A Small Architect Thinking Big
April 17, 2010
Kevin deFreitas, a native of Escondido, graduated cum laude with an architecture degree from the University of Arizona in 1992. His special interest in urban architecture and planning led to further study at Berkeley and in Florence. He established his practice, Kevin deFreitas Architects, AIA in San Diego. Then he established a second firm, Sebastian + deFreitas, Inc., specifically to employ emerging technologies to achieve sustainable residential urban in-fill projects. His work has been recognized with numerous national, state, and local awards and magazine articles. These include San Diego Home & Garden’s Home of the Year, a national AIA Honor Award for his Rowhomes on F, a couple of San Diego AIA Awards for his Casa Familia, a San Diego AIA Young Architect of the Year Award, and just last month, a national AIA Young Architect of the Year Award.
Kevin’s sense of civic commitment has led him to serve on the boards of several non-profit organizations and community-planning groups. He is true to his belief that, instead of merely complaining about problems, one should create solutions. He also provides pro-bono architectural services to various church and youth organizations.
Kevin and his wife, Kara, have four children, who give him the opportunity to balance his career with some Little League and soccer coaching.
A couple months ago, a newspaper quoted Kevin as saying, “Every architect has one dream job they want to do in their lifetime, and mine was …” Well, on April 17th, he’ll show us how thinking big has led him through a progression of modest projects, from a remodel to his dream job.