KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning (JCH) (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan) today announces the launch of air365 Max, a new top flow variable refrigerant flow (VRF) air conditioning system in Malaysia. The air365 Max is an end-to-end solution developed by JCH to deliver seamless comfort, energy efficiency, and easily workable features for professionals, architects, and building owners in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) sector.

SmoothDrive 2.0 technology delivers higher energy efficiency and seamless comfort

Featuring Hitachi’s original SmoothDrive 2.0 technology, air365 Max produces an Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER[1]) of up to 5.5. This best-in-class energy efficiency performance helps to reduce running costs during part-load operations, leading to reduced CO2 emissions. In addition, air365 Max requires 12% less refrigerant compared to the conventional Hitachi VRF air cooling system.

Powered by the SmoothDrive 2.0 technology, air365 Max operates a wider temperature range which provides greater seamless comfort for building occupants, and also addresses issues such as unstable temperatures, cold or hot air drafts, seasonal room temperature changes, and more.

As SmoothDrive 2.0 allows for precise temperature monitoring, users can now expect constant regulated indoor temperatures which will improve their comfort level.

Kintaro Izumida, Vice President and General Manager, Japan and Asia Regional Operations, JCH, said: “The air365 Max is our solution to Malaysian HVAC market which demands room air conditioners, including split type air conditioners as well as commercial air conditioners with energy saving and innovative features to enhance the indoor air quality. We are ready to invest in Malaysia and the Southeast Asia markets to develop more energy efficient products.”

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Image for illustration purposes only. Appearance of the actual product is different by region.

airCloud Tap – HVAC app for professionals

The airCloud Tap is a new generation app launched in 2023 to support HVAC professionals to service and install Hitachi equipment easier. Thanks to contactless near-field communication (NFC) technology, they can configure the equipment, customize the settings and conduct troubleshooting on a smart phone.

To maximize the operation of air365 Max, JCH also offers solutions such as:

• Advanced color wired remote controller: A multiple award winning individual remote controller that is intuitive to use with modern pictograms and diagrams.

• airCloud Pro: A cloud-based centralized controller which enables HVAC professionals and building managers to monitor and control the VRF system on the smart phone.

About Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning

Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning is a global air conditioning manufacturer established in October 2015 as a joint venture between Johnson Controls and Hitachi Appliances, Inc. (now Hitachi Global Life Solutions, Inc.) Approximately 15,000 employees have offered high-quality residential and commercial products, services, and solutions to our customers. We have released the most diverse HVAC products in the global market including ductless solutions, chillers and residential air conditioning solutions that exceed customer expectations at all times.

https://www.hitachiaircon.com/my

Cision

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SOURCE Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning

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Hertfordshire studio Michael Collins Architects has added a boxy, two-storey copper and charred larch extension to a terraced house alongside a railway station in south London.

The extension and renovation was named Jewellery Box, as a nod to the way the Victorian terrace and subdued extension hide the home’s more vibrant interiors.

Micheal Collins Architects added a boxy extension to a Victorian terrace

“Our clients talked about the house having a jewellery box quality, where a simple form is pulled apart to reveal a more complex, light and textured interior,” explained Michael Collins Architects founder Michael Collins.

“The extension to the rear is conceived as two cubic volumes that slide across a plinth, with areas of glazing set between,” he told Dezeen.

The ground floor extension contains a kitchen

The studio extended the home to the rear with a pair of blocky additions that were informed by the various ad hoc extensions added to terraced houses in London that can often be seen when travelling by train in the city

On the ground floor, an oxidised-copper extension contains a kitchen and dining space, while a smaller charred larch-clad extension above houses a first-floor bathroom. This is topped with a roof deck that is accessed from the second floor.

The extension opens onto a small garden

“The block-like exterior was inspired by the simple poetry of stacked boxy self-built ‘add-ons’ and ‘closet returns’ seen along the rear of railway terraces that reflect the varied lives of their inhabitants, we weren’t keen on trying to create a highly ordered composition,” said Collins.

“A key issue was how to create a sense of spatial generosity on this constrained site, and how to address the steep natural embankment at the rear.”

