Clover-Shelter for Regrowth

In the fall of 2017, one of our clients lost their house to the Santa Rosa wildfires. Not long after, they asked us to drive up from San Francisco and talk about designing a new house on the same site. The landscape was eerie, all ashes and chimneys and bent, burnt, broken things.

UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy

Kuth Ranieri Architects has remodeled the administrative offices (3,739 SF) at the University of California, Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy on the three floors of 2601 Hearst Avenue.

Newsletter 15

This edition of the newsletter includes a new blog post from Liz, exploring the question of whether airports can double as resiliency hubs. As our climate crisis worsens and extreme events become more frequent, identifying appropriate-sized places for refuge and support will be key to bringing people and resources together safely and efficiently. We’ve also included an article from our colleague Kenneth Caldwell on his trip to the Eames Institute in Sonoma, a piece on the National Building Museum’s work on social justice and the built environment, and an investigation of the “15-minute city,” where essentials of daily life are planned within walking or biking distance from home.

Can Airports Double as Resiliency Hubs?

Impacts from climate change are increasing at an extraordinary rate, from extreme weather events to drought, wildfires, and sea level rise. Additionally, novel contagions and viruses shape the new normal of global pandemics. Therefore, communities need to prepare and adapt. According to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, the concept of resiliency means “the ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner.” In this context, one emerging idea is to develop “resilience hubs” where people and resources could be gathered to increase safety and quality of life. However, this idea remains largely undefined, lacking in specific characteristics or functions, and is still under-researched in terms of its connection to transportation and land use.

Buckland Recreational Swimming Pool

New 2,400 SF seasonal recreational swimming pool and Bathhouse in Buckland, MA. An angled pool within a generous concrete deck orients the site toward views of an abutting stream and highlights the bucolic setting.

Newsletter 14

Newsletter 14 includes several articles, ranging from “Earth Day 2022: The World’s Progress towards Achieving Sustainable Infrastructure” to an op-ed on why interpretive centers matter in an era of social change. Domus Magazine’s cover on Riccardo Dalisi’s revolutionary practice captures his legacy as a designer and educator; he understood the value of stakeholder engagement and theorized “poor technology,” a process designed to stimulate the public’s participation and creativity in the making of environments.

Bay School Building 36

The Bay School of San Francisco is an independent high school which has operated out two buildings in the historic …

Consequential Disruptions in Transportation Infrastructure

Having moved to San Francisco from Boston months prior to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, I experienced firsthand the sudden destruction of much of the city’s infrastructure, including the irreparable damage to the elevated 50-foot-high two-level Embarcadero Freeway and the disruptions to transit access. This controversial piece of infrastructural highway, which was envisioned to create an expedited vehicular connection from the city’s Bay Bridge to the Golden Gate Bridge, bypassing the city grid, was at that point realized but only in part.

Newsletter 12.5

This month’s newsletter includes a new blog from Liz, “Floating and Energy-Independent Public Safety Architecture: A Strategy of Resilience.” Other articles include “The Architecture of Museums: The Evolution of Curatorial Spaces” and “Architecture Criticism: Cultivating an Understanding on the Practice.” We are deeply saddened to share the obituary of architect/landscape architect and professor Anuradha Mathur, who was a mentor to Leif Estrada, a designer at our firm.

Floating and Energy-Independent Public Safety Architecture A Strategy of Resilience

Public safety facilities along our shores grow more vulnerable due to rising seas, which continue to threaten coastal communities and infrastructure with more frequent flooding and inundation. Designing public safety buildings—or retrofitting existing ones—as floating and energy-independent structures is a viable way to maximize resiliency and preserve continued operations.

Newsletter #12

As we enter a new year, we have been reflecting on hope and change. On this one-year anniversary of the January 6 attacks on our Capitol, we can’t help but feel fortunate that the democratic process of certifying the election took place and integrity has been restored to the executive office. Looking forward, we continue to hold hope during this surging pandemic and we continue to work as a team on ways to stay connected and adapt. We are grateful for the vaccines and for our essential frontline workers who fervently work to keep us safe. Until we can gather safely again, will be keeping a distance and masking up. This month’s articles include a Kuth Ranieri blog post by Victoria Fong, who recently attended Art Basel in Miami, Florida. She writes about her experience encountering NFTs (nonfungible tokens) and her favorite exhibits from the show. Other articles discuss how concrete and sustainability can coexist and the pursuit and promise of equity in architecture.

