Donald King, FAIA (he/him) is a retired Seattle-based architect, planner, and educator with over 50 years of experience in planning, design, and project management in the built environment.

For over 30 years, Donald was President and CEO of DKA Architecture, a firm he founded in 1985. Under his leadership the firm was responsible for the delivery of design and management services for the completion of over 350 human service facilities, schools, churches and affordable housing projects.

Donald has been a key collaborator and consultant on the Schemata Workshop team for many community-based projects.

He is supportive of user-responsive design for how it empowers clients and community. He is a facilitator/interpreter of collaborative design approaches. He encourages participatory design processes resulting in a body of work that resonates with the cultural identity and enhanced dignity of the end-users.

Within a few months of earning his Master of Architecture degree from UCLA in 1978, Donald passed the architectural registration exam. He has been a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) since 1979 and was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 2000. He is one of approximately 100 living African American Fellows. In 2015, Donald King was awarded the AIA Seattle Medal of Honor. In December 2018, he completed a five-year tenure on the AIA National Board of Directors. He is a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) and is a former Vice President of the Western Region.

Donald has recently been actively involved in consulting on planning and design for faith-based organizations and public and non-governmental organizations around the region. Since 2016, he has engaged the members of the United Black Christian Clergy of Washington in exploring the development of their properties. As an initiator of the Nehemiah Initiative, he has been instrumental in assisting the church community to recognize the embedded power of their property holdings to build income-generating projects to better serve community and maintain their presence in the Central Seattle.

He is an Affiliate Professor of Architecture in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington where he teaches community-based practice in grad and undergrad design studios.