Well Lived Honorable Mention: Coalinga Community Swim Complex – Darden Architects

Award of Merit: Willow International Center – Darden Architects

Award of Merit: Zumwalt Residence – Arthur Dyson Architects

Award of Honor: Clovis Performing Arts Center – Darden Architects

Award of Honor: William Jessup University Student - Taylor Teter Partnership

Award of Honor: Ranchos Middle School - Taylor Teter Partnership

Award of Honor: H Street Lofts - Taylor Teter Partnership

Award of Excellence: Riverbank High School Gym – Darden Architects

Award of Excellence: Spanos Elementary School – Darden Architects

New AIASJ Board President, Paul Halajian AIA

John Dugan Director of City of Fresno Planning and Development

The American Institute of Architects has long set the bar for quality design in the United States. The organization awards buildings and architects that are contributers to a high quality built environment. Awards are given by the national, state and local chapters of the organization. The AIA San Joaquin has a bi-annual awards program.

Projects that are eligible for award are to be built within the San Joaquin region or by an architect from the region. The architect submits their project along with a fee. An independent jury then deliberates on what submissions are deserving of awards.

This years awards ceremony packed the Sky Room of the Holiday Inn of Downtown Fresno with over 160 individuals attending the banquet. The keynote speaker was John Dugan the City of Fresno Director of Planning and Development. Mr. Dugan recounted his first perceptions of Fresno, detailed the departments current efforts and called for architects to get involved in the process.

Also at the banquet, the AIASJ presidency was transfered from Rod Andreasen AIA to Paul Halajian AIA. Mr. Halajian noted in his speech that his effort over the next two years will be to build the relevance of the AIASJ to both the profession and the public.

2009 Award Winners
Honorable Mention:

Coalinga Community Swim Complex – Darden Architects

Merit

Willow-International Center – Darden Architects

Zumwalt Residence – Arthur Dyson Architects

Honor

Clovis Performing Arts Center – Darden Architects

William Jessup University Student Apartments – Taylor Teter Partnership

Ranchos Middle School – Taylor Teter Partnership

H Street Lofts – Taylor Teter Partnership

Excellence

Riverbank High School Gym – Darden Architects

Alex G. Spanos Elementary School – Darden Architects

Below is biographical information about the independent jurors that selected the American Institute of Architects San Joaquin Chapter 2009 Design Awards. A review of the experience was written by Fresno Bee arts writer Donald Munro and can be found here.

Dan Fletcher, AIA

Dan Fletcher is a principal in the firm of Fletcher + Hardoin Architects located in Monterey California. Fletcher + Hardoin was established in 1988 providing architectural services for high end residential and visitor serving commercial. Some of the firm’s most recent projects include the restoration and conversion of the 14th century Borgo Villa Saletta in Tuscany into a Raffles hotel and spa, the renovation of historic Robles del Rio Lodge in Carmel Valley and the recent completion of Wild Bird a residence on the Big Sur coast. Fletcher + Hardoin has been recognized for their design excellence with many awards from AIAMB, Gold Nugget awards for their custom residences, hardbound publications and a feature segment on HGTV’s Homes Across America Dan Fletcher received the Robert Stanton Design Award for significant design contribution to the field of Architecture in the Central Coast of California.

Michael R. Pratt, AIA – Principal Lionakis

Mike Pratt is a “Hands-on Principal” and is the leader of Lionakis’ Modesto Healthcare Team. He has over 25 years of professional experience and brings invaluable leadership skills and agency expertise to any project. Born and raised in the central valley, Mike returned to practice architecture after graduating from Cal Poly State University SLO in 1976. His previous and continued service on numerous community boards and commissions fits well with Mike’s observation that the “citizen architect” brings a uniquely valuable perspective to any discussion. He is also involved with the AIA Sierra Valley Chapter activities and is the current president of the AIACC Architectural Foundation.

Norman Millar, AIA – Dean, School of Architecture – Woodbury University

Norman Millar is an educator and practicing architect. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Design from the University of Washington (1976) and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Design (1978). He received a Certificate from The Ross Minority Program in Real Estate at the Lusk Center for Real Estate in the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California (2006). He has been a registered architect since 1983, licensed to practice architecture in California, Washington and Hawaii. He established his Los Angeles practice, Norman Millar Architects, in 1985.