Art Basel & Design Miami 2021

This year’s Art Basel and Design Miami fairs had me questioning how we value things – especially art, which is appraised on such a subjective level – and what it means for art and design. Digital art, lacking any tangibility, is being valued at such a high level. Is this a joke? A scam? An opportunity?

Newsletter #11

Last month, we were excited to host our annual office retreat at the Randall Museum, a project we did a few years back with our good friends at Pfau Long Architecture (now Perkins&Will). The retreat was a great success: we began to craft a mission statement, reviewed personal and team goals, and—above all—enjoyed reconnecting with one another. We are now back at the office with a hybrid work model and are relishing collaborating informally and working with each other in person again.

How to Carve Out a Townhouse in a Four-Story Midcentury Modernist Apartment Building

Recently, we reconfigured several units in a four-story midcentury gem of an apartment building atop San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill, an exercise that was not unlike solving a 3D puzzle. We kept the panoramic views of the Bay and city skyline while rightsizing some of the units and carving out a two-story townhouse for the owners. The project shows the adaptability of the original building’s strong modernist bones and the opportunities for adding curves to counterpoint the orthogonal nature of the modernist box.

Telegraph Hill Apartments

San Francisco, CA
Set atop San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill, this seven-unit apartment building was originally designed in 1951 by the Bay Area firm of Hertzka and Knowles. With spectacular panoramic views of the Bay Estuary, Bay Bridge and Downtown, the project scope included a full renovation and seismic retrofit of this mid-century gem with the goal to reallocate the units’ square footages in order to create a new three-bedroom “owners” townhouse.

Newsletter #10

This month we lost a dear colleague and a giant in our field, Art Gensler. Our professional relationship with Art revolved around San Francisco International Airport projects and the Chase Arena, but more importantly, we had a personal relationship, one of friendship and mentoring. Byron’s work with Art on the board of trustees at California College of the Arts brought them together to envision ways of thinking, learning, and communicating about design to look to the future of the profession. Perhaps Art’s most arresting virtue was his innate ability to incessantly look forward and to encourage those around him to expand their viewpoints. Art taught us all how to shake it up, always with great warmth and generosity.

Newsletter #9

Recently, we have been reflecting on the impact and importance of local activism. The first article this month is a Kuth Ranieri blogpost focusing on Byron’s work with Responsible Growth in Marin. Since late 2019, RGM has been working to create an alternative vision for Marin County’s Northgate Mall after developers proposed a Costco, which was not in keeping with the community’s vision for future development of the aging mall. RGM’s concept centers on the creation of a town center flanked by new housing, green space, local shops and eateries.

Re-Envisioning a Suburban Mall in Marin

Suburbs and cities everywhere face the challenge of what to do with malls and shopping centers that have been hit hard by COVID-19, the departure of department store anchors, and the rise of online shopping. One example close to home is Northgate Mall in San Rafael, which opened in the 1960s and currently has a Macy’s and a Kohl’s as its anchors. A third anchor, Sears, closed its doors here in 2018. About a year later, Costco proposed taking over the site with a massive three-story big box store and 30 Costco fuel pumps.

Newsletter #8

This month’s articles center on adaptation and those who have been proactive in envisioning a post Covid-19 world. We at Kuth Ranieri have been assisting our municipal and educational clients with the design and implementation of solutions to re-enter their spaces safely during and beyond the pandemic. Other articles in this month’s newsletter include the ethics of designing airports during climate change, the transformation of the Bay Area’s malls to housing, and a reflection on the purpose and power of memorials.

Newsletter #7

Enjoy this month’s newsletter, which includes an interview with Rob and Juno as well as coverage of the artist and RISD classmate, Huma Bhabha’s “We Come in Peace,” a new addition to the Hirshhorn Museum’s Sculpture Garden.

Newsletter #6

This month’s articles cover a wide array of topics and are reflective of our hope for the future. The American Institute of Architects implemented new ethics rules this month prohibiting members from knowingly designing spaces intended for torture or execution. Other articles include a blog post on our collaboration with RHAA for the Black Lava Fields Competition in Iceland, the late architect Charles Moore, and creative uses for abandoned office space.

