As founder and Design Director of Lowney Architecture, Ken Lowney is a firm believer in public service through architecture. Over the last 20 years, Ken has focused on promoting the civic and environmental well-being of Oakland, California and the Greater Bay Area.

After leading several interdisciplinary design studios at the California College of the Arts investigating issues of time, scale and the Bay Area’s landscape; in 2003 Ken founded Lowney Architecture to provide elegant, functional and environmentally progressive designs to the commercial, retail and residential sectors.

This focused direction has resulted in a stream of environmentally sound projects such as: Whole Foods Markets in Oakland, California, which involved the adaptive reuse of a masonry and steel historic building; Whole Foods Market in San Jose and in Dublin; Kaiser Medical Office Building; a LEED certified shopping center in Pacifica, California, Pedro Point Shopping Center; a Mill Valley residence; a PG&E office building in Richmond, California; and Hampton Legacy Apartments, a mixed use multi-family project in Berkeley, California. Ken’s current focus is on planned LEED Certified projects.

Ken advocates for ecologically sound development throughout the Bay Area has been a regular contributor to the Greenbelt Alliance’s Compact Development Team. He is a member of the East Bay American Institute of Architects (AIA) and a LEED AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional; and is past-Chair of the House Building Committee of the Oakland Rotary Club.

Ken is a five-time participant in the annual Go Greenbelt! Fundraiser, a 500-mile bike ride around the Bay. An avid bicyclist, he participates in criteriums and road races throughout Northern California as a member of the Team Oakland Cycling Kaiser Permanente racing team.

Prior to founding Lowney Architecture, as a Project Architect at the New York office of Gensler, Ken served clients such as McKinsey & Company, Rockefeller & Company, and NBC. Then, as a lead designer at Gensler’s San Francisco office, he worked on complex projects including hotels, office buildings, pedestrian bridges, parking structures; and prototype and rollout designs for VW, Nissan, Ford and Lincoln-Mercury automobile dealerships; and a variety of master planning projects including the Letterman Digital Arts Center at the Presidio of San Francisco. The Letterman Digital Arts Center, designed for George Lucas/Lucasfilm, was a project focused on mainaining the original character of the Presidio, restoring the site to fit within the National Park, an energy efficient design and minimal vehicular traffic.

Ken received his Master of Architecture degree from Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc); and attended the Architectural Association in London.

He received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Occidental College in Los Angeles, and continues an avid private study of the subject.