AIA East Bay, California, announced October 18 the 13 recipients of the 2005 AIA East Bay Design Awards. The chapter recognized projects ranging from a unique pre-fab residence, to historic preservation projects, to an Episcopalian parish hall. The distinguished 2005 jurors, who hail from the western part of the state, were Rob Wellington Quigley, FAIA, San Diego; Mark Horton, AIA, San Francisco; and Lucia Howard, AIA, Oakland.

Honor Award

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Belvedere, Calif., by Goring & Straja Architects, with associate architect Frank/Architects
The architects tell us that the challenge at St. Stephen’s was to provide more usable space on the same footprint as the original parish hall while reducing the apparent mass of the structure. Working closely with church and community groups, they designed a parish hall that brings all staff spaces together in a new upper floor and opens up to a landscaped courtyard and the existing poured-in-place concrete sanctuary.
Jury comments: The inclusion of concrete elements amongst the warmth of the wood construction and finishes makes it even more inviting. The treatment of the exterior and the roof helps situate the project within the residential community. From the interior, the sloping brings the rooms to a cozy, “cottage” scale. The courtyard is striking and creates a great sense of community, which is appropriate for a church. Photo © David Wakely.

Merit Awards

Harrison Field House, Berkeley, Calif., by Marcy Wong & Donn Logan Architects
The 300,000-square-foot project consists of a new field house for a city park with soccer fields and a skateboard park, all constructed for less than $300,000. The nonprofit client found local volunteers to donate time and materials for an old-fashioned barnraising. The building contains a community meeting room, coach room, offices, maintenance bays, bathrooms, kitchen, and concession window.
Jury comments: As a utilitarian building, it’s simple but fun with its bright, recognizable shape. It is like a piece of graphic in the landscape. The bold coloration and texture are punctuated by the diamond-plate steel and the green of the windows and doors. As an isolated building, security is an issue. It has to be locked down completely, to the point of having the diamond plate over the doors, but when it’s open it’s friendly and welcoming.” Photo © Billy Hustace Photography.

Praxis Building, Emeryville, Calif., by Jensen & Macy Architects
This is an adaptive reuse of a 1940s concrete block warehouse with two floors of offices and supplemental expansion and lease space for Praxis, a product design and engineering firm. To bring light deep within both floors and assist in the natural ventilation, two dramatic light-wells core through the building.
Jury comments: It’s an urban graphic. The coloration makes the inside pop out and exude to the public. It’s a fresh, inspiring rehab for a commercial space. This would be a fun place to go to work; one would be inspired and energized. Photo © J.D. Peterson.

Richmond Laboratory Campus Phase III Office Building, Richmond, Calif., by STUDIOS Architecture
The architects designed this 200,000-square-foot office building as the final phase of a three-building campus for California’s Department of Health Services. The project houses 850 employees who were working in five locations throughout the East Bay. The design establishes a common identity with the campus’ two previously completed laboratories through massing and materiality. It also serves as a demonstration project for the state’s alternative sustainable design program: the California Tier 1 and Tier 2 Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Building measures. Strategies included passive solar measures, such as strong east-west orientation, high fly-ash content concrete, and an extremely efficient central MEP plant to reduce energy consumption.
Jury comments: As a building for the State of California, it is very elegantly programmed. We like the treatment of the interior courtyard, which strikes a balance between organizing the inherent activity and messiness of the workplace. This building has a lot of nice episodes, such as exterior stairs and set-back windows to break up the façade. Photo © Tim Griffith Photography.

Eastern Sierra Inter-Agency Visitor Center, Lone Pine, Calif., by Marcy Wong & Donn Logan Architects
At the foot of Mt. Whitney, this 65,000-square-foot visitor center provides an oasis for weary travelers along U.S. 395 on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada. In addition, it inspires the public about the region, with particular attention to environmental issues. Given the extreme seasonal temperatures of the valley and acreage of the site, the team employed geothermal technology to precondition water temperature in a ground-source heat-pump system.
Jury comments: The plan was nice and clear, reminiscent of Glen Murcutt’s work. One can tell there were client requirements, and the architects stretched the envelope for them. It has a strong dual nature that makes one much more aware of its architecture. Photo © Billy Hustace Photography.

Citation Awards

California Theatre, San Jose, Calif., by ELS Architecture & Urban Design
A public/private partnership between the City of San Jose and a local foundation spurred the renovation and expansion of this 1927 theater, shuttered for more than three decades. The architects preserved historic elements while accommodating technical requirements enhanced acoustics, performance support spaces, and extensive seismic retrofit.
Jury comments: This is a robust, wonderful preservation effort. Weaving in the vacant lot, parking garage, and other urban elements and making them pieces of the whole complex really transforms a historic preservation project into one of urban design. Photo © Tim Griffith and Marco Zecchin.