Newsletter #5

This month’s articles focus on the intersectionality of architecture and design. As a woman-owned business, we greatly value the inclusion of voices and ideas that have long been silenced and excluded. From the empowering Hariri sisters to an Indigenous architect’s fight to decolonize design, this month’s articles highlight the strength of our differences and collective hope for the future.

Newsletter #4

Dear Friends, we’re sending you our monthly newsletter, with articles that range in topics from the reconsideration of indoor & outdoor school design to systemic racism in pedagogy and practice.

Newsletter #3

This month’s articles represent topics and perspectives that range from a post-pandemic future, protecting housing from rising seas to the history of architecture’s role in systemic racism.

Newsletter #2

The mix of this month’s articles struck a chord with our team. Some reflect upon the impacts of the pandemic on our day-to-day environments while others explore historical perspectives, contemporary issues of social equity & justice and progressive ways of building sustainability.

Newsletter #1

Dear Friends, we’re sending you our new monthly newsletter, bringing together articles that struck a chord with us with their take on current issues and their affect on contemporary architecture and design. In this and future editions, some articles will explore visionary thinking, craft, materials research, sustainability, and technology in the built environment.

The Bay School of San Francisco Master Facilities Plan & Strategic Improvements

San Francisco, CA
Kuth Ranieri is currently leading The Bay School Campus Facilities Master Plan, a 20-year plan for an independent high school founded in 2004. In just 15 years, The Bay School (Bay) has built a robust reputation for its academic program, but its facilities have proven to be a constraint. It occupies two historically significant buildings in The Presidio, operated by The Presidio Trust – Building 35 (62,779 SF) and Building 3 (3,574 SF) – both of which present the challenges of an inflexible column grid, proportions not conducive to teaching and learning, infrastructure approaching the end of its useful life and outdated furnishings and finishes that don’t fully support student activities.

Covid-19 Adaptation Projects

Covid-19 has challenged all of us to re-evaluate our relationship to shared interior spaces. Some of our clients have had to adapt their facilities to modify their operations. For two of our clients, SFO and The Bay School, we have developed solutions to meet their immediate needs with an eye towards enhancing their long-term operational goals. Below is a sample of these Covid-response projects.

Eastham Harbormaster Building and Site Improvements

The Town of Eastham on Cape Cod selected Kuth Ranieri to design and administer construction of a new office facility for the Harbormaster and staff, located at the town harbor at the mouth of Rock Creek. The relocation of this public safety component to the harbor permits staff to manage the boat launch and slips directly, as well as to stage any rescue operations in the bay and interior freshwater bodies.

A Conversation with Our New Associates

Kuth Ranieri Architects has promoted architects Rob Marcalow and Juno Song to associates. Rob is the firm’s East Coast studio director for the Boston regional office. Since joining in 2018, he’s worked on everything from a daycare center to San Francisco International Airport. Juno came to Kuth Ranieri in 2015 and has had a hand in a number of the firm’s projects at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), ranging from the new Harvey Milk Terminal 1 to the “Big Room” co-location office for the entire Terminal 1 team. 

A Nurturing Place for Infants at Palcare

In the Bay Area, the scarcity and high expense of childcare has posed a significant challenge to families already struggling with the cost of living. One provider, Burlingame-based Palcare Childcare, has been making a difference since the early 1990s. Palcare offers childcare programs with flexible scheduling—not only during the day but also well into the evening—for families of children ranging from three months to five years old.

Voids to Frame the View

Today, the Black Lava Fields is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland. There is an existing visitor’s center, a simple building made up of container modules that house a gift shop and café. The Bee Breeders, architecture competition organizers, held this design competition to replace the existing building with a structure more worthy of this amazing environment.

Stepping into a Book to Visit the Dentist

Going to the dentist can be a scary experience for children. For the Division of Pediatric Dentistry at the University of California, San Francisco, providing affordable services to the children of the city’s low-income families is about investing in the community. So when it came time to renovate the clinic’s home base at the Parnassus Campus, our clients asked us to transform the space so it could offer a private practice–quality experience, both for the comfort of patients and pride of staff and students—despite some difficult constraints the existing building posed.

