In October 2007, SWA celebrated its 50th anniversary. We decided that rather than celebrating the entire event internally, it would be great, with all of our employees in one location, to carry out a pro-bono project on behalf of our host city—San Francisco.

Working with officials at the Bay View Opera House and the Arts Commission, we put all six of our U.S. offices to work on a plan to improve the site at the dignified but neglected Opera House. On Friday October 19th, SWA people, members of the community, and city officials coalesced on the site to implement the plan in a very personal way.

The vision of the plan was to contribute to a much larger community- and city-driven effort to bring life to the Opera House as a very visible gateway to the Hunter's Point district. The specific design included marquee signage, a garden café, a story garden with seating, planting, and lighting, a celebration of the existing 100 year old trees which currently grace the site, as well as the distribution of several new trees to be planted throughout the community. We were very fortunate to have several other companies donate time and materials (all listed in the video).

This effort reinforced for all of us the importance of professionals in the design industry finding ways big and small, collectively and individually, to contribute to the well-being of our regional and local communities.