Brett Farrow Architect has designed the new headquarters for C3 Bancorp in the Southern California coastal community of Encinitas.
The locally owned bank was designed as a combination retail branch, corporate offices and semi-civic space. Facing directly onto Coast Highway 101, the building uses custom white concrete to echo the nearby coastal bluffs while large operable glass areas create a transparent connection between the interior work spaces and lushly planted courtyards and atrium.
Marine grade stainless steel cladding was custom tinted and combined with western red cedar at the ceilings and eaves.
The clients are a couple of environmental scientists who, along with their two sons, relocated from the Oakland Hills to the warmer climate of Orinda. Their commitment to sustainability, including a request for net-zero energy performance annually, was evident in their thinking throughout the design process. A three-bedroom program began as a remodel of a 1954 ranch house at the foot of a hill next to a seasonal creek. After finding the existing structure and soils to be unsuitable, the direction settled on reusing the existing footprint under the shade of a Valley Oak that had grown up close to the original house. The surviving portion of the original house is the fireplace which was wrapped in concrete and utilized for structural support. This made additional grading unnecessary and allowed the new house to maintain the same intimate relation to the old oak.
Notes: This neighborhood home had been owned by one family for four generations. The new owners honored that past, exposing much of the framing and recycling what couldn’t be salvaged into the board form for the exterior concrete walls. A southern facing side yard created a new entry sequence and sun filled urban oasis.
At 17’-1” interior stud to interior stud, we had a saying at this Bernal Heights home: Every inch counts. We transformed a one-bedroom cottage into a three-bedroom home without expanding the building envelope. By paying attention to outdoor access and the vertical space as well as the floorplan, the home now lives larger than its 1253 sf.
Understanding the human-animal bond! Located in Playa Vista in California, Annenberg PetSpace ™ is unique. The Annenberg PetSpace is a technology-oriented community animal care facility featuring interactive spaces for pet adoptions, an education center, state of the art medical and physical therapy facility, and a leadership institute. The facility focuses on the mutually beneficial and dynamic bond between people and their pets, as well as the origins and science of that relationship. Complimenting these public adoption/education programs are carefully organized animal holding habitats designed to support both the physical and psychological needs of newly arrived animals as staff works with them to become well socialized and responsive companion animals. The 2-story LEED Platinum, 30,000 SF facility opened to the public in the summer of 2017.
Located in Lafayette, on the outskirts of San Francisco, this renovated residence fell victim to an electrical fire that took more than half the house, destroying family photos and heirlooms, and leaving much of it smoke damaged. When the owners embarked on restoring it, the family of five asked interior designer Sherry Hope-Kennedy to create a place that would maintain the quaint 1939-architecture of the house while honoring the distant past.
The initial objective was to design two houses, in a high slope area in the Mount Washington; Los Angeles downtown area.
The property is located on a hill five miles away from downtown Los Angeles. The slopes of the lot are variable. Towards the front of the lot, the slopes oscillate between 15 and 20%, in the intermediate area the terrain is flat and sharpens in the back with slopes of 45 to 50%. The house is located in the center of the lot.
It is a contemporary house built with the objective to make the maximum use of light and natural ventilation, the views of the city and a great connection between the interior and exterior of the house.
For Parachute’s first San Francisco location, Blitz, an award-winning architecture and interior design firm, remodeled an existing retail space into a setting that adhered to the company’s branding standards while remaining sensitive and respectful to its locale. The design team upheld the original architecture of the neighborhood and incorporated location-specific décor and features, a duality seen in all Parachute locations. Spaces are layered to create an immersive, residentially inspired shopping experience with clear circulation and abundant natural light. With custom furnishings, lounge seating, and abstract artwork, the space offers guests a warm and welcoming home-like atmosphere that deviates from the typical retail models of today.
Mission Branch Library Renovation, Santa Clara, California
Noll & Tam Architects Breathe New Life into a Treasured Community Asset
Surrounded by City Park and located close to downtown Santa Clara and a number of schools, the Mission Branch Library has been an essential resource to the community since it opened in 1954. Built as the first stand-alone library in the city, the building had received only minor updates since first opening, and was in desperate need of a refresh to enhance comfort, create a more welcoming atmosphere, and bring it into the 21st century.
Noll & Tam Architects is working with the Solano Community College District on the design of their new Library/Learning Resource Center. The new 59,252-square-foot, two-story Library/Learning Resource Center building is envisioned as the symbolic and physical heart of the Fairfield Campus. It will strengthen an existing campus community as it attracts and inspires students by providing needed services such as tutorial, research and group study rooms. The building represents a shift occurring on many campuses where active and collaborative learning has become a priority.
The Lencioni Construction Company’s newly acquired office building with its warehouse identity and retro architectural elements offered a strong potential to explore the dialectic between a rugged industrial shell and a sensitive modern intervention. The father and son team aspired to create an interior remodel that speaks to the high-end residential work that the company is reputed for. Their passion and direct engagement with the architects has resulted in the successful rejuvenation, yet honest interpretation of an old building with great bones.
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