Horizon House

The horizon is the primal DATUM of all dwelling.  It is the reification of the elemental link between the internal mechanism of perception and external realm of physical reality.  It is what links us intimately to our surroundings.  Throughout history, surroundings change, technologies change, languages change, cultural and expressive imperatives change, but what architecture must respond to now is the changing nature of the primal conditions of the medium itself; that of perceptual and psychic references.

Micro-hood

San Francisco, CA
Considering the possible future abundance of office spaces San Francisco will inherit and the cultural shift towards “work from home,” the City’s downtown’s commercial district will need to be re-envisioned for the post-pandemic society. It doesn’t make sense to tear down and rebuild with the investment we’ve already made, i.e. embedded energy embodied within building materials and labor of construction. We can take this opportunity to rethink retrofitting the building stock we have, repurpose it, optimize its use and decarbonize the future.

Palcare Daycare Center

Burlingame, CA
Palcare Daycare Center is an expansion to the existing campus of the Palcare Childcare, a 501(c)(3) non-profit located in Burlingame, CA. The renovation of a mid-century appliance showroom across the street from the current facility utilizes an open floor plan to create a series of classrooms partitioned with low walls, providing staff with a view of all the spaces at once.

Golden State Warriors’ New San Francisco Chase Center Stadium, Scope Esplanade and Lobbies

San Francisco, CA
The Golden State Warriors’ Chase Center Arena is both a recreational and cultural destination and the design for the lobbies reflect this new typology of urban arenas.
Associate Architect and Associate Interior Architect to Gensler

SFO International Terminal Building Refresh Project

SFO International Terminal Refresh Project, in joint venture with SOM and TSAO Design Group, is a renovation of the International Terminal Security Checkpoint and Boarding Areas. Along with collaboration on all scopes, Kuth Ranieri led the renovation of the Boarding Area A Restroom facilities, which included reconfiguring existing facilities for new women’s and men’s restrooms, as well as the addition of an all gender restroom, nursery, and companion care. Kuth Ranieri was responsible for all design services from programming and stakeholder engagement through documentation and construction administration.

In Joint Venture with SOM and TSAO Design Group

Learning from History to Design Equitable Spaces

We regularly incorporate Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines into our work, but I never realized that ADA legislation was a result of years of protests by hundreds of social rights activists. I had only learned about the 504 Sit-In after a friend of mine named Natalie Fung posted about it on social media. Natalie was organizing a protest for people with disabilities in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

A Golden Opportunity for San Franciscos Mission Bay-The Chase Center

A few years ago, we received a call from Gensler, the global architecture firm selected to design the interior of Chase Center: the new waterfront home for the Golden State Warriors. Gensler needed a small business enterprise to join their team to design the lobbies and eventually, the Esplanade of the center. We of course leaped at the opportunity to help create the new home for our beloved team.

All in the Details-Small Home Renovation with Big Results

It happens to most parents: the kids grow up, move out of the house, get jobs, and start families of their own. And when they come home to visit for a few days or weeks, they don’t always fit in their old childhood bedrooms—especially once they start bringing their own children.

Clover

Santa Rosa, CA
In the fall of 2017, one of our clients lost their house to the Santa Rosa wildfires. Not long after, they asked us to drive up from San Francisco and talk about designing a new house on the same site. The landscape was eerie, all ashes and chimneys and bent, burnt, broken things.

JCDecaux SF Public Restrooms and Kiosks

San Francisco, CA
The confluence of San Francisco’s urban character, natural beauty and vibrant colors offers a unique context for the redesign of the City’s Public Restrooms and Advertising Kiosks. These next generation of people-centric amenities can both create a dialog with their urban and natural setting as well as become welcoming beacons for residents and visitors. Embracing a color pallet that reflects the lifecycle of California wild flowers, these proposed restroom and kiosk enclosures blend their respective programmatic functions with a vibrant graphic pattern to distinguish and signify their much-desired role within their immediate surroundings. 

