Practice
My four decades in architecture, construction, and real estate development have been defined by an integrative philosophy: synthesizing expertise across the spectrum of professions in the built environment based on detailed problem analysis, deploying structured process, and precise execution to attain meaningful and profitable outcomes across diverse cultures and geographies in the United States, Middle East, and Europe. Underpinning the work: an ability to collaborate with a wide array of colleagues, clients, and partners from diverse fields and backgrounds.
I’ve worked in multiple scales and building types: from single-family to homeless shelter, religious center, office tower, retail center, multi-building office campus, multifamily apartments, and condominium communities. I’ve started and managed companies and developed projects that were market-makers.
The baseline of my professional life is a twenty-six-year yoga practice, a healthy lifestyle, discipline, and continuous education, including the study of wisdom traditions, philosophy, psychology, art, and architecture.
Background
Architectural studies at UC Berkeley and SCI-Arc (BArch 1985).
Los Angeles, California
1983: In between studies, I was commissioned to redesign and renovate a house in Hollywood, California.
1986: Upon receiving my degree in a weak economy, I worked as a set designer for television and movies at Universal and Burbank Studios.
New York, New York
1988: Hired as an architectural draftsman and site architect by Wallace Kaminsky Architects for homeless and low income housing projects.
1991: Recruited to be a project manager for a general contractor Dakar Developers for health facilities, homeless and low income housing projects.
Haifa, Israel
1995: Became the Site Architect for G.G. Engineers General Construction on the Bahai World Centre in Haifa, a monumental project with a contract stating in its preamble that the buildings were designed to last five hundred years. This was a masterclass in collaboration with professionals from all over the world at the highest level of craftsmanship.
Prague, Czech Republic
2000: With two partners, I started a project management company KLMG to manage development of large scale projects from concept through construction turnover for investment groups. I was the partner-in-charge of the Holešovice Port Master Plan, The Lighthouse, a 20-story office tower, and Palác Flóra, a million square foot mixed-use retail and office center.
Kyiv, Ukraine
2006: Recruited by one of our clients in Prague to become the General Manager of Seven Hills. Among our projects was Park Avenue, a 1,200-unit condominium community, which remains fully intact and operational to this day despite the hardships of war.
2007: On behalf of the Seven Hills investors, I designed and transformed a former IBM industrial site in Milan, Italy into a 5-building Class A office center, the Metro Complex.
Haifa, Israel
2010: After a decade of traveling for work and living away from home part-time, I resigned my position in Kyiv. In small town near my home, I developed two condominium projects—6 + 8 units each.
South Bend, Indiana
2013: After eighteen years abroad, I returned to the United States as the Managing Partner for River Rock Apartments and later Insite Development focused on multifamily apartments, completing 144 units, in small town USA. We were market makers and helped revitalize the housing and business development in these communities.
Washington, Connecticut
2025: Exited Indiana to focus on other projects and goals, I am developing luxury homes in Miami, Florida.
2026: I launched Architecture in the Gap, a website devoted to essays about the architecture and real estate professions and related issues.
License to Practice Architecture: New York State, 013624
Scott Sivan, AIA