Gold and Inchyra Blue are combined in the kitchen

The studio clad the outside of the home in dark industrial materials to reference the nature of the site alongside the railway tracks, and the home’s former owner who was a chimney sweep.

Satish Jassal Architects adds oak framed conservatory to renovated London townhouse

“The use of oxidised copper and charred larch were informed by the context,” said Collins. “Specifically the urban memory of a famous south London chimney sweep that lived and ran his business from the property, but also the sooty quality of the brickwork along the railway embankment, and the oxidised metal infrastructure found along the line.”

The interiors contrast the dark exterior

In contrast to the subdued exterior the interior spaces were decorated with bright colours, with Inchyra Blue cabinets and surfaces combined with gold backsplashes in the kitchen.

“An aquatic datum of flush panels conceal utility areas, larders, and a toilet wrapping around the internal walls of the kitchen to create a sense of immersion and continuity with the trained plants around the garden walls,” added Collins.

The studio also renovated the main house

Overall the architect believes that the home is fitting to its location and would not make sense anywhere else.

“We hoped the project would be as idiosyncratic as its surroundings,” he said.

“The project grew from the site and two very unique clients. These factors informed its orientation, massing and materiality and we like to think that it would not make sense on a different site.”

Jewellery Box was longlisted in the small interior category of Dezeen Awards 2020. This category was won by Sim-Plex Design Studio’s four-bedroom smart home in Hong Kong.

Photography is by Jacob Milligan.

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 Denver, Colorado, USA

“To create the new Sie Welcome Center in Denver’s architecturally rich Golden Triangle Creative District, it was critical for us to design a structure that was in dialogue with the vibrant visual language of Ponti and Studio Libeskind’s designs, while also providing a connection to the museum,” says Jorge Silvetti, principal at Machado Silvetti.

Machado Silvetti and Fentress Architects, together with interior architects OMA, IKD, and Esrawe + Cadena, have completed the $150 million revitalization of the new
expanded and reimagined campus for The Denver Art Museum (DAM), unveiling all eight levels of its iconic Gio Ponti-designed Lanny and Sharon Martin Building (formerly referred to as the North Building), and the new Anna and John J. Sie Welcome Center.

The renovation of the Denver Art Museum has recently been awarded a 2023 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The reopening coincides with the Martin Building’s 50th anniversary.

A key component of the revitalization—timed to honor the 50th anniversary of the North Building—is the functional and iconic alignment of this building with its monumental neighbors: the titanium-clad, Libeskind-designed Hamilton Building; the Denver Central Library designed by Michael Graves; and the Clyfford Still Museum designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture.

Designed in 1965, the Denver Art Museum is Gio Ponti’s only completed building in North America.

The seven-story castle-like tower eschewed traditional museum archetypes at the time, sporting such design flourishes as unexpected window openings, a rooftop terrace with Rocky Mountain views, and 24 façades clad in more than one million reflective glass tiles.

All the new interventions, most notable is the Sie Welcome Center that adjoins the tower, newly renamed the Martin Building, references an elliptical auditorium that Ponti originally intended for the museum.

The work includes the addition of 33,328 square feet of new gallery and public space, fulfilling Ponti’s original vision for visitor access to stunning 7th-floor views; the addition of skylights that reveal new angles of the building’s design; and exterior improvements such as lighting and revitalization of the glass tiles on the building’s façade.

The renovation also includes updating environmental and other key systems with the latest technology.

The completed project received LEED Silver certification. Infrastructure and safety upgrades include a new elevator core, which adds two additional elevators and a transparent public staircase for improved visitor flow, along with updated mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, new windows, new flooring, and new exterior wall insulation.

The 50,000-square-foot Sie Welcome Center’s second-story façade is comprised of a series of 25-feet tall and eight-feet wide (7.6 by 2.4 meters) curved structural glass panels with insulated glazing—an unprecedented feat of engineering and the first building to use curved panels in this way.

The welcome center serves as an entry point and a destination for visitors and seamlessly connects all aspects of the museum campus.

The team described the glazed facade as “an unprecedented feat of engineering and the first building to use curved glass panels in this way.”