Black Lava Fields Visitor Center

Dimmuborgir, Iceland
From the smoking eart, rise black castles; their twisted towers clawing to rip free from the earth. This is the home of myth, the home of Gryla and her sons, the place where Satan fell to earth. These are the Black Lava Fields of Dimmuborgir, a place of myth and legends, a place where man meets nature. Our concept accentuates the mystery of the site, capturing and contrasting the intersection of the built and unbuilt landscape.
In Collaboration with RHAA Landscape Architects

Only Connect-Memorializing Harvey Milks Dynamic Life and Legacy

Since our firm’s inception, we have been involved in three memorials to Harvey Milk. Milk, a civil rights and human rights activist, made history as California’s first openly gay elected official when he joined the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the late 1970s. He was slain eleven months later, but his legacy lives on. All three of the memorials we created are part of infrastructure projects, which is no accident. Like infrastructure, Harvey Milk was all about connecting.

SF Fire Boat Station 35 (Finalist)

San Francisco, CA
Our design proposal for the new Fire Boat Station 35 (FBS35) bridges the waterfront and the urban edge of the city’s shoreline. In response to the fire station’s prominent location at the foot of the San Francisco — Oakland Bay Bridge, we have marked the facility with an illuminated tower that commands a place in the front row of the city’s skyline and at the end of the Harrison Street view corridor.

Revising the Midcentury Suburban Ranch House

In the Bay Area, a number of clients have been asking us to revamp modest midcentury suburban ranch houses. Built …

Refreshing Balboa Pool for the 21st Century

Designed by architect Frederick H. Reimers and opened in San Francisco’s Balboa Park in 1956, Balboa Pool is a classic example of the International Style, with its flat roof, scored concrete-clad exterior walls, bands of metal-framed windows, minimal ornamentation, and semicircular ramp leading to the entryway. After more than a half-century, however, normal wear and tear had taken its toll, chlorine had eaten away at the steel windows, and the structure needed a seismic upgrade.

Balboa Pool Grand Reopening

On February 23rd we ventured to Balboa Park to celebrate the reopening of the Balboa Pool, a project we have …

UCSF Pediatric Operatories

San Francisco, CA
This pediatric dental clinic for the UCSF School of Dentistry transforms an outdated 1970s clinic into a vibrant space that is both state-of-the-art and child-friendly. The School of Dentistry is located in the School of Dentistry Building on UCSF’s Parnassus Campus. Pediatrics occupies a cluster of rooms on the first floor which have been undergoing incremental modernizations.

Hillside Courtyard House

Marin County, California
The Hillside Courtyard House is a remodel of a midcentury home on a steeply sloping site in Marin County. As one descends the property they pass through multiple thresholds of privacy. Each step leading further toward calmness and seclusion.

Designing the First Ever Mobile Grain Mill

Grain mills seem to be just a remnant of the past, a reminder of the way things used to be done. The cumbersome equipment used to turn wheat berries into flour has been virtually forgotten, until recently. The non-profit organization, Honoré Farm and Mill, based in Marin County, California, worked with Kuth Ranieri Architects to envision the country’s first-ever mobile wheat and grain mill.

Urban Nature- Reconceptualizing San Francisco Public Restrooms and Kiosks

In the mid-1990s, the San Francisco Department of Public Works contracted with the French outdoor advertising company JCDecaux to provide two dozen accessible, self-cleaning public restrooms to be scattered throughout the city’s sidewalks in areas with high foot traffic. Along with them came 114 advertising kiosks. Both restrooms and kiosks resembled their counterparts in Paris, with Art Nouveau curves and gold accents. They may have added a necessary function to the streetscape, but aesthetically, they didn’t have anything in particular to do with San Francisco.

Building a Green Practice

As I started strategizing about how to take our firm’s commitment to sustainability and green design to the next level, I came up against a Catch-22 situation. It’s similar to the one architects face when branching out to pursue new building types: you need to demonstrate experience with a particular project type in order to get projects of that type. Only through project participation do we build the specific skills that constitute “experience.”

Remaking a Roller Coaster into a Home for Birds at Lion Mountain

We’ve completed a number of unusual adaptive use projects—repurposing a storefront for the GLBT History Museum, converting a historic 1880s stone vinegar factory into offices for a nonprofit foundation, and remaking an industrial shed into a bunkhouse for artists. But we never expected we’d be asked to turn a roller coaster into an aviary.

