Archinect - News

Louis Kahn-designed Graduate Theological Union building in Berkeley reopens following two-year renovation

2023-11-24T15:15:00-05:00

After two years of alterations, the Louis Kahn-designed Hewlett Building at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA has reopened. According to the college, the renovations were undertaken to “better serve the needs of students” while remaining loyal to Kahn’s original vision.

Image credit: Graduate Theological Union

Kahn was selected to design the building in 1972 but passed away two years later while the scheme’s final drawings were being produced. Having subsequently been delivered by local firm Peters, Clayberg, and Caulfield in association with Esherick, Homsey, Dodge, and Davis, the Hewlett Building is one of few projects of Kahn’s completed after his death.

Image credit: Graduate Theological Union

The latest alterations to the building began in 2022, led by local firm Russell Architects. Among the stated goals of the college for the renovations were to bring the institution’s community “under one roof and offer more collaborative spaces to gather in study, classroom setti...

California becomes first U.S. state to mandate embodied carbon reduction measures

2023-08-08T16:27:00-04:00

California has become the first U.S. state to establish general code standards mandating the reduction of embodied carbon emissions in large commercial and school buildings. The decision, recently announced by the California Building Standards Commission, encompasses commercial buildings exceeding 100,000 square feet and school projects over 50,000 square feet. The regulations will take effect on July 1, 2024.

Embodied carbon represents the greenhouse gas emissions associated with building materials throughout their life cycle. This includes not only the manufacturing and transportation of these materials but also their installation, maintenance, and eventual disposal.

The recent updates were integrated into the 2022 California Green Building Standards Code. They provide three distinct compliance avenues for design experts: Reusing at least 45% of an existing structure; Using materials that adhere to specified emission limits; A performance-based approach employing a Whole Building ...

California is amending building codes to facilitate adaptive reuse

2023-07-04T11:56:00-04:00

California’s Building Standards Commission has voted to ease barriers to the safe conversion of underused existing commercial buildings. The move has been described by AIA California as “an action that simultaneously addresses the climate emergency and California’s housing crisis.”

The change will amend the California Existing Building Code, and will facilitate three options or “compliance paths” for architects to choose from in adaptive reuse: Prescriptive; Work Area; and Performance. While all three paths satisfy safety requirements, each allows designers different methodologies depending on the particular building challenge. The existing California code only allows the Prescriptive path, however.

Related on Archinect: New California building codes allow for high-rise mass timber buildings. Image: UBC Media Relations/Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Announcing the news, AIA California cited a report from RAND Corporation which found that 2300 underutilized properties across LA County could pr...

Evelyn Lee is named 2025 AIA President

2023-06-09T15:47:00-04:00

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has formally announced AIA San Francisco and AIA California chapter member Evelyn Lee as its 2024 First VP President-Elect and 2025 President.

Lee is currently the Global Head of Workspace Strategy and Innovation at Slack in San Francisco and is also a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). She also served as the AIA National Treasurer from 2020 to 2021 and comes to the position with extensive experience within the organization, including a stint as the Past Chair of the Young Architect's Forum and National Associates Committee.

Lee has also contributed to the profession as a design strategist and writer, discussing with Archinect in a 2018 featured interview that she sees a need for manifold changes throughout the profession for architecture to maintain its relevance in society more broadly.

"Architects need to take hold of our identities as multi-faceted problem solvers, conveners, and human-centered design th...

Enter the 11th annual Architecture at Zero Competition

2023-05-08T15:15:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Architecture at Zero.

Architecture at Zero is a design competition for decarbonization, equity, and resilience, open to students and professionals worldwide. It serves to engage the fields of architecture, design, engineering, and planning in the pursuit of sustainable design.

The 2023 competition challenge is to design an agriculture center, connecting the history of California’s first Black town to its present aspiration to become a destination for sustainable agriculture and Black history. Allensworth lies in the Central Valley of California, one of the most productive agricultural regions on the planet, providing more than half of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts grown in the United States.

All entrants will design the Teaching & Innovation Farm Lab. Graduate students and professionals will also design housing for farm students on the site. Key aspects of this project include responding to the challenges of equity and resilience through the desig...

AIA chapters voice concern over proposed regulations on architects in California

2022-12-09T11:22:00-05:00

Several chapters of the AIA in California, including AIA California and AIA Los Angeles, have published an open letter to the California Architects Board (CAB) in opposition to proposed changes in how licensed architects in the state must advertise their license number. California Code of Regulations 135 (CCR 135) would require licensed architects to include their license number on “all forms of advertisement presented to the public in connection with an offer to provide architectural services.”

According to CAB, the new regulations are designed to raise public awareness of the difference between unlicensed and licensed architectural services by requiring architects to display their licensure numbers in advertising.

The open letter in opposition to CCR 135 sets out four areas of concern on behalf of the AIA chapters. The first takes aim at the initial estimate by CAB that “lice...

The AIA California launches the 11th annual Architecture at Zero Competition

2022-12-06T12:20:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by Architecture at Zero.

Architecture at Zero is a design competition for decarbonization, equity, and resilience, open to students and professionals worldwide. It serves to engage the fields of architecture, design, engineering, and planning in the pursuit of sustainable design.

Participate in the AIA California's Architecture at Zero competition: registration deadline is January 11, 2022

2021-11-18T09:00:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by Architecture at Zero

The American Institute of Architects, California (AIACA) announces the launch of the tenth annual Architecture at Zero competition focused on decarbonization, equity, and resilience in building design. The annual competition is open for entries from students and professionals worldwide.

The registration and submission deadline is Jan 11, 2022, at 6 pm PST.

This year, AIACA will partner with Self Help Enterprises in Visalia, CA, to develop a design challenge to create affordable housing for farmworkers in California’s Central Valley. Up to $25,000 in prize money is awarded by a jury of international experts.