“With its elliptical shape approachable from all angles, and transparent glass facade, the center is an inviting and glowing beacon to greet all visitors,” continues Silvetti.

OMA New York was responsible for exhibitions for the museum’s design gallery, and IKD of Boston and San Francisco designed a special exhibition on the building’s main floor.

A new learning and engagement center features “playful, creative, and inspired flexible spaces” created by Mexico City’s Esrawe + Caden.

Project: Denver Art Museum Renovation and Expansion
Architects: Machado Silvetti and Fentress Architects
Exhibition Gallery Architects: Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), IKD and Esrawe + Cadena
Original Architect: Gio Ponti (1965)
General Contractor: Saunders Construction, Inc.
Owner’s Representative: Grundy Construction Management & Consulting
Client: Denver Art Museum
Photographers: James Florio

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• With offices empty and housing scarce, commercial buildings are being turned into homes more often. 
• Architects say the hardest part of these conversions is picking the right building.
• After that, they have to do everything from adding stairs to cutting out the centers of structures. 

Vacant downtown office buildings may be the next SoHo lofts. That is, after they go through the costly process of being converted into apartments and condos. 

Elected officials in cities across the US are trying to solve a housing shortage, empty offices in a remote-work world, and the climate crisis by converting underused commercial space into homes.

Steven Paynter, an expert in office-to-residential conversions at the architecture firm Gensler, thinks converted office buildings will be a trendy, new type of housing. Like the loft apartments converted from former manufacturing spaces that have become some of the most desirable homes in Manhattan, New York, former offices offer unique features and history you can’t find in a new building. 

“A lot of the residential conversion is now providing a better product than ground-up residential because no one builds residential with that high ceilings, or that kind of interesting structural system, or that kind of heritage facade, or building with brick skin,” Paynter said.

The renovated exterior of Franklin Tower, a 24-story former office building in downtown Philadelphia that now contains luxury residences. Courtesy of Gensler and Robert Deitchler

And even in a worst-case scenario, where units are strangely laid out or dimly lit, there can still be unique benefits to living in an old office.

“A lot of people might not care that they get a ton of daylight into their bedroom if it means their rent is cheaper or they live a five-minute walk from work,” Mark Hogan, a San Francisco architect who has advised the city government on policy reforms concerning office conversions, said.

But renovating old office buildings is no simple task. Insider spoke with four architects who’d tackled these projects. They said that turning a cubicle farm or conference room into a livable space involved addressing a host of issues, including inoperable, poorly insulated windows and the dark depths of a skyscraper’s center.

Here’s what it takes to turn an empty office skyscraper into much-needed housing.

The first step is finding the right building

The most difficult part of the conversion process comes before any of the construction begins: selecting the buildings to convert, Paynter said. He and his team have developed an algorithm to determine which buildings are ripe for conversion. It takes into account building size, layout, location, and how updated its facade is. Of the 950 buildings he and his team have surveyed, just 30% are suitable for conversion. People in the industry call them “Goldilocks buildings.”

“If you get the right building, you can make a really great project out of it,” he said. “If you start with the wrong building, you’ve got no chance.

Older, prewar buildings are generally easier to turn into homes than newer skyscrapers. That’s because buildings constructed before air conditioning generally have smaller floor plates, with building interiors no more than 25 or 30 feet from windows that can open. Newer buildings often have deeper floor plates and windows that don’t open, which can make conversion tricky since residential buildings need light, air, and bathrooms all over. 

“A lot of older buildings that are U-shaped or E-shaped, or kind of smaller in floor plate are perfect candidates for conversion,” Charles Bloszies, a San Francisco architect and structural engineer, told Insider. 

In some cases, particularly when it comes to postwar high-rises, it’s more economical to tear old office buildings down and replace them with new housing, Hogan said. He thinks older, smaller buildings are much more eligible for conversion. 

“That is lower-hanging fruit, and I think those are the type of projects you’ll be more likely to see sooner,” Hogan said. 

