Architect Hired to Head CYP’s Residential Unit

Architect Philip M. Hove, who managed Berkus Group Architects’ Orange County office since opening it 21 years ago, has joined CYP Inc. as senior vice president and principal in charge of the residential division.

CYP, one of the county’s largest full-service planning and architecture firms, was recently racked by the departure of co-founder Robert Yamafuji, who left with 19 other CYP officers and employees to start his own company.

Hove, recruited as part of what CYP President Robert Nasraway called a combined rebuilding and expansion, will take charge of CYP’s core business, its 35-person residential design operation.

While CYP operates internationally, its principal business base is in California, where clients include residential builders and developers, including the Lusk Co., Irvine Co., Aikens Group, A-M Homes and Lewis Homes.

At Berkus’ Orange County office, Hove’s clients included high-end residential builders such as J.M. Peters Co. and Bramalea California Inc.

“The goal here at CYP is to put the company in the position of being one of the leaders, if not the leader, in residential housing,” Hove said. “We want to be on the cutting edge and to bring each client up a notch” in terms of the design of their projects.

Nasraway said CYP intends to add about 40 people to its current staff of 85 by the end of the year, and the residential division will expand to about 50.

In addition to its residential and commercial work in the United States, CYP is active in Europe, where it has contracts to design several resort hotel facilities.

In 1990, CYP had total billings of about $23 million, half from clients in Japan and the Far East.