Mogavero Architects

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Work

UC Davis Tercero 4 Student Housing

UC Davis Tercero Student Housing Phase 4 received Silver for the 2019 Best in American Living Awards (BALA) in the Multifamily Student Housing category by The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The 506-bed Tercero 4 Student Housing project, Mogavero’s third housing project on the UC Davis Campus, is comprised of 10 floor communities in three four story buildings in the Tercero District. The building massing recognizes the desire lines from the project toward the center of campus (NE), the “food path” to the Dining Commons (NW) and the connection to the Tercero Quad (W). High activity rooms at the entry emphasize the dynamic quality of entry to the courtyard. The site is organized around five primary elements. Pavilion: The Community Room is treated as a pavilion structure that clearly states its importance for project’s tenants, the Tercero neighborhood and the first time visitor. The one story form provides a look-thru and look-over, exposing layers of the spaces beyond, giving a sense of what lies ahead. Plaza: The main entry to the courtyard will be a very active plaza with comings and goings to the Dining Commons, Tercero Student Services and being flanked by the two highest energy spaces of the project, the Large Meeting Room and the Recreation Room Patio: The large roof overhang and trellis surrounding the Large Meeting Room protects the Patio, providing a space to meet, before and after an event or just on the way to dinner. Porch: The entry to each building is identified by the stack of floor lounges above and a front porch. Slightly elevated from the adjacent landscape the space is defined by surrounding seat walls which provide a place to hang out or just wait to meet your friends. The space is partially covered by the floor lounges above providing protection from the sun and rain for year round use. Park: Signifying the heart of the community, equally accessed from each of the residential entries, the Park provides a patch of green for casual hangout. The only turf area on the project will be irrigated through sub-surface gray water captured from sinks and showers. The building block of the residential floor plans is a cluster of five bedrooms which share a common bathroom. The cluster design includes a clear definition of “porch” space defining each cluster along the hallway. A collection of six clusters forms a floor community which has been carefully planned to reinforce this first level of community within each floor.

Work

Chico Avenues

The Avenues was a strategic visioning exercise in Chico, to help the community quantify its goals while developing specific approaches to meeting those goals. With considerable community involvement during a charette process, excellent input and a clear vision emerged, and the resulting analysis and recommendations have been adopted as official goals, helping to guide planning in this portion of Chico. The residents of the Avenues neighborhood made clear the things they wanted: complete streets and improved streetscapes leading to both an improved retail environment and a better residential neighborhood. The neighborhood association was very involved from the inception of the process through the charette process. The existing conditions and space inventory were led by members of the neighborhood association on bicycles, covering the entire scope of the study area. After the document was presented to the community, it was embraced with such enthusiasm that the neighborhood association fought to champion it with the City Council, and succeeded.

Work

Loma Rica Ranch – Specific Plan

Originally approved as a thoroughbred horse ranch, Loma Rica Ranch in the Nevada County foothills was poised for development. Our firm was asked to provide concept and schematic designs for development, including a program summary, constraints analysis, draft and final schematic plans, and a measured base plan. The ranch is surrounded by a bustling commercial district, business parks, medical complexes, market-rate and multi-family housing, and presents an ideal infill development opportunity. Using high-density, mixed-use product and best management practices, development will be clustered to preserve sensitive habitat and provide substantial quantities of open space for active and passive recreation. An alternative water treatment plant will be utilized and sustainable, energy-efficient programs will be implemented.

Work

Grass Valley – General Plan Update

Located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Grass Valley is a Gold Rush era town with significant historical resources; Mogavero Architects helped the City of Grass Valley update its General Plan in October of 2006. Prior to this effort, the City of Grass Valley was experiencing significant population growth and housing demand. As such, this planning effort focused on issues such as how to grow while maintaining its small town feel along with how to ensure that residents had a variety of housing options. As a result, the Workforce Housing Task Force was formed to help address residents’ concerns about a lack of affordable, work force housing in addition to overall community form. Over the last 25 years, there has been substantial low-density residential and commercial growth in the city as well as beyond city limits creating significant transportation and community connectivity problems. The downtown had already undergone substantial revitalization, but challenges in newer parts of town included traffic congestion and lack of mobility options. Our firm’s work focused on preparing the Urban Design Element which planned for the integration of urban form and transportation as well as connectivity for three new areas proposed for annexation to the city. The firm also facilitated the participation of a very active citizen base concerned about growth, its impacts on the community at-large, and the resultant built environment.

