadline where it can be more intense it’s still always a blast! This is also helped by the espresso machine and the liberal amount of quality snacks in the kitchen.
Q: What are the top three things on your bucket list?
I would really like to visit Antarctica! I’ve been fortunate enough to make it to 6 out of the 7 continents and would love to cap it off. I really want to design my own house someday (potentially a historical renovation project in Europe, but only time will tell!) Call it a pipedream but I got super into Formula One in the last few years and would love to try driving one of the cars. Maybe after some training and at slower speeds than they actually race. Side note: Lets go Lewis!
Q: Favorite SF hidden gem?
My favorite spot in the city is Loki Cove. Its right next to Chrissy field and is normally empty everyday even when Chrissy field is packed. I love grabbing a burrito and sitting there to enjoy the sunset in the evenings.
Q: What are five features you would include in your dream home?
I have always had a dream of buying a run-down villa in Tuscany on a large piece of land and re-designing it myself. A large orchard and space for a vegetable garden with lots of cypress trees! A pool for sure (Italy gets hot in the summer). I would really like to have a detached large space for hobbies, I love to build things and it would be nice to have space for that. Piranesi prints everywhere!