Chameleon House, Northport, Mich., by Anderson Anderson Architecture
The Chameleon House—a prototype for manufactured construction using panelized prefabrication and industrial materials and details—was completed in just eight weeks by a commercial contractor. The contractor chose the structural system, enclosure system, and finishes to be cost-effective to produce and install.
Jury comments: The investigatory nature of residential prefabrication is interesting. There’s a great contrast between the rigid, geometric box, and the skin on top of it that appears to dissolve. It captures and reflects the landscape. The transparency of the skin talks about possibility. Photo © Anthony Vizzari.

Fine Arts Building, Berkeley, Calif., by Daniel Solomon, FAIA
This 100-unit courtyard housing is a privately developed project in downtown that is designed for students at UC Berkeley. The five-story building consists of four levels of residential units above a tall ground floor that houses a 275-seat theater shell, café, retail, and parking.
Jury comments: Once they made the decision to do the Retro/Moderne building, they were completely uninhibited in the execution. That is one of the reasons it is so successful. Photo © Tim Griffith Photography.

Magnolia Row, West Oakland, Calif., by David Baker + Partners
These townhouse lofts are market-rate, for-sale housing in West Oakland. They provide entry-level opportunities while revitalizing a centrally located historic neighborhood. The building design reflects the industrial and residential elements of the area, while the interior space accommodates live/work residents with a mix of openness and privacy.
Jury comments: This is a particularly good affordable housing that hasn’t been “dumbed down.” The integration landscaping on the street edge is exceptionally good and at the street level is uniformly great. Through the well-applied use of color and the variation of the roof line, the massing is broken down. Photo © Michelle Peckham.

Orchard House, Sebastopol, Calif., by Anderson Anderson Architecture
The Orchard House is a low, single-story, wheelchair-accessible, single-family home with adjoining grandmother’s unit. It was built with a minimal range of materials: heated concrete slabs, raw concrete primary walls, and secondary walls and ceiling clad in white drywall on the interior and galvanized steel on the exterior.
Jury comments: The Miesien condition of the ground plane and the ceiling plane set into it with the structural system is interesting; pulling the columns outside the roof is well done. The soffit makes it look clad in aluminum, so it is softer to the eye. This is a building that will age better and better. Photo © Anthony Vizzari.

Railroad Spur Block, Emeryville, Calif., by Robert McGillis, AIA/Phillip Banta & Associates
The railroad spur block is a small planned community of five infill-housing units that straddles two conflicting zones: industrial and residential. The challenge for the firm was to work as many units as possible onto a 5,000-square-foot lot further limited by the easement restrictions of the railroad spur that cuts across its northwest corner.
Jury comments: Exceptional quality, wonderfully refined in terms of the parti and the way the heavy walls worked with the lighter, differently clad central elements. It’s unusual to see a building broken down into these particular parts with such clarity. It’s an elegant and mature approach; it’s at ease with itself and has a sense of finesse. Photo © Mathew Millman.

Ufficio Rancio Grande/Napa Community Bank, Napa, Calif., by Miroglio Architecture + Design
The project began as a modest spec office building. In studying the site, the architects realized the building could express an interesting transition within the planning of the City of Napa. A redwood trellis is the primary feature of the corner, and its curve acts as a hinge to the two facades. At the corner of the building, the commercial façade peels away to reveal the agrarian building within, say the architects.
Jury comments: It is a gateway building and celebrates the corner and the city. We liked the rural vernacular building wrapped by the urban building. The building has a Baroque quality that marks its place. The starkness of the red skin at one side works well with the landscape, highlighting the feeling of an outpost. Photo © Joel Gardner Photography.

Vineyard Residence, St. Helena, Calif., by Brendan Kelly, AIA
Simple materials, such as plaster and redwood, are detailed with basic geometric forms throughout this single-family home on Spring Mountain overlooking the Napa Valley. The scheme consists of four separate buildings: guest house, tower, bedroom building, and kitchen/dining/living building. A trellis-covered walkway, two large patios, and a pool connect the three main buildings.
Jury comments: It is lazy, at peace with itself, and comfortable with itself. It’s landscaped beautifully. The project introduces a tower element in all the right ways. It’s subdued in the way it melts into the site but has a strong architecture and sense of identity. We particularly like the plan and the way the three buildings play off the central open-air arcade. The detailing is especially refined. Photo © Marion Brenner.

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