In the early eighties, Michael Sanchez moved the company to Old Pasadena. This was before the development of the area into the entertainment and shopping destination that it is today. Mike hired Marjorie Kamps (previously with Periera & Luckman) to run the interior design department, and the firm became Sanchez/Kamps Associates.

Eventually, Mike phased out the interior design department to focus exclusively on signage and wayfinding. Among its many signage projects, the firm worked with Sussman/Prejza to program all of the signage for the 1984 Olympics.

The firm expanded it’s client base to include rail and healthcare projects, developing the signage for the Metro Blue and Green Line light rail projects, and for the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center.

At the start of this century, Mike moved the office to South Pasadena and began a gradual transfer of the firm to his Associates Jon Fimbres and Joseph Stoddard. As part of this transition, the firm became Sanchez/Kamps Associates Design dba SKA Design.

The firm developed extensive experience in healthcare and became an ongoing consultant to Kaiser Permanente, providing signage programs for most of the medical campuses, hospitals and medical office buildings in Southern California. The firm’s reputation for understanding the needs of complex medical facilities lead to many other projects including the UC San Diego Health System, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Cedars Sinai, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, City of Hope, Huntington Hospital, Santa Monica UCLA, and Providence Saint John’s Medical System.

This experience lead to the development of college campus work including projects at UCLA, USC, East Los Angeles College, the California State University System, Cal Poly Pomona, Allan Hancock College and the University of Redlands. SKA Design also specializes in the development of donor recognition programs for both higher education facilities and healthcare institutions.

SKA Design has developed a commitment to developing means of navigating spaces in a way that is easy to understand, interesting to look at, and sensitive to the environment in which it sits.