Michael Pyatok, FAIA, is a nationally respected architect, educator, and housing advocate whose career has redefined what affordable design can mean for communities. Founder of Oakland-based Pyatok Architecture + Urban Design, Pyatok has spent decades creating thousands of housing units that blend thoughtful design with social responsibility. His work proves that budget-conscious projects can still offer dignity, beauty, and a strong sense of place, earning him recognition such as the American Institute of Architects’ prestigious Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture and his elevation to the AIA College of Fellows.
Raised in Brooklyn and trained at Pratt Institute and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, Pyatok’s early experiences shaped his lifelong commitment to equitable housing. He is known for a participatory design approach that brings residents, neighborhoods, and civic stakeholders directly into the creative process, ensuring that the resulting communities reflect real needs and aspirations rather than top-down assumptions. Alongside his practice, he has shared his expertise with future architects as a tenured professor at the University of Washington, and as a visiting professor at universities including Harvard, MIT, UC Berkeley, the Universities of Oregon and Texas.
This year, Pyatok brings his deep expertise to the Bay Area’s design community as one of the distinguished judges for the AIA East Bay Design Awards. His presence on the jury underscores the importance of socially conscious design in shaping the future of architecture. With a career dedicated to elevating affordable housing into a platform for architectural excellence, Pyatok offers an invaluable perspective on projects that strive to balance innovation, sustainability, and community impact.