Owen Beach Pavilion

For over 126 years, Owen Beach has provided access to Puget Sound for water-related activities, including swimming, beach combing, boating, and kayaking. In collaboration with Site Workshop, SHKS Architects designed building improvements that adapted an existing Civilian Conservation Corps-era comfort station into a kayak rental and storage facility, and added a new pavilion with restrooms and community gathering space which, in a subsequent phase, will become enclosed. When complete, the beach improvements will restore ecological functions, enhance access to water-related activities for users of all ages and abilities, and respond to programmatic needs of the region’s neighboring communities. 

 
Tacoma, WA

Lively engagement results in extraordinary places.

SHKS Architects finds elegance in necessity, elevating the core principles of each unique site and building project to reflect our clients' aspirations.

Through collaboration, care, craft, and discovery, we reveal architecture's inherent optimism, contributing to our local community and to the global stewardship of natural and built environments.