About Us

Davids Killory Architecture was founded in 1987. Our office is a laboratory for the exploration of new materials and technologies as well as the reinterpretation of traditional building types, the potential for landscape to influence architectural form, and the development of architecture responsive to social change. Our interest in affordable housing extends beyond its value as a rewarding civic practice to its potential to open up possibilities for social and formal innovation. We're driven by attention to detail and willing to spend whatever time it takes to get a building right. No job is too small and we're a good team on a tight budget.

Davids Killory Architecture has received international recognition for architectural design: AIA National Honor Awards for Sunrise Place, Daybreak Grove, and Observatory House, Federal Design Awards for Sunrise Place and Daybreak Grove and Progressive Architecture Awards for Daybreak Grove and Sunrise Place, as well as numerous other local, regional and national awards. Our work has been published widely in the national and international press, featured in exhibitions and seen on TV. AsBuilt, our series on formal and material innovation in architecture, is published by Princeton Architectural Press.

René Davids, Principal

René Davids, FAIA (born Santiago, Chile) received his bachelor of architecture degree from the Universidad de Chile and on a British Council Fellowship, a master’s degree in environmental design from the Royal College of Art in London. He headed a Diploma School Unit at the Architectural Association School for eight years and also taught at the Royal College of Art and the Macintosh School in Glasgow. Before becoming Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the UC Berkeley School of Architecture, he taught architecture at the University of California, San Diego, the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago and the University of New Mexico. René Davids is Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a member of the Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile. He was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and a Progressive Architecture Award for research on the hillside elevators of Valparaíso, Chile and is currently working on a book that examines the relationship between technology, topography and urbanism in selected North and South American cities.

Christine Killory, Principal

Christine Killory (born New York, USA) received a diploma from the Architectural Association School and a masters degree in architecture from UCLA. She has taught architecture at the University of California, San Diego, the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and the University of Southern California. She received a fellowship from the American Institute of Architects, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and with René Davids a Graham Foundation Fellowship for As Built: Theory of Practice, a continuing biannual series of publications on technical and material innovation in architecture; the first volume Details of Contemporary Architecture was published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2007, followed by Detail in Process in 2008; a third volume will be released in 2009.