Pauly & Ivan were transplanted from Sydney to San Diego in 2005 & 2006, respectively, to open the first international office for a prominent Australian Architecture & Design firm with the goal of bringing Australian design sensibilities to the American urban-housing market.
During the 2008 global financial crisis, both Pauly & Ivan remained in San Diego while the rest of the Australian contingent headed home. The two founders stayed put with the dreams of starting their own design practice, establishing DBRDS in 2008.
In 2009, our first clients, the Ryan family, found DBRDS through Linkedin searching for ‘Australian Designers in San Diego’. Patrick, a fellow Aussie, knew he wanted to include a sense of Australian planning principles & materiality resulting in a beautiful SoCal beach-life home in Bird Rock and a truly enjoyable collaboration & friendship.
DBRDS opens first office in San Diego’s historic Gaslamp Quarter in 2010.
With very little paid work, and being far too stubburn to quit, our first three years gave us the opportunity to entrench ourselves in the San Diego Municipal Code & state density-bonus law. While the development market wasn’t active, we used this time to hone our knowledge & passion by studying site after site across all of the San Diego village neighborhoods from coast to east county.
The work might have been slow, but the creativity does not turn off, and so in 2011 we shared our concept for the East Village Chargers Stadium Masterplan concept.
Inspired by the San Diego Chargers 'lighting bolt’ logo, the vision was a result of years of seeing the same place-holder stadium rendering used on potential sites scattered throughout San Diego. We felt a new, fresh, dynamic vision was needed to inspire San Diegan’s to get behind a valid effort to retain the Chargers in San Diego.
In 2011 Pauly volunteered for the first time with the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s Orchids & Onions program where he was introduced to fellow volunteer Craig Howard.
In 2012, after graduating from the NewSchool of Architecture & Design, Craig walked into the office, sat down, declared “I work here now”, and has never left.
The volunteerism bug bit us rather hard leading to Pauly spending 10 years on the board of the San Diego Architectural Foundation (501c3), 5 years as President, 2 years on the Gaslamp Quarter Association (501c6) Board of Directors, 2 years on the GQA Land Use & Planning Committee, 2 years as Co-Chair of the La Jolla Historical Society Young Architects Summer Camp (for middle school & high school students), and in 2016 was honored in the Daily Transcipt ‘40 under 40’ recipients.
Craig also spent 2 years on the SDAF Board, of which 1-year were in the role of Vice President.
AIA San Diego names DBRDS winner of the 2013 Balboa Park Centennial Gateway Competition Winner
Greenstone Rowhomes - 2016 PCBC Gold Nugget Grand Award for Multifamily Housing (18-30 du/acre)
DBRDS is awarded a 2017 BIA ICON Award for Best Architectural Design for the 1779 Collingwood House
In 2018, DBRDS was invited to be the Designer of Record for a new mid-rise development in Midtown Sacramento. Collaborating AoR Project Architect Haneen Khater lead the documentation process, and through a series of project meetings & trips to Sacramento, a connection was born, both professionally & personally. It was obvious to us that Haneen brought a high level of knowledge, but with a confidence & swagger than matched our own.
It was at that moment we knew we found a great partner, and we invited Haneen to join DBRDS as Principal Architect.
In 2018, APA San Diego awards the ‘Best Comprehensive Plan - Small Jurisdiction’ - City of National City Downtown Specific Plan, prepared by KTUA, DBRDS & Urbanist Howard Blackson III.
NAIOP 2019 ‘Space & Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR)‘ University Challenge Winner - Team University of San Diego in collaboration with Urban Housing Partners.
DBRDS relocates office to Little Italy in 2020.
Haneen is acknowledged as a finalist in the 2021 San Diego Business Journal’s ‘Business Women of the Year.’
Build Architecture awards DBRDS 2022 & 2023 Best Multi-Cultural Architecture & Design Studio - California Best Residential Historic Adaption (West Coast USA) for Taft House, Bird Rock in 2022.
DBRDS opens our second office in Oak Park, Sacramento in 2024.
In 2024, Pauly, along with Maxine Ward & Margit Whitlock, is bestowed the honorary title of President Emeritus as he resigned from the board of the San Diego Architectural Foundation after 10 years of service.
Pauly is announced a winner in the 2024 Architectural Record Cocktail Napkin Sketch competition. His submission is presented at AR’s 2024 Innovation Conference in New York City.
DBRDS partners in collaboration with Yellow Brick Group & OSP Consulting to launch the Sacramento Architecture + Design Foundation (SAC_AF) in 2025 combining a collective 30+ years in architecture & design specific non-profit volunteerism and management experience with a mission to promote good architecture & design in the Sacramento region.
And there’s still so much more to come…