An exercise and lounge space in Franklin Tower. Courtesy of Gensler and Robert Deitchler

Many buildings need more stairs to meet modern fire codes

The first step in turning a commercial building into homes is figuring out where the staircases will go to meet modern fire regulations, especially in older and smaller buildings, Hogan said. In the US, most apartment buildings more than 4 stories high must have two staircases and exits. Those staircases need to be connected by a corridor, and that shapes how apartments are laid out around them.

“There’s a lot of existing buildings that have a fire escape as a second means of egress in San Francisco,” Hogan said. “In a building where you’re changing the use, you typically have to bring it up to code, and so adding extra stairs is a really major intervention and is just going to change the available square footage pretty dramatically.” 

Cutting out the middle of skyscrapers to add more windows

Key to the interior design in converted buildings is maximizing the amount of exterior wall per unit to get each home the most light and air possible. In some newer office buildings, architects will cut out a portion of the center of the building to create a courtyard or shaft for air and light. Sometimes that lost floor space will be made up by adding several floors to the building. 

John Cetra, a Manhattan architect who has worked on office conversions since the 1980s, is leading the second-largest office-to-residential conversion project in Manhattan. The building — at 25 Water St. in the financial district — houses JPMorgan’s offices and is set to have 1,300 apartments eventually. But first, sections of the center of the building, including excess elevators, are planned to be cut out, with new floors added. 

“We created the hole in the doughnut to bring the light and air into the middle of the space,” Cetra said. “And we took some of the floor area that we eliminated, and we’re building 10 stories on top of the building.” 

A rendering of a coworking space at 55 Broad St in Manhattan. Courtesy CetraRuddy

In another such project completed in 2007, Bloszies and his team turned the oldest skyscraper on the West Coast — San Francisco’s Chronicle Building — into 100 homes. They stripped off a metal shroud that had been added to the building, restored the original facade, and added 8 stories to the top of the building — one of the largest vertical additions to a historic building in the world at the time.

Rebuilding a skyscraper can get expensive

Not all buildings can accommodate a renovation like this. Some building foundations can’t handle the extra weight of additional floors. Cetra said he and his team “draw the line” at reinforcing foundations, a process that he said was too expensive and disruptive to be worthwhile.

Changing an older building’s use often triggers requirements to have it abide by modern building codes. This includes updates like seismic retrofitting, which strengthens buildings to protect them against earthquakes. It also includes abiding by modern energy-efficiency standards. New plumbing, mechanical systems, and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems are also usually part of the construction process. 

Renovating the facades and windows of buildings is also a costly but often necessary endeavor. Many buildings, particularly those constructed after 1960, don’t have operable windows, and even if they do, they don’t meet modern energy-efficiency standards. 

When Gensler renovated Franklin Tower, a vacant 1970s office building in downtown Philadelphia, it fully reconstructed the facade and windows. It also solved some of the problems associated with a large floor plan by creating smaller amenity spaces on several floors occupying many of the windowless spaces in the center of the building, Paynter said. 

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The 1980s were a particularly uninspired time for Bay Area design, according to local architects. When asked for their most- and least-favorite local buildings, all three had picks designed during the Reagan administration on the bottom of their lists. 

Lada Kocherovsky, principal with Page & Turnbull, also chose to concentrate on what could still be at one of her least favorites: the Crocker Galleria. A plan for a major renovation to the early 1980s downtown mall was pitched to the Planning Department in 2019 but seems not to have moved forward since then. Kocherovsky remains optimistic.

“I do hope something nice comes of it,” she said.

Lada Kocherovsky AIA, Principal with Page & Turnbull

Kocherovsky has been a principal at Page & Turnbull for over 25 years and has worked on commercial and civic projects ranging from the adaptive re-use of historic buildings at UC-Berkeley and Stanford to the creation of the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. 

Favorites

1645 Pacific Condominiums 

1645 Pacific Condominiums (Google Maps)

Kocherovsky couldn’t resist a few Page & Turnbull shout-outs to kick off her list, first citing this Grosvenor-owned project completed in 2013. Designed by BAR Architects, the Nob Hill development was based on an initial concept design sketch by Page & Turnbull. 

“It’s one of those rare examples of a housing project that doesn’t look like the rest,” she said of the former 1907 garage whose historic facade was integrated into the mid-rise condo building. 

