Our firm provided architecture and development management services for The Greater Sacramento Urban League. The shape of the Urban League building expresses the many sustainable design techniques used throughout the structure and illustrates a comprehensive approach to sustainable architecture. Incorporating classrooms, offices, an auditorium, child care facility and support services, the Urban League facility is energy efficient as well as humanistic. The Urban League was willing to forgo a traditional, mechanically conditioned space for long-term energy and economic savings. The building was designed to take advantage of a mild year-round climate and features spaces that transition smoothly between indoors and outdoors. Programmatically, the atrium volume forms a sheltered entry spine and an opportunity to organize vertical and horizontal circulation through the entry, lobby and gathering spaces. The temperate lobby space is designed to release warm summer air and keep out cooler winter air. Critical to this design is the open geometry at the intersection of the roof and walls. The atrium fabric and glass roof was designed to provide venturi and gravity effects to enhance summer ventilation. Through the use of large openings at the east and west walls at street level, air flow is allowed through the space. Daylight harvesting was woven into the program, providing light to virtually every space in the building. A photovoltaic power generation system cut lighting costs even further. A radiant hydronic heating system provides additional comfort during winter months. Community goals incorporated into the design of the facility include: pedestrian connections to the site and neighborhood; reduced energy and maintenance costs and formal and informal spaces serving the neighborhood.

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%.

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.

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.

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.

Our firm led a team of design professionals who are passionate about sustainable design to implement an integrated design approach for building, energy, and water systems to provide a high-level of comfort, indoor air quality, day lighting, and occupant satisfaction with very low operating costs. Using collaborative integrated design practices and strategies, the project’s ecological footprint met USGBC LEED Silver standards. The project site is located in the Richards Boulevard Redevelopment Plan area of the City of Sacramento. The project will house bus terminal operations, serving customer needs between closure of the current facility and the ultimate creation of the Sacramento Intermodal Transportation Facility in the Railyards. Future reuse of the building was considered in the building’s design. As a basis for design, Greyhound gave the team the option to use one of its prefabricated modular building designs or build a custom building within a restricted budget. After review of the options, our team settled on the use of a pre-engineered steel building that can be completely disassembled and rebuilt. The steel used has a high recycled content, and as well can be easily recycled. All components are assembled with fasteners with very little use of adhesives which increases the potential for reuse. The building’s aesthetic draws from classic Greyhound station design with new interpretations. The exterior insulated metal panels use standard colors in a pattern emulating a bus in motion. At the center of the building, a high roof and glass wall facing the street celebrates the comings and goings of people while announcing the building to the neighborhood at large.