The existing building envelope is a block masonry structure with structural steel columns supporting heavy timber beams upholding the roof. The building was previously a commercial space now divided and converted in-part to become the Owners / Developer’s new Office.
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.
The Gene Friend Recreation Center in Joint Venture with Mark Cavagnero Associates Architects, currently In Design.
Franklin, MA
Kuth Ranieri Architects created a permanent home for the Franklin Food Pantry by completely renovating a former giftshop, allowing the organization to function as an oasis of opportunity for the communities they serve, addressing food insecurity and providing vitally needed resources.
The Bay School of San Francisco is an independent high school which has operated out two buildings in the historic …
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.