Hood, 53, will keep his talents in Oakland, Calif., but he is moving from his live-in space in his studio to a new residence closer to the University of California at Berkeley.
Hood Design currently employs five designers, but that number may increase with the expansion of the studio.
Detail from the signature red doors that first attracted Hood to the studio.
Hood acknowledges that his studio has a comfortable quality absent from many of the sleek studios of his peers.
Hood’s notion of personal “presence” is evident in the juxtaposition of bamboo and barbecue in the studio courtyard.
"There is a sense that work is being made," Hood says. "We make a lot of models. I still draw. Work is all around you, from mock-up to materials."
"It’s what I think of as a studio. It’s not an office per se," Hood says. It’s not an environment suited to every designer who comes in. "The ones who don’t share that attitude get frustrated very fast."
Hood notes that his current studio has weathered the entire technological transformation of architecture—and remains unchanged in some ways.
Hood’s design for the 2.5-acre stretch of Seventh Street encompassing the West Oakland BART station includes pedestrian “dancing lights” and other features to reconcile the site’s industrial-rail past and gentrified-corridor future.