Work

Sacramento Natural Foods Co-Op

For this exciting project we designed improvements to an existing vacant 16,000 square foot building to accommodate a grocery store and food court restaurant area. The food court is designed for several small restaurant tenants and a florist. Both spaces have indoor and outdoor seating and a small stage. The grocery store can be closed off from the food court so that food service can continue in the food court past normal business hours. In addition, there are spaces for stocking, food prep, offices and restrooms. The two areas are quite distinct, yet unified by the use of a floor grid pattern which begins at the entry. The scale of the grid changes upon entering the restaurant eating area to a smaller pattern which helps to personalize this space. The pattern also changes toward the rear of the grocery store as it passes into the specialty foods area. Skylights are used throughout both store and restaurant areas to provide natural daylighting. A system of ceiling banners was designed to provide signage and create a light and airy atmosphere.

Work

SMUD Customer Service Center

The SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District) customer service center is a LEED Platinum building that exemplifies our firm’s commitment to sustainable architecture. The facility includes customer service administrative offices, personnel service and energy efficiency departments as well as an Energy Education Center with a hands-on learning museum and retail space. This project utilizes state-of-the-art workplace technology, including worker accessible controls for outdoor and indoor air flow with operable windows, indoor air temperature controls, lighting, and access to varied work environments beyond the usual cubicle. As a result of these measures, staff absenteeism has been reduced by 33%.

Work

Cosumnes River Preserve

This project involved the design of a 3400 sq. ft. Administration and Visitor Center for the Nature Conservancy’s Cosumnes River Preserve. The design process involved close collaboration with private environmental entities and government agencies who jointly manage the Preserve, including The Nature Conservancy, Bureau of Land Management, State Parks and Recreation, County Parks and Recreation, and Ducks Unlimited. The structure, which serves as a central access point for visitors to the nature preserve, features an exhibit space, meeting room, administrative offices, and restrooms. The joint management style of the Preserve has been incorporated into the design of the interior administrative office space. A roofed outdoor deck provides an additional interpretive display area. The structure was designed to encompass the vernacular of the Center’s rural agrarian and riparian setting. The Center’s security needs have been addressed by controlling access to the trail system to provide a balance between surveillance of the preserve and access to the grounds.

Work

Del Paso Sport Park Complex

This award-winning complex includes four night-lighted diamonds with press boxes and bleachers, with a seating capacity of seven thousand between the four diamonds. It is actively used for regional and national softball tournaments and by local leagues on weeknights. Sycamore trees spaced around the buildings provide an arched canopy offering a cooling oasis from the intense summer sun of the Central Valley. The roof provides deep overhangs to shade the substantial glass frontage and doubles as an outdoor shade area, with outdoor seating for concession customers. The building acts as a highly-visible gateway to the complex from the parking area, and provides office space for the complex manager, a meeting room, a control center for tournaments and a lounge / changing area for umpires. The announcer booths / press boxes were designed as small, two-story structures overlooking each diamond with controls for the individual diamond’s scoreboards, public address and lighting systems. In addition to the playfield area, the project includes a 500-car parking area and a bridge crossing the nearby creek. The concession building was designed as a freestanding restaurant for lease to private operators.

Work

Vietnam Veterans’ Resource Center

The Vietnam Veterans of California built this resource center to provide support services to the estimated 4,500 veterans throughout Northern California who lack shelter and adequate job skills. The facility provides employment training, placement services, and administrative office space for the agency. A 32-bed residential facility provides on-site housing for homeless veterans transitioning back into society. The entry to the buildings is through the “soldier columns” that lead to an academic court situated between the offices and classrooms. This space leads to the residential wing, where a strong, animated color scheme helps to differentiate the area from the comparatively staid colors of the classrooms and administrative area. The design places emphasis upon a therapeutic environment for the residence with natural lighting and energy systems and sociability privacy enhancements. The natural lighting and open design of the dining area off the kitchen, brings the positive vibrance of the courtyards indoors. Classrooms and residence facilities work together to provide the kind of atmosphere most conducive to learning and reinforcement. The communal gathering spaces lead to the curved, glassed hallway which opens onto and embraces a park-like recreation area. The hallway’s gentle curvature is aesthetically pleasing and enhances the sense of privacy for residents of the dormitory. Additional site improvements include an outdoor recreation area, working garden, landscaped communal area, and a thirty-four-space parking lot. There is also an on-site swale which detains excess water from the back of the site and parking lot and cleans the run off prior to it entering the underground drainage system.

Work

Almaden Solar Project

The Almaden Campus Solar Port project was designed to demonstrate sustainable, cutting edge technology for the Santa Clara Valley Water District. The double beams, braced components and masonry bases draw from the same architectural language as the existing Craftsman inspired headquarters building. These elements provide a base for a gentle curved canopy of overhead photo voltaic panels that produce 105KW of solar power. The curve of the canopy was designed to reveal the blue surface of the photo voltaics to pedestrians and motorists. The sustainable aspects of the project were enhanced by an existing engineered bioswale that informed the design. A 6′ gap bisects the canopy allowing sunlight to reach the bioswale below. Additionally, the canopy modules are individually spaced; thereby transmitting a filtered light that helps lighten its underside.