North Beach Residence
Heliotrope Architects
2009 AIA Seattle Merit Award
Steven N. Arai AIA, AICP 9/3/46 - 12/27/06 AIA Seattle President 2001-02
Archives: AIA Seattle Presidents
The Pacific Northwest architectural community lost an exceptional leader with the recent death of Steve Arai. His active professionalism, passionate community service and philosophy of inclusiveness will be deeply missed.
Steve Arai had deep roots in both Northwest architecture and Seattle's Asian American community. An ancestor, Steve's uncle Kichio Allen Arai, was the first Asian American to design buildings using his own name. Steve led his practice to extraordinary achievement in civic architecture and historic preservation, and he drew others to join him in significant community and professional activism.
From the beginning of his career, working with the late Mel Streeter AIA, Steve (BArch UW 1969) committed himself to advancing the quality of community life. Upon joining Arai/ Jackson (now Arai Jackson Ellison Murakami) in 1977, Steve directed one of the Northwest's foremost civic design firms. Through his leadership, the firm has helped guide communities throughout the Northwest to achieve well-designed public facilities across a range of building types, from city halls and county courthouses to Native American tribal centers. Steve and his partners also directed some of the region's largest and most complex transportation projects, generating a remarkable degree of public trust and confidence.
Steve's professional commitment extended to his leadership at the AIA. Particularly notable are his campaign for the passage of legislation to increase contracting opportunities for women and minorities (WMBE), his service as Chair of the AIA Seattle Diversity Roundtable, his term as AIA Seattle 2001-02 President, his energetic encouragement of investment in diversity through the endowment of scholarship programs, and his commitment to public activism as a member of the AIA Washington Board. In 2003, AIA Seattle presented Steve with the Community Service Award.
Steve never lost sight of his roots, and dedicated a major portion of his practice to the preservation of community heritage and projects within the Asian community. His interest in historic preservation included an impressive list of projects by his own firm, as well as two decades of service on the Council of Historic Seattle. As a Trustee of the Japanese American National Museum, he joined his personal hero and friend US Senator Daniel Inouye, US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, and others in advancing the mission of a unique cultural facility.
In both his practice and his civic service, Steve Arai connected design with community, and through his personal example and caring relationships drew others to join him in expressing and supporting those professional commitments.
Professional Service and Appointments
• AIA Seattle, President 2001-2002; Diversity Roundtable 1994-present
• Historic Seattle Preservation & Development Authority, Council Member 1983-present
• Historic Seattle Preservation Foundation, Founding Board Member 1998-present
• Japanese American National Museum, Board of Trustees 1997-present
• Center for the Preservation of Democracy, Board of Trustees, 2000-present
• Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, Member
• National Trust for Historic Preservation, Member
Steven N. Arai AIA
His colleagues offer memories of Steve Arai, below:
Susan Okamoto (sister):
Our families were able to spend Christmas together and were blessed with time to savor the holiday together. Naturally, it was too short a time with loved ones, but we will cherish those memories.
Jim Suehiro AIA:
Steve was friend and architect colleague, AIA colleague, fellow Seattle Japanese American architect, and interestingly on occasion - someone whom I was honored to be mistaken for. I felt it an honor because of Steve's extraordinary accomplishments and his quietly earned respect of those in our community. I met Steve many years ago through our work with AIA Seattle. We had common interests in the Diversity Roundtable of the Chapter. This AIA forum became a long-standing activity, and I watched Steve do extraordinary work on behalf of others, a great leader with clear vision and purpose to help us achieve more. Steve came with wonderful personal skills to show us the way. What I greatly appreciated in Steve was that he was a most gracious and respectful warrior as he worked through complex issues that affected people - he never forgot that people were also individuals.
Randy L. Everett AIA:
Steve was a wonderful role model, combining attributes to which we all aspire - calm, articulate, friendly, considerate, thoughtful, modest, civic minded volunteer, dedicated to and advocate for family/community/profession - these are just a few of the qualities that come to mind immediately when remembering Steve. I treasure the memories of visiting our DC legislator's offices in the company of Steve on my first Grassroots adventure, of the many early morning ExCom meetings in the Market, and of his wise counsel in recent years.
Walter Schacht AIA:
This is sad news for all of us. Steve was a very important member of the AIA Seattle family. He will be missed greatly by everyone in the community. Richard W. Hobbs FAIA: A strong, quiet, and most thoughtful leader. We will truly miss his presence.
Ellen Southard, AIA Seattle Hon. Member:
He was such a gracious man. It seemed he always had such thoughtful observations. I always enjoyed hearing him at our AIA meetings.
Teresa Rodriguez AIA:
I had the pleasure of working with Steve on two projects for the City of Seattle: The Myrtle Street Radio Tower in 1993, and the Southwest Precinct Police Station in 1999. When I met him, I was a young Project Manager at the City, and Steve was Principal at Arai Jackson. The radio tower project was of course very contentious in the neighborhood. However, Steve was so smooth in our public meetings that you didn't even know he was smooth, just noticed that people fell in love with him. He was extremely skilled at listening and guiding people in the public design process. He was a mentor to me in the realm of public involvement, saying to me at our first public meeting: 'You're a natural.' HE certainly was. He always led equally with his heart and with his brain. He was an exceptional man."
Keli Hagen Assoc. AIA: Memories of working with Steve on our beautiful diversity committee reminds me that I need to get back involved with our vision and commitment to our young people of diversity in architecture. Tears for Steve and his beautiful family, how we are going to miss his kind face and heart, he also had the humor of Native people that I connected with...and his family history he was so proud of....oh goodness, and family values...
