SAN DIEGO – (December 10, 2013) –McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. (www.mccarthy.com), one of the nation’s leading education facility builders, has completed construction for the new 206,000-gross-square-foot, four-story Math+ScienceComplex in the heart of San Diego Mesa College, located at 7250 Mesa College Drive in the Clairemont area of San Diego, Calif.
SAN CLEMENTE – (December 3, 2013) – Consolidated Contracting Services, Inc., a leading Southern California commercial builder, has completed the expansion and remodeling of the new 14,296-square-foot Neighborhood Healthcare community health center located at 41840 Enterprise Circle North in Temecula, Calif. 92950.
The first requirement that the Owners, a young couple with two children, expressed was that their new home should have a casual, barefoot feel, like a vacation destination, with strong indoor-outdoor connections. Their 2.8 acre site, with gentle slopes to the south and mature landscaping on all sides was the perfect setting to create a home that would fully engage the beautiful landscape for family living.
Ned Engs, principal and founder of Los Angeles-based E4 Architects, recently completed a renovation and addition for a light post and beam mid-century modern house originally designed in 1954 by Pasadena firm Nyberg &Bissner Architecture & Engineering. Originally known as the Sechler House, the open and airy cruciform plan and design presented E4 with the unique opportunity to work with a mid-century classic.
By taking advantage of the existing design language E4 was able to create a design that is contemporary and adventurous yet sensitive to context. This was important for the historical character of the original house and the neighborhood—there is a Green & Green home right across the street.
E4’s extensive renovation and second story addition sought to highlight and complement the original home’s clean and efficient spaces, structure, and finishes. The primary strategy for the added second floor was to highlight the cruciform layout of the house and the dramatic sweeping roof gables. The light-filled addition, a painting studio for the client, was thus conceived of as the fifth “living gable” to complement the original design’s four prominent clerestory gables. With the original Nyberg &Bissner design, the dramatic sweeping roof seems to fly above the house. In similar fashion, E4’s addition, utilizing a light tube steel structure and glass, appears to float above the original house. “It’s a light touch,” says Engs. “We wanted to do something that would be more than just a matching addition.
The result is a singular house that, while retaining the spirit and character of the original, also builds upon it and adds new layers with up-to-date systems, materials, and spaces. The original clerestories became the inspiration to enhance the intrinsic Los Angeles indoor-outdoor aesthetic and functionality. A sliding glass wall seemingly dematerializes the house on its garden side. The front door was widened and hung on off-center pivots to complement an existing large picture window in the living room. The second story addition presents seamless butt-joined corner glazing and brings in natural light to illuminate the new floating” steel and wood stairs.
Through an interesting sequence of events, this also became the story of how two architects, spanning different generations, came to be connected through their experiences with one house and the continuing legacy of mid-century Los Angeles modernism and its relevance to contemporary architectural practice.
Soon after E4’s redesign was complete, the son of Harold Bissner, Jr., partner on the original 1954 design, saw the photographs of Susanne Hayek online and emailed her: “Wonderful photography and nice updating on the part of Mr. Engs. I’ll pass this onto my dad who continues to practice at age 87! Nice to see some homes modernized as opposed to torn down.
Once the connection was made, Ned Engs, principal and founder of E4, reached out to Mr. Bissner and they arranged to meet. As they walked the house together in March Mr. Bissner turned to Engs and said, “You did a very nice job.”
I realized he hadn’t seen the home in decades,” said Engs. “He shared thoughts on his design and memories of his career. It was truly enlightening.
Located in the heart of the Mission District of San Francisco, this urban infill project presents a unique opportunity to develop three adjacent lots, a rarity in this densely populated neighborhood. The three lots are all adjacent to each other and are also through-blocks from Guerrero Street to Ames Street.
Jones is a restaurant/lounge/club in the heart of downtownSan Franciscolocated in the historic Gaylord building on Geary and Jones. The space consists of a 5,000sf interior that opens up to a 7,000 sf patio that in turn is the roof of a 1 storey parking garage facingGeary Street. Based on a complex layout of existing columns and foundations the interior is arranged on different levels, creating spatial separations while maintaining the openness of the club. The interior space houses two large bars, a full kitchen in the back of house area, a dining area with a view of the patio, lounge areas throughout and a very unique large unisex bathroom.
A new sculptural glass pavilion is the key element for the makeover of this 1970’s office tower, which includes the lobby, retail space and the exterior facade. The dynamic and transparent form provides a dramatic entrance that is intended to transform the perception of the entire building. It creates a highly visible identity and has become a recognizable landmark within the business district. As well as the new pavilion, the project includes stone cladding to the exterior, a new lobby and additional retail space.
This is the first international arts institution in the US devoted entirely to the performing arts and theatrical design. The site is in the heart of the museum district of San Francisco and our objective is to create an iconic piece of architecture that reflects the international focus of the institute and its stature as a world-class museum. Mikhail Baryshnikov agreed to collaborate with us as part of the design team. He has extensive technical knowledge and design skills relating to the design as well as the exhibit portrayals.
Originally built in 1935 by the Federally funded Works Progress Administration (WPA) program, this 4,500-seat outdoor amphitheater is located in a dramatic ravine overlooking Santa Barbara. It provides a full range of music shows, including classical, pop, country-western, blues, jazz and rock and roll. In the 1980’s, changing performance requirements, the impact of amplified sound and traffic, and increased residential density surrounding the amphitheater led the County Parks Department to undertake a master plan to address these challenges. Through an interactive community workshop process, Handel Architects was selected to lead a design team to create a detailed master plan to address each of the major issues. This master plan has served as a blueprint for all subsequent maintenance and operational endeavors, fundraising plans for capital improvements, and also served to minimize ad-hoc changes that had occurred in the past.
This project strives to provide a rigorous design for a building type that is sometimes overlooked by serious architectural investigation. It is the first purpose-built structure for the international music retailer, Virgin Records, who needed a strong identifiable architectural image to provide them with a clearly recognizable landmark within the existing urban context. The challenge was to provide them with the dramatic impact they needed whilst overcoming the limitations of a site with a very narrow frontage.
Program: A new building consisting of 22,000 sq.ft of retail space on two floors.
Objective: To provide a landmark building with a sense of destination and an identity that would exist at the larger scale of the city as whole.
Context: Adjacent to an existing retail center. A difficult site with very little frontage: narrow and deep. Dense commercial development along a high traffic arterial road.
Awards:
Design Award from the chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
PacificCoastBuilders Design Award
Summary:
Dynamic and sculptural form creates a community landmark.
Evokes an appropriate sense of drama and public theater.
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