It all started in a basement in San Francisco in a North Beach neighborhood (really). In 1966, our three founding Principals, Robert Arrigoni, FAIA, Howard Backen, FAIA, and Bruce Ross, FAIA, instituted a timeless approach that balances respect for the existing context with innovation and creativity. 55 years later, BAR Architects & Interiors continues to thrive and grow with offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles, offering an extensive and diverse portfolio of architecture, interiors and planning commissions that foster community.

The Beginning – Backen, Arrigoni & Ross, 1966

Although a logical successor to the Bay Area Regionalists of a generation earlier, the culture and design orientation of Backen, Arrigoni & Ross was infused with a diverse and complex set of influences that were entirely the product of the three founding partners and their simultaneous education and friendship while at the University of Oregon from 1955 to 1961.

Backen, Arrigoni & Ross came out of this school with a strong foundation in modernism and architectural theory, a respect for context, a broad knowledge of architectural history, and an awareness of both Bay Area and Pacific Northwest traditions. Fad and fashion held no sway, the modern and theoretical coexisted with the historical, and the allied arts – including landscape and interior design – completed the picture. As their partnership evolved, they crafted a practice that balanced artistic endeavor with the goals of a business and the realities of building.

The firm’s early work demonstrated an all-inclusive design process that would grow to pervade the practice. An attitude prevailed of “anything goes (as long as it’s good),” as Bob Arrigoni would say. The overriding concern of incorporating site planning, landscape architecture, and interior design with architecture marked a way of thinking that would distinguish the work to come and continues at BAR Architects to this day. In 1999, the firm officially changed its name to BAR Architects, and one year later it was named Firm of the Year by the American Institute of Architects California Council.

BAR Architects & Interiors Today

The intellectual rigor and capacity for critical thought, along with a timeless approach that balances respect for the existing context with innovation and creativity instituted by the founding partners, is alive and well at BAR today. The firm continues to thrive and grow as an architectural, interiors and planning firm with an extensive and diverse award-winning portfolio of mixed-use and multifamily housing, custom homes, hospitality and wineries, education and the arts, and commercial and retail centers.

As new partners joined the firm, they brought their backgrounds and talent to the firm’s work, fostered existing relationships, and forged significant new ones. Each individual’s expertise has broadened the range and location of project types. Today’s partners pursue design with the same enthusiasm and self-critical approach promulgated by our predecessors. The firm has received over 200 awards including a Presidential Citation and continues to be widely published.

Signatory to the AIA’s 2030 Commitment to achieving net zero by the year 2030, the principles of environmentally conscious design advocated by the founding partners have found a home with the majority of our forward thinking staff trained in FitWell, Build it Green and/or LEED accredited.

Study models, sketches, computer renderings and drawings line the walls and office. And while technology is an important and integral part of the practice, whether in the physical office or remotely, partners, associates, and staff continue to view drawing, dialogue, and collaboration as indispensable to critical, developmental thinking. R&D on a variety of topics support our growth and help us advance our design, enabling BAR to make strides to combat climate change, support social impact and our belief in equity for all.