“The American Institute of Architects, California is excited to collaborate on this important initiative that affirms the role of architects in leading efforts to use design to curtail climate change,” said Brett Dougherty, AIA, AIACA President.

The competition strives to generate new, innovative, decarbonization building desig...

The AIA California has declared a state of climate emergency amidst another intense fire season

2021-08-14T13:30:00-04:00

On July 24, 2021, the AIA California Board of Directors officially declared a climate emergency to immediately accelerate the de-carbonization of the built environment. This action calls on each of us to make immediate and meaningful impacts in our profession, it enables AIA CA to move rapidly and boldly to influence public policy, and it challenges other organizations to join us in recognizing the importance of climate action and the immediacy of the issue.

Wildfires have dominated the news cycle for three of the last four fire seasons. Architects all over the state have been proffering solutions ranging from ICFing homes to fireproof prefabricated Quonset huts.

The AIA declaration comes on the heels of the UN’s devastating Climate Action Report. The chapter had recently issued a statement urging the legislature to adopt updated building code policies across the state, which has lost nearly 60,000 structures to fires since 2005.

California is experiencing a historic drought that has coincided with a multipronged housing crisis. More people have left the state than moved in for the first time in history. The AIA's full emergency declaration can be accessed here.

The American Institute of Architects, California announces the launch of the tenth Architecture at Zero competition

2021-06-17T09:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Architecture at Zero

The registration and submission deadline is Jan 11, 2022, at 6pm PST

This year, AIACA will partner with Self Help Enterprises in Visalia, CA, to develop a design challenge to create affordable housing for farmworkers in California’s Central Valley. Up to $25,000 in prize money is awarded by a jury of international experts.

“The American Institute of Architects, California is excited to collaborate on this important initiative that affirms the role of architects in leading efforts to use design to curtail climate change,” said Brett Dougherty, AIA, AIACA President.

The competition strives to generate new, innovative, decarbonization building design ide...

Honoring California architecture students through scholarship at the 2020 2x8 Virtual Exhibition

2020-12-23T14:29:00-05:00

Virtual events became commonplace as in-person conferences, symposiums, and exhibitions switched to a virtual format. As event teams transitioned to digital platforms, the amount of work and effort showcased provided a humbling reminder of how far visual representations of work could be taken.

In November, the AIA Los Angeles and the 2x8 Committee showcased their annual 2x8 Exhibition and Scholarship Award Ceremony. In previous years, this in-person event would attract students, faculty, visitors, and more than 20 California-based schools to witness an exhibition that celebrates the very best the state have to offer.

Archinect Feature: AIA|LA recognizes the work of California's architecture students at the 2019 2x8:Exchange Competition. 2x8 Exhibition: Exchange (2019) Designed by: small talks: LA – At Helms Bakery District. Image © Kirill Volchinskiy/Courtesy of AIA|LA 2x8

Besides student work and scholarship awards, what makes the 2x8 Exhibition so unique is the site-specific exhib...

If apartment design is your passion, start your job search here

2020-07-16T18:14:00-04:00

A new 443-unit apartment building designed by David Baker Architects (DBA) was recently completed in San Francisco, filling in a growing section of the city's Design District and South of Market neighborhoods.

The dynamic apartment complex, known as 855 Brannan, sits on a 4.3-acre site and includes 15 "at-grade flex lofts," according to the architects.

Previously on Archinect: "David Baker Architects on Growing a Team-Based, Family-Friendly Practice" Photo: View of the 855 Brannan project's steel panel-wrapped, undulating facades.

It's perimeter block formation is marked by generous landscape designs created by CMG Landscape Architecture that include a row of mature palms and a grove of redwood trees situated within one of the apartment courtyards. Crisscrossed by privately owned alleys, 16,000 square feet of commercial spaces, and other linkages, the metal panel wrapped apartments represent the latest multi-family housing addition by the firm to the city. The market-rate developme...

David Baker Architects receives 2020 AIA California Firm of the Year award

2020-05-19T13:02:00-04:00

San Francisco-based practice David Baker Architects has been recognized with the 2020 AIA California Firm Award.

The award is presented to an architecture firm each year, according to the American Institute of Architects, California Council (AIA CA), that has "consistently produced distinguished architecture for a period of at least 10 years." The award, AIA CA adds, recognizes "the firm not only for the quality of its work, but also for its impact-driven design philosophy dedicated to helping solve the housing crisis."

Previously on Archinect: "David Baker Architects on Growing a Team-Based, Family-Friendly Practice." DBA's Harmon Guest House. Photo ©BruceDamonte.

Regarding where he thinks the firm is headed over the next five to ten years, David Baker told Archinect last year: "We are transitioning to our third generation of leadership. Architectural practice continues to evolve, and we will continue to adapt. Our practice has decentralized to three offices in the past few years, ...

Debra Gerod takes the helm of AIA California

2020-01-21T20:05:00-05:00

Gruen Associates Partner Debra Gerod has been inaugurated as the AIA California 2020 President.

According to the AIA California website, Gerod aims to focus on expanding the group's efforts to push the state to adopt proposed Zero Code measures that would mandate emissions-free buildings across the state.

According to the AIA California website, Gerod made the following statement at her inauguration: “This is a pivotal time where architects are in a position to show leadership in the climate action arena. I wanted to be part of an influential conduit such as the AIA CA. I can think of no better group to work with.”

Gerod succeeds AIA California 2019 President Ben Kasdan of the firm KTGY.

Voicing support for Gerod as she embarks on her year-long journey at the top of the state's AIA group, Kasdan stated, "Debra Gerod, FAIA, represents AIA California and the architectural profession in such a quintessential way. She leads by example with tactful wisdom, seemingly effortless grace,...