Resilient Case Study House – Calistoga

Calistoga, California
The Northern California wildfires of 2017 have had a devastating impact on the region that will resonate for decades. The Tubbs Fire tore across Calistoga and down slope to Santa Rosa along Mark West Road. The recovery will take many years. We see this recovery as an opportunity not just to rebuild, but to rebuild smarter, more resilient, and ecologically attuned structures.

SF Green Dental

San Francisco, California
A LEED Silver Certified project, Kuth Ranieri Architects’ design concept for this progressive dentistry practice focuses on a rich palette of materials, evoking a simple, quilt-like construction for creating interior spaces. 

32 Dental

American Canyon, California
Our strategy for 32 Dental focused on creating a calming, elegant dental care environment with an emphasis on green design. Comprising just over 1,100 square feet, the suite includes five operatories, patient reception area, a private office/consultation room, and lab/sterilization area.

Tooth Spa

Sunnyvale, California
The interior atmosphere of Toothspa is a reflection of the client’s patient-care philosophy. The reception “living room” is an inviting presence that sets the tone for a relaxed seamless experience for patients and staff.

Beyond LEED-Achieving True Sustainability

When people in the building industry think of sustainability, they think of LEED. But LEED is first and foremost a rating system. It was developed to push the industry incrementally toward more environmentally friendly strategies. It doesn’t envision the ideal that we all need to be striving for. What would a truly sustainable building look like?

Shishan Park Rollercoaster Aviary

Suzhou, China
Inspired by traditional Chinese ink paintings, the new form of this aviary, with Lion Mountain behind it, evokes the feeling of layered misty mountains. This project repurposes an abandoned rollercoaster structure into a 160,000 SF enclosed aviary. New programs include: wildlife exhibits, water features, walkways, and viewing platforms.
Architect to TLS Landscape Architecture

San Francisco International Airport-The Big Idea Behind the Big Room at Terminal 1

A Conversation with Michael McGroarty, Ophelia Wilkins, and Ethen Wood
Q: Before we get into talking about the Big Room and what it is, let’s talk about the project it was built for.

Balancing the Traditional and the Contemporary on a Berkeley Hillside

Recently, the AIA East Bay gave one of our firm’s houses a 2017 Merit Award, so we thought we would tell the story behind the design, which involved a tricky remodel on a difficult site.

Harvey Milk Plaza – Finalist

San Francisco, CA
Harvey Milk Plaza will serve as a welcoming door to the city’s historic Castro District and a destination to learn about the life (and times) of Harvey Milk. We envision the Plaza as an unified and integrated experiential memorial to inspire generations to come.
In collaboration with RHAA Landscape Architect and Catherine Wagner Studio

Lodi Bunkhouse

St. Helena, CA
The conversion of an existing industrial shed into living quarters for an extended family. The 4,500 square feet of interior space includes four bedrooms and large communal areas for artist’s gatherings.

Speaking in Tubes

For three days in early October, the 2016 Market Street Prototyping Festival gave the public a chance to experience more than three dozen ideas for enhancing San Francisco’s main drag and creatively engaging people with the urban environment and with each other. Created by teams who answered a call for submissions last April, the installations ranged from an artistic ping-pong table to an enclosure containing homemade musical instruments to a hand-crank-powered box that distributed stories and artwork. Kuth Ranieri’s contribution, SonoGROTTO, was a pavilion made of hundreds of cardboard tubes, carved to create seats, windows, and an oculus that frames views to the sky.

San Francisco International Airport – Terminal 1C

San Francisco, CA
Kuth Ranieri teamed with Gensler on the design for the 1.1 million square-foot SFO Terminal 1 Center Renovation Project. Through design-build delivery with Hensel Phelps, the new terminal redeveloped one of the Airport’s oldest terminals to meet the needs of modern travelers and revolutionize the guest experience.

A Gensler / Kuth Ranieri Architects Joint Venture

Shishan Park Pavilions

Suzhou, China
Kuth Ranieri was engaged by Tom Leader Studio Landscape Architecture to design several pavilions for Lion Mountain Park in Suzhou, China.

