ABA operates today under the leadership of Principals Lee Salin, FAIA, and Mark Schoeman, AIA; Associate Principals Krista Nelson, AIA, Katherine Rivard, and Jason Hull, AIA; and Associates Amy Crawford, NCDIQ, JuanCarlos Fematt,AIA, and Frédérik Sisa. Together, they optimistically chart a course forward to serve clients with the balance of idealism and pragmatism that yields projects genuinely connected to people and communities. But credit for ABA’s ongoing success must also be attributed to the legacy of its founders, Pamela Anderson-Brulé, FAIA, and Pierre Brulé, who have created an enduring culture rooted in collaboration, mentorship, and discovery. With this timeline, we share ABA’s evolution in honor of its founders and our enthusiasm for the next generation.
1984: Ready, Set, Go!
Pamela Anderson-Brulé and Pierre Brulé co-found Image Design Planners (IDP), a design firm that begins with a specialization in high-end commercial, retail, restaurant, and residential design, eventually expanding with planning and interior design work.
1988: Momentum Builds
With an increase in work, Pamela and Pierre are able to focus exclusively on IDP. Client connections fostered over the previous 4 years, including with civic clients such as the City of San Ramon and the City of San José Redevelopment Agency, help diversify the practice and cement IDP’s reputation as a versatile planning and design firm.
IDP moves its offices to downtown San José and adds full-time administrative and professional staff. Key to this phase of growth is the firm’s capacity to experiment, develop, and refine ideas and methodologies across varied building typologies, fostering a culture of learning and discovery.
1989: Towards a New Practice Model and Methodology
Eager to improve IDP’s practice of architecture, Pam enrolls in design firm leadership courses at Harvard University – and effort later enhanced by supplemental studies at the Advanced Management Institute founded by Lou Marines, Hon. AIA. Combined with her years of practice, her academic work leads her to combine business thinking, design thinking, systems thinking and living system theory to develop Strategic Process Design. This groundbreaking methodology positions the firm as facilitator, services consultant, and efficiency experts. In turn, this enables a multi-faceted focus on problem-solving that leads clients to co-design the experience they envision for their user groups through an understanding of specific services offered and environments needed.
1992: Growth Spurt
The firm expands its work to include major architectural projects. IDP’s healthcare practice reaches a significant milestone in the development of a prototype clinic to support a new health delivery model for Santa Clara County Health & Hospitals Valley Medical Center. Prior to the prototype’s design and construction, the first of seven clinics, IDP facilitated a process to develop a new service and operational plan encompassing an understanding of the patient experience, workflow analyses, and service delivery.
The firm also achieves a milestone in its educational practice when Palo Alto Unified School District retains ABA for their development of “A Roadmap to the School Facilities Renovation Project” which establishes the process and protocol for a $143 M bond program, the largest in California at the time. ABA also worked in conjunction with Perkins & Will to develop the “Building for Excellence Program,” a master plan for bond-funded projects.
1994: Celebrating 10 Years of Practice
IDP is incorporated on November 16th and renamed Anderson Brulé Architects.
2000: Bridging Past, Present and Future
ABA moves to its current offices in the historic Dohrmann Building at 325 South 1st Street. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 1926 building designed in Classical/Spanish Colonial Revival architectural style is one of three remaining terra-cotta clad, commercial building in the downtown that displays its original design. It serves as a beautiful reminder to cherish the best of our heritage while looking to the future.
2003: A Milestone for San José, San José State University, and ABA
Opening of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, a unique 479,100-SF library jointly used by the San José Public Library and San José State University. Before serving as associate architect in collaboration with Gunnar Birkerts and Carrier Johnson for its design, ABA led the development of the pioneering Strategic Operational Plan & Model to seamlessly integrate services from the two libraries into a single, community-oriented facility.
2015: Career Accomplishments and New Leadership
Pamela Anderson-Brulé is elevated to the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows, the first woman in Santa Clara County to achieve the organization’s highest rank.
An experienced architect who is also well-known in the architectural industry as the 2015 President of the American Institute of Architects California Council, Lee Salin, FAIA, joins the firm as Managing Principal.
Also joining the firm as a Principal, after a long-standing and successful career at Stanford University and Stanford Medical Center, is David O’Brien, AIA.
2016: STEM for Education for Young Women
Opening of the new high school Math & Science Building at Santa Catalina School, a project with great personal significance to Pamela Anderson-Brulé as an alumni of the school. The new building offers innovative opportunities in STEM education to support young women in their academic journey.
2017: Promotions
After 10 years with ABA working in the firm’s community and education practices, Jason Hull, AIA, is promoted to Associate Principal and joins the firm's leadership group. Krista Nelson, AIA, is also promoted to Associate Principal, an acknowledgement of her 22 years with ABA.
2018: Another Promotion
Further expanding the firm’s leadership group, Katherine Rivard is promoted to Associate Principals after 13 years with ABA. She assumes leadership of ABA’s community practice.
2019: A STEM Renovation
The renovation of Santa Clara University’s Heafey Bergin building is completed, transforming a historic building into a technologically advanced, interdisciplinary instructional space for the School of Engineering and a key expression of an ambitious campus-wide STEM program. Prior to designing the renovation, ABA assisted the University with visioning and programming for a campus-wide STEM initiative.
2020: Welcoming A Design Leader
Mark Schoeman, AIA, joins ABA as Design Principal, bringing decades of design experience across the firm’s core educational, community, and healthcare markets.
Opening of Ohlone College’s new $119 M, 190,000 sf Academic Core Building comprising library, music & visual arts, and science buildings, for which ABA served as planner and interiors architect.
Also opening: the City of Salinas’ new El Gabilan Library, two-story, 20,800-sf building that beautifully expresses a community-defined vision for an inclusive and sustainable place of life-long learning.
2022: The Next Generation
With the retirement of its founders, ABA moves forward with a new generation of leaders and firm owners. Inspired by Pam and Pierre’s example and legacy, they guide the firm with a refreshed vision for a practice that supports all people through education, health & wellness, and civic engagement.
Opening of CSU East Bay’s CORE, designed by the partnership of ABA (interiors & core systems) and CannonDesign (shell/exteriors). The new LEED-Gold Building provides a modern and lively hub for academic study, library services, and state-of-the-art programs for innovation, entrepreneurship, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
2024-25: 40 Years of Practice … and a new name!
ABA celebrates its 40th anniversary! The firm renames itself ABA Studios, reflecting a renewed creative focus to serve our communities.