Norman Millar is the Dean of the School of Architecture at Woodbury University having run the architecture program there since 1999. Prior to that, he taught at several Los Angeles institutions including the SCI-Arc, USC, Pasadena Art Center, and UCLA. He is also a regent for the California Architecture Foundation. He also serves on the a Hollywood Design Review Advisory Board and the advisory boards for the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, the Los Angeles Chapter of the AIA, and the architecture departments at several Southern California community colleges.

Donald Munro – Fresno Bee

Donald Munro has worked for nearly 20 years covering arts and culture for the Fresno Bee. Prior to that he worked as an entertainment writer and editor at the Anchorage Times. He has an undergraduate degree in journalism from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. In 2002-03, he was a 10-month fellow with the National Arts Journalism Program sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts. He’s twice been selected to participate in National Endowment for the Arts critics institutes: the first in theater, and the most recent, in October, in classical music and opera.

This morning I will be on a jury of a design competition that is organized by the Fresno City College AIAS club. Below is a model of the site in SketchUp that was provided to the student competitors.

Jury will include Michael Fennacy, AIA. He is an architect with Darden Architects. and on the AIASJ board. The 3rd member of the jury will be Shaunt Yemenjian, Assoc. AIA. Shaunt is a LEED Accredited Professional and a principal with spacio|design.

Below is the project brief and user provided to the student competitors. I will post the designs after the jury review.

2009 DESIGN AWARDS CALL FOR ENTRIES

The American Institute of Architects has a long tradition of recognizing individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievements in support of the profession of architecture and the AIA. In keeping with that tradition, the AIA San Joaquin hold biannual design awards program. The application process for awards is now open.

CATEGORIES

This awards program will include seven (7) categories.

Public   |   School, Hospital (In-Hospital: O.S.H.P.D.), Civic, Etc.
Commercial   |   Retail, Office, Medical (Out-Patient), Mixed-Use, Churches, Etc.
Interiors   |   Commercial Interiors
Residential – M   |   Multi–Family Development
Residential – S   |   Single Family Home
Remodel/Renovation   |   All categories
Lived Well   |   Projects 15 years & older – all categories

To be eligible the project shall have been designed by an AIA member, be located within the AIA San Joaquin boundaries, or by an AIA San Joaquin member, not previously awarded (by AIASJ) and be under construction or completed within the last four years.

Please note: Projects entered under ‘Lived Well’ category shall have been in use for at least 15 years and conform to the eligibility requirements except that it may have been previously awarded.

JURY AWARDS

The “Award of Excellence,” the “Award of Honor,” and the “Award of Merit,” will be awarded at the jury’s discretion.

DEADLINE DATES

9 October 2009 Call for Entries

13 November 2009 | 2009 Design Awards entry forms with fees must be received by AIASJ.

11 December 2009 | Completed Submission Packets must be received at the AIASJ office.

22 January 2010 | 2010 AIA/SJ Chapter Installation & Awards Banquet at ‘The Skyroom’.

ENTRIES

Upon receipt of entry forms and fees, the Chapter will forward to each entrant a Submission Packet containing the requirements for each project submitted.

A Concealed Information Form, Project Description Form, and request for: Digital Slides of Site Plans, Floor Plans, Elevations and Sections, Color Photographs, will be required. Digital Slides of the existing buildings are also encouraged for Remodel/ Renovation projects. .

Digital Slides, CD-ROMs and selected Photographs of Award Winning Projects will be retained by the AIASJ Chapter for future use.

If you have questions, please contact 2009 AIASJ President Rodney Andreasen at 559.437.4750

20 years ago the American Institute of Architects San Joaquin Chapter began hosting a family friendly sandcastle competition. At the time the AIASJ president was William Hobbs AIA. The 1st chairman of the “Sand Committee” was Skip Carlstrom, AIA, CSI. Skip recounts that the AIASJ which represents architects and firms withing Fresno, Kings and Tulare Counties “wanted to hold a function that portrayed the talent and expertise of each of these firms and to do so in a fun manner that the public would also enjoy.”

The event for it’s first seven years (1989-1996) was held on a beach at Millerton Lake. Sand more suitable for building sand castles was trucked in and dumped in piles on the beach for architects and their teams to sculpt. Teams were ofter multidisciplinary, including: landscape architects, interior designers, engineers, contractors, and building material suppliers.