Architect to TLS Landscape Architecture

SonoGROTTO

San Francisco, CA
A proposal for the 2016 Market Street Prototyping Festival, SonoGROTTO creates a space of respite and repose on the busy sidewalk. Catering to a diverse range of ages, users and situations, SonoGROTTO hopes to provide space for reflection, refuge and a myriad of alternate uses which visitors bring to the piece.

Randall Museum Renovation

San Francisco, CA
Through coordination of architectural design, interpretive graphics, and live animal exhibits, we have organized various disciplines for the creation of a place of comprehensive scientific and artistic exploration.

In Joint Venture with Pfau Long Architecture

Balboa Pool Renovation

San Francisco, CA
The proposed design for Balboa Park Pool renovates the existing natatorium facilities in an economic way, leaving essential elements in place while enhancing the user experience and upgrading the structural and environmental systems to meet sustainable standards of performance.

In Joint Venture with ELS Architecture

San Francisco International Airport – Employee Cafe

San Francisco, CA
One of a number of “Enabling Projects” as part of the T1C Renovation, the project renovated a former Chinese restaurant, bordered on one side by an existing TSA security barrier. The design creates a “Pop Up” feeling to reflect the two year life span.
In Joint Venture with Gensler

Folding Water™: A Ventilated Levee for a Living Estuary

San Francisco Estuary and Delta, CA
Folding Water™ is a ventilated levee proposal designed to protect shorelines by regulating rising sea levels over the next 100 years caused by warming oceans.

SoundHENGE

Washington, D.C.
SoundHENGE is a global memorial, bringing attention to threatened environments and ecologies that are not confined by political or social boundaries, with a central collective space enhanced by integral sound and interactive media.

In collaboration with Bill Fontana of Resoundings

Martyr’s Square

Beirut, Lebanon
An expansion of Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square is defined by means of a roof-structure that houses an inverted landscape that grounds and intensifies various activities.

In Collaboration with Rodolphe el-Khoury (ReK Productions)

Mission Bay: A Proposal for a Green District Identity

San Francisco, CA
The proposal for this green district includes a pedestrian street bridge, skateboard park, aviary, eco-magnet high school, and CCA’s student and media center.

Vertical Wetlands

San Francisco, CA
Vertical Wetlands is a proposal that addresses San Francisco’s immediate water-related challenges.

AIDS Memorial Grove

San Francisco, CA
Our design strategy proposes to define and link the intimacy of the National Aids Memorial Grove to the encompassing daily urbanism of its surrounding city and culture.

In collaboration with Rodolphe el-Khoury (ReK Productions)

Harvey Milk Memorial Car

San Francisco, CA
This memorial streetcar is meant to connect the Castro District with downtown San Francisco. In this regard, the memorial, like Harvey Milk’s impact, is not confined to a particular district but transcends across boundaries within the city.

Tooth Spa

Sunnyvale, CA
San Francisco’s first LEED Silver certified dental office, the 2,400-square-foot suite creates an inviting presence for passersby, emphasizing the visual impact of the reception “living room.”

Champions of the Bay Area Heroic

I grew up in San Francisco in a building designed by Julia Morgan, one of the earliest and most influential architects of the Bay Region style. (The building happened to be the San Francisco Zen Center.) So it may seem surprising that two of my biggest architectural heroes are Mario Ciampi and Paffard Keatinge-Clay, designers of concrete buildings in the style commonly labeled “Brutalist.”

32 Dental

American Canyon, CA
Our strategy for 32 Dental focused on creating a calming, elegant dental care environment with an emphasis on green design.

Preserving Modest Moderns

After more than half a century of use, many midcentury modern buildings have undergone a lot of wear and tear. They may no longer meet current seismic codes or community needs. With the great treasures of midcentury modernism, our impulse is to preserve these structures; however, the decision of whether to restore, reconfigure or tear down and replace, must be made on a case-by-case basis. Not every piece of midcentury modernism is notable enough to be saved. Just because it’s modern doesn’t mean it’s good—or bad.

Community Museums

Ever since the words “Bilbao effect” entered the lexicon, museums have been competing in a game of architectural ingenuity or ‘newness’. While there is value in striking design, the search for the “wow factor” can lead museums away from their mission to connect to the public.

