IwamotoScott

What IwamotoScott does

IwamotoScott Architecture is a privately held architecture and design practice founded in San Francisco in 2002 by Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott. The firm operates as a design-intensive office in which all projects are led by both founding partners, supported by a small team of designers (approximately 11-50 employees). It serves enterprise technology companies, real estate developers, educational institutions, and high-end residential clients across a portfolio organized into four categories: Buildings (commercial, residential, mixed-use, institutional), Interiors, Installations, and Speculations.

The firm's technical differentiation rests on digital fabrication, parametric design, design computation, and materials research capabilities applied across scales from art installations to buildings. Proprietary techniques include PaperWood, fiber optics, cellular origami, and tessellated facade systems. The practice has produced notable work for clients including Pinterest (HQ, HQ2, NYC), Google (PaperCloud, PixelTree installations), Twitch, Bloomberg (Tech Hub), Fortinet (HQ), Alexandria Real Estate (multiple projects including 1450 Owens Life Sciences), Ivy Tech Community College (Moravec Hall), UCSF, and developers Tishman Speyer, L37, and Dacra. The firm has been recognized with over 100 design awards, exhibitions in more than 50 museums and galleries including MoMA, the Guggenheim, SFMOMA, and Vitra Design Museum, and extensive publication in architectural journals.

IwamotoScott generates revenue through professional services fees on a project-by-project basis, with no public pricing tiers. Distribution is via direct enterprise engagement, design competitions, RFPs, and referrals from academic networks and existing clients. Geographic operations span the San Francisco Bay Area as the primary market with active projects in Los Angeles, Columbus, New York, Austin, Miami, and internationally in China (Chengdu, Beijing, Ordos), South Korea, Sweden, Estonia, Germany, Belgium, Serbia, and Ghana. The practice is independent, with no disclosed external investment or parent company, and its founding partners concurrently hold senior academic appointments at UC Berkeley and California College of the Arts.

Name

IwamotoScott

Legal name

IwamotoScott Architecture

Website

https://iwamotoscott.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

IwamotoScott is a San Francisco architecture and design firm founded in 2002, specializing in buildings, interiors, installations, and speculative projects using digital fabrication and parametric design. It serves enterprise technology, real estate developer, and institutional clients under a founder-led project model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Architectural Services

NAICS

Architectural Services (541310), Interior Design Services (541410)

akta.pro primary industry

Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Industrial/Product & Furniture Design (BPAHAKAM)

Keywords

• Architectural design services
• Parametric architecture
• Digital fabrication
• Tech office interiors
• Speculative urban design

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Architectural Design Services: Project-based fees for architectural design services spanning buildings, interiors, installations, and speculative projects. Revenue derived from design fees, consultation, and project management across commercial, residential, and institutional sectors.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

IwamotoScott Architecture is a design-intensive architecture practice that provides full-service architectural design across four categories: Buildings (commercial, residential, mixed-use, institutional, life sciences), Interiors (commercial and residential), Installations (fabricated architectural installations and exhibitions), and Speculations (visionary competition entries and conceptual urban projects). All projects are led by Founding Partners Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott, supported by in-house expertise in digital fabrication, parametric/computational design, and materials research.

Product overview

IwamotoScott Architecture is an award-winning architecture firm established in San Francisco in 2002 by Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott. The firm offers a comprehensive range of architectural services organized into four main categories: Buildings (commercial, residential, mixed-use, and institutional), Interiors (residential and commercial interior design), Installations (fabricated architectural installations and exhibitions), and Speculations (visionary competition entries and conceptual projects). Their portfolio includes tech office design for major clients like Pinterest, Twitch, and Bloomberg, educational facilities like Ivy Tech Community College, and innovative residential projects. The firm distinguishes itself through expertise in digital fabrication, design computation, and material innovation, with over 100 design awards including AIA Design Awards, the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt 2019 National Design Award, and Interior Design 2018 Hall of Fame recognition. The practice operates as a design-intensive office where all projects are led by both Founding Partners with teams of designers, emphasizing collaboration and technological innovation at every scale from art installations to urban visions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Architectural Design Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 100 design awards including over 25 AIA Design Awards
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Henning LarsenminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2024Interior design collaboration on 395 3rd Street project. Henning Larsen is design architect for the building while IwamotoScott provides interior design services. Located two blocks from Moscone Center and SFMOMA in San Francisco.
• DGA (Architect of Record)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2024Architect of Record for 1450 Owens project. IwamotoScott is Design Architect, DGA serves as Architect of Record for this seven-story, 200,000sf Life Sciences building in SF's Mission Bay district.
• CSO (Architect of Record)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2020Executive Architect collaboration on Ivy Tech Community College project. CSO served as Executive Architect for Moravec Hall while IwamotoScott was Design Architect. Project was 80,000sf campus building in Columbus, Indiana sponsored by Cummins Foundation Architecture Program.
• BionicminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLandscape Architect for 1450 Owens project. Bionic provides landscape architecture services as part of the project team.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Snøhetta: An international architecture and design firm with an interdisciplinary approach, strong cultural and institutional portfolio, and emphasis on computation and contextual design. Like IwamotoScott, Snøhetta operates design-intensive offices where senior partners drive creative direction.
• Studio Gang: A high-design, research-driven architecture practice with strong ties to academia and a portfolio spanning cultural, residential, and institutional work. Studio Gang competes directly with IwamotoScott for design-intensive commissions that prioritize formal innovation and material experimentation.
• Studio O+A: A design studio focused on tech workplace interiors and headquarters for major technology and media clients. Studio O+A competes most directly with IwamotoScott on the tech office interior segment that powers much of the firm's revenue (Pinterest, Twitch, Bloomberg, Fortinet).
• Bohlin Cywinski Jackson: An award-winning architecture firm with a high-design ethos spanning cultural, residential, and tech office work. BCJ's portfolio of distinctive workplaces and institutional projects puts it in direct competition for the same kind of design-intensive commissions IwamotoScott pursues.
• Morphosis: Thom Mayne's high-design architecture practice with deep roots in digital fabrication and material experimentation. Both IwamotoScott founders worked at Morphosis, and the firm shares a focus on formal experimentation, cultural buildings, and academic-technology crossover.
• Heatherwick Studio: A London-based design studio practicing architecture, interiors, and installations with a heavy emphasis on material innovation and fabrication craft. Heatherwick's installation-heavy practice directly parallels IwamotoScott's "Installations" and "Speculations" categories.
• SHoP Architects: A NYC-based architecture firm known for advanced digital fabrication, computational design, and large-scale mixed-use and cultural projects. SHoP's emphasis on fabrication-driven design and complex geometry parallels IwamotoScott's digital fabrication expertise.

Broad incumbents

• HOK: A large global architecture firm with significant workplace, science & technology, and institutional practices. HOK competes with IwamotoScott for corporate campus and institutional commissions but operates at much larger scale with broader service lines.
• Gensler: The largest architecture and design firm globally, with a massive tech workplace and interiors practice serving many of the same enterprise technology clients as IwamotoScott. Gensler competes on the same end markets but at vastly greater scale and with broader services beyond architecture.
• Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF): One of the world's largest architecture practices, known for high-rise commercial, residential, and mixed-use towers. KPF competes with IwamotoScott on multi-family and commercial building projects but operates at a scale and a tower specialization that IwamotoScott does not pursue.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xinstagram.com/iwamotoscott
• Facebookfacebook.com/IwamotoScott
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/iwamotoscott-architecture

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about IwamotoScott