The event drew 2,000-3,000 spectators according to Skip. Families came and spent a day on the beach watching the teams toil away. One year, the competition began supplying a kids pile for children to play in. It was first sponsored by the Fresno chapter of NAWIC. The kids pile became a kid tested, mother approved tradition of the competition, provided to this date.

After a year in which several dump trucks got stuck on the beach unloading th 12+ tons of sand, the event began searching for a new, more accessible home. It spent one year at a golf course, then settled in for several years in a parkinglot at River Park. Every year, as many as 12 teams compete, sand is sculpted and awards are given by guest judges and public voting.

For its 20th year, the competition goes into the heart of Fresno for the first time. It will be held at Roeding Park between Storyland and the Chaffee Zoo. Come celebrate and have fun with us. There will be music, raffles, a giant sandbox to play in and nearby family fun at Storyland, Playland and the Zoo. This event is free but normal park admission applies.

AIASJ 20th Annual Sandcastle Competition
Saturaday, September 12th 8am-12pm
Roeding Park between Storyland and the Zoo

The Business Journal has been contacting me allot lately for information about architecture in the San Joaquin Valley. Most of this interaction has happened because of Twitter. I think this is fantastic. One of archop’s goals has been to get architecture more regularly and accurately feature in local media. The Business Journal is setting the bar.

Most recently, Gabriel Dillard contacted me to request my employer’s participation on an Executive Roundtable focused on architecture. I diligently passed on the questionnaire to Russ Taylor AIA, partner and architect at the Taylor Teter Partnership. I also passed the questionnaire off to the board members of AIA San Joaquin.

After transcribing Russ’s responses, I put my fingers to the keys to put down some of my thoughts on the questions from an archop perspective. While I’m not a licensed architect or an executive, I fired it off to Gabriel. Below are my responses to his questions.

1. Please tell us a little about your firm.

archop is a project of the American Institute of Architects: San Joaquin Chapter. It was launched in October of 2007 as a response to the need for an improved built environment in Fresno and the greater San Joaquin Valley. The program emphasizes the importance of quality architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning by: showcasing gallery exhibitions; designing and building full scale installations; holding panel discussions on relevant architectural topics; and organizing public workshops for outreach, educational and research purposes.

2. How has the economic downturn affected business?

As a not for profit effort aimed at improving our built environment we find ourselves surrounded problems that need solutions, public art, homelessness, inner city park space. We have been able to tackle these problems with a budget under $5,000 per year. Financial donations have become increasingly rare. Our response to that is to identify scrap or surplus building materials and utilize those in our installations. Substantial contributors include: Western Building Materials, Patton Air Conditioning, Better Flooring, CBC Lighting, Shipman Fabrication, Trinity Construction, and White Pine Lumber. Economic issues have also increased our volunteer base.

3. What advice would you give business owners trying to find the right architect for their project?

While experience, referrals, and past performance should remain architect selection tools, I’d add web content is an interesting litmus test. Our world is increasingly digital and that will not change. An architecture firm with well designed web site (functionally and aesthetically) and developed web communication tools, understands the ways this technology has changed today’s economy.

4. What are the current trends in architectural design in this area, and what can we expect in the future?

I see two current trends in the region. The first is rampant in our city. That is what I call artificially flavored architecture. It is the use of branded styles that are only skin deep. Examples are Tuscan and Italianate which hardly resemble their European counterparts and achieve their look with veneers and foam details. They are popular simply because of marketing and pop culture.

A trend that gives me hope is the acceptance of sustainable design strategies into the mainstream market place. I want this to develop further and a new local vernacular will emerge that embraces our climate and locally available materials.

5. What kinds of clients are you serving these days?

We do not serve clients in the traditional fashion. In this sense my inspiration comes from my former employer Public Architecture. We treat the entire public as our clients. It is our responsibility to engage and educate the public so that they can recognize good and bad design in their daily lives and call upon political leaders, developers, and architects to provide a quality and healthy built environment for our city and region.

We are also pursuing design workshop projects with the Institute of Public Anthropology (1, 2) and research grant partnerships.

6. What kinds of projects are you designing these days?

To date archop has held 7 exhibits, 5 panel discussions, 4 public workshops, and built 2 installations. The current installation is the redevelopment on an underused park in central Fresno underneath a freeway overpass. The park will demonstrate successful planning strategies to invigorate the park and low water low maintenance landscape to ensure long term sustainability.

If you are involved in architecture feel free to answer any of the above questions in the comments. All others comment on what you’ve read here if so inspired.