For many years, I have been looking across a large expanse of a fenced-off “no-man’s land” at the old brick locomotive works buildings in the middle of Sacramento’s abandoned Railyards. Today, one of the buildings was opened up to the public for a couple of hours. It was fascinating to see the enormous spaces that …
American Planning Association recognized Cesar Chavez Plaza in Sacramento as a “2012 Great Public Place”….
Great news on the efforts to reduce homelessness in Sacramento…
The Sacramento Chalk It Up festival was in full form this Labor Day weekend….
One of my favorite suburban master-planned projects is I’on in South Carolina, in the “Lowlands” near Charleston. It’s an excellent example of a New Urbanist project. While it is unfortunately a “green field” development (not infill) and relies far too much on auto commutes, it is a beautiful place. The buildings are traditional, but not …
I was a happy, dedicated Davis resident, who thoroughly enjoyed the bicycle paths, greenbelts and kid-centric culture but my wife, daughter and I moved to West Sacramento for one simple reason: being able to purchase a super-sustainable, ultra-chic eco-urban home in the Good project…
Colonia San Martin is designed to provide permanent and supportive housing to formerly homeless, low-income individuals with disabilities and/or families where at least one member has a disability….
Demolition has begun and soon the site will be ready for new development…
Rochdale Grange is a 44 unit, neighborhood friendly, multi-family complex that is designed to emulate a traditional craftsman style home in historic Woodland. The project consists of 8, two-story buildings and a separate community building with a second level manager’s unit. Unlike typical garden style apartments that often create an isolated community, Rochdale Grange addresses …
While mayor of Oakland, Gov. Jerry Brown attempted to jump-start the construction of substantial new housing downtown. He found it tough going for many reasons, including challenges brought under the California Environmental Quality Act. His frustration has led him to focus on reforming the CEQA process for infill development.
Located near downtown Sacramento, Metro Square was developed through a partnership between a merchant builder and the local redevelopment agency. This infill market-rate single family housing project helped transform the central city housing market. The project featured 45 single family homes on 2.2 acres (21 dwelling units to the acre) which ranged in size from …
The design for this remodel and expansion communicated the company’s central identity as a roaster of fine coffee while expanding opportunities for on-site retail sales. The facade was redesigned to incorporate more light and visual identity into what was an older, utilitarian commercial building. The roaster and cafe now has an airy feeling indoors and …
Our firm was chosen to help California State University Sacramento create a master plan for a faculty and staff housing village southeast of the main campus in an emerging enterprise zone for clean tech and green companies. The proposed 25-acre, mixed-use neighborhood will be within walking distance of the campus and provide a mix of …
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; both spaces have indoor and outdoor seating and a small stage…
Carrington Circle was an existing, affordable housing project that had been purchased by a non-profit housing developer with the intent of rehabilitating the 78-unit complex that had fallen into a serious state of disrepair. Crime and gang related activities were serious problems at the site, and our design work sought to make the units and …
Located across the street from a light rail station in the City of Rancho Cordova, this project proposed a mixed-use, medium- to high-density transit-oriented community. This was the first proposed transit oriented transformation of a suburban site in the Central Valley. The commercial program included 37,000 s.f. of office and 10,000 s.f. of retail space …
Good is a high-density residential project in West Sacramento with a site plan that includes 33 single-family detached homes and two duplexes with a mix of two and three-story building types, and a unique eco-urban aesthetic. With ground floor garages, each home has living areas and a balcony on the second level with bedrooms on the ground floor as well as on the second or third floors. The site has a community garden and open space situated around four heritage oak trees and an urban park. The park serves as a front porch to the community and can be observed by ground floor studios or offices and second floor decks.
This master plan envisions the revitalization of Martin Luther King Boulevard in south Oak Park, a challenged neighborhood with tremendous opportunities…
The Avenues was a strategic visioning exercise in Chico, to help the community quantify its goals while developing specific approaches to meeting those goals….
Sacramento, California Sustainable architecture, characterized by responsible site selection, promotes broad community benefits and reduced ecological impact. CityWalk Townhomes provide diverse housing options in a central city neighborhood within easy walking and biking distance to 100,000 jobs, schools and community.
The proposed Royal Oaks TOD design redefines the meaning of ‘edge’; instead of buffering and transitioning, the design embraces its gritty urbanity and transforms it into a bold, energized community. Straddling the Del Paso Boulevard commercial strip and quieter, residential neighborhoods on Evergreen Street, Royal Oaks TOD is poised for a renaissance of sustainable site planning and architecture: transit Oriented Development with a public market, kiosks, art walk, shops, office space, live/work homes, apartments and flexible community space.
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…
Covering an entire city block, the architectural design presents an urban, three story face to the Avenue and a two-story residential scaled facade to the single-family residential street behind. Heritage trees were preserved throughout the site.
Our firm acted as the consulting planner to the Sacramento County Planning & Community Development Department in developing the Antelope Special Planning Area…
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, this building is energy efficient as well as humanistic.
Responsible site selection is a critical component of sustainable architecture. The 2120 I Street one and two-bedroom townhomes were designed and built in midtown Sacramento responding to a market of professionals who work in the downtown area. The project won first-place in the State of California’s Passive Solar design competition for its use of solar design technology. A “direct gain approach” formed the backbone of the passive solar system while common walls further diminish heat loss and gain.
River’s Side is an infill mixed use project in an emerging neighborhood across the river from downtown Sacramento. The project consists of 26 detached, zero lot line, single-family homes along with a mixed use building anchoring one of the site corners.
Our firm assisted the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency and the North Highlands community in creating preemptive community development strategies in anticipation of the closure of McClellan AFB and in developing post closure land use strategies….
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