Freeway Fragment

Twenty-four years ago, the Loma Prieta earthquake damaged San Francisco’s Embarcadero Freeway substantially enough to force its closure. There was a lot of debate then about the pros and cons of repairing versus demolishing it.

Museum of the American Indian

Novato, CA
The Museum of the American Indian in Miwok Park, Novato, is the only cultural resource of its kind in the Bay Area protecting an exceptional collection of native artifacts.

LEF Offices / Gallery

Napa Valley, CA
Echoing the evident assembly of the historic stone shell, the walls are designed to portray their essential construction, a resonance between old and new.

In collaboration with Jim Jennings Architecture

Hillsborough Residence

Hillsborough, CA
The redesign of this Chicago-modernist home, designed in the 1970s, introduces a new narrative of materiality that renews the relationship between the building and the landscape by blurring boundaries indoors and outdoors.

GLBT History Museum

San Francisco, CA
In the Castro District, The GLBT History Museum is the first stand-alone museum of its kind in the United States and serves as a center for the Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Transgender Historical Society to interpret the history of the GLBT communities.

In collaboration with Steve Const

Malama Learning Village

Malama, HI
The project integrates three distinct institutional programs under one roof: a high school, a community theater, and a conservation garden.

In collaboration with Rodolphe el-Khoury (Rek Productions)

CAMP: A Gateway Proposal Presidio Museum

San Francisco, CA
The CAMP Museum resolves the monumental spatial corridor by framing the north/south axis with flanking galleries and extending a contiguous greenway.

The Body in Repose

San Francisco, CA
This installation at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art revolved around themes of body, material, and fabrication.

Curated by Aaron Betsky

Guest House / Gallery

San Francisco, CA
The project is designed with the consideration of the building’s perimeter walls as display surfaces for art and utilizes industrial felt to enrich the domestic functions of this residence.

Wurster Residence Renovation

San Francisco, CA
The patterns and demands of contemporary life dictated the reconfiguration of key areas of the house. Architectural interventions accommodated the needs of the owners while maintaining the identity and experience of Wurster’s remarkable design.

Claremont Canyon Residence

Oakland, CA
Nestled in a valley at the base of Claremont Canyon, this 1937 2-story residence was originally designed by Bay Area architect John Ekin Dinwiddie. The renovation creates a modern addition that integrates seamlessly with the existing shell and injects the family’s character with modern craft.

Nob Hill Residence

San Francisco, CA
The house is sited on a narrow alley that transforms from street to garden at the building’s front door. The project falls between the grid of the city and the organic nature of a garden landscape.

Russian Hill Penthouse

San Francisco, CA
Our intention was to create an interior realm that establishes a seamless continuity with distant views of the landscape, creating a project that was to internalize the color, material and texture of the surrounding vistas of bay, mountain, city, and sky.

Park Presidio Residence

San Francisco, CA
Consisting of 6,500 sf of living space spread over four levels, this private residence was designed for a family of six. Sustainability and energy independence were integral to the conception and realization of this project.

Russian Hill Co-op

San Francisco, CA
This interior renovation of a 4,500 sf full floor unit provides modern living for a client with an extensive contemporary art collection as well as a home office. Situated in Russian Hill, the home commands a 360º view of San Francisco.

Napa Valley Residence

Napa Valley, CA
Anchored by a system of interdependent walls and enclosures that contain the domestic functions, its partitions are arranged in an open plan.

In collaboration with Jim Jennings Architecture

San Rafael Ranch

San Rafael, CA
The renovation of this midcentury ranch includes a remodel of a main house, guest house, and garden design. The strategies to open the home to the landscape include a new garden entry to connect front and back gardens and enlarged windows to maximize light and garden views.

Eco-Commons

Levittown, NY
The project is a socially and environmentally sustainable urban community of an inter-generational mixed-use development. It is a contiguous system of dwelling, education, recreation, ecology and energy production to create an active nexus for residents.

Russian Hill Apartment

San Francisco, CA
Subtle drifts in plan and section extend the movement from the interior to the distant landscape.

Notre Dame de Namur University Center

Belmont, CA
A proposal for a new student center for Notre Dame de Namur University, a Catholic University in Belmont, California.

In Joint Venture with Paulett Taggart Architects