San Francisco Ferry Building 

San Francisco Ferry Building (JaGa – CC BY-SA 4.0 – via Wikimedia Commons)

Kocherovsky called the historic Embarcadero building a “quintessential San Francisco landmark and an icon, a symbol of the city.” Page & Turnbull oversaw the Ferry Building’s major restoration in 2003, and is leading a current renovation project, which will add a bayfront plaza, indoor-outdoor dining, pedestrian pathways and new retail spaces. Another restoration from Architecture Resources Group that involves repairing some of the structure’s façade and a new paint job in custom-made “Ferry Building Grey” began in 2019. 

Kochervosky said the 1898 building was the city’s “immortal phoenix of real estate, with the remarkable rebirth of the building in the early 2000s, when it became something it wasn’t ever before without losing itself. That gave the Ferry Building a new life, and it could happen again now. It’s a commercial real estate success story.”

181 Fremont St. 

181 Fremont Street (Google Maps)

For her last pick, Kochervosky gave kudos to Heller Manus Architects’ design of the LEED Platinum luxury condo tower, completed in 2018 and developed by Jay Paul Company.

“The San Francisco skyline has changed a lot over the last few years, and the Fremont Street high-rise with its expressive diagonal element recalls the towers of 1950s and 1960s architecture in San Francisco, yet it is appealing as a contemporary gesture,” she said. 

Least Favorite

Crocker Galleria 

Crocker Galleria (Google Maps)

Kochervosky called this downtown mall “the opposite of a love-at-first-sight building” that “reminds San Francisco of the worst of the typical 1980s, and the least appealing aspects of postmodern architecture. It’s kind of an eyesore to me, and I’m glad they’re talking about redeveloping it.” 

San Francisco Marriott Marquis 

San Francisco Marriott Marquis (Marriott)

Another ‘80s build made it onto Kochervosky’s least favorite list: the 39-story Marriott Marquis across the street from the Moscone Center. It had its opening day on October 17, 1989, the same day as the disastrous Loma Prieta earthquake. 

Kochervosky called the city’s second-tallest hotel tower a “child of its times” that “dominates central Market-Mission streets with its stepped façade, reflective glazing and arched penthouse windows — though not in a particularly attractive way.”

Federal Building

San Francisco Federal Building (HaeB, CC BY-SA 4.0 – via Wikimedia Commons)

This 18-story SOMA tower was designed by Morphosis and completed in 2007. It is the first LEED-certified federal building, with perforated stainless steel panels that are supposed to naturally regulate the building’s temperature rather than a traditional HVAC system. 

The innovative environmental features led to a design award from the American Institute of Architects’ San Francisco chapter in 2008, but Kochervosky was not won over. 

“Its scale is wrong,” she said. “Nor does it relate to the adjacent architecture in any way. So it’s just not a great fit in the neighborhood.”

Charles Blosizies FAIA, Founder and Principal at the Office of Charles F Bloszies

Blosizies has led his own San Francisco-based office since 1985 and specializes in projects that merge old buildings with new designs, like his 10-story 2009 addition at 1 Kearny Street. He had a best and worst list, as well as an architectural “wildcard”: the Cow Palace, the former livestock pavilion and current event center on the San Francisco/Daly City border that he called “the most un-San Francisco building imaginable.”

Favorites

Angler’s Lodge

Angler’s Lodge (WPA)

Blosizies thinks more people should check out this “hidden gem” adjacent to the casting pools in Golden Gate Park. Both the lodge and pools were built as part of a Works Progress Administration-funded project in the late 1930s. The building is meant to mimic traditional mountain lodges, with rustic woodwork and stone and houses a library of books and media on fishing and casting, according to the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club website. The club still hosts tournaments and fly fishing classes, with rods available to borrow.

Hallidie Building

Hallidie Building (Dllu, CC BY-SA 4.0 – via Wikimedia Commons)

“According to legend, everyone hated” this Willis Polk-designed downtown building when it was finished in 1918, Blosizies said. But it was one of the first to utilize glass curtain walls in the U.S. and “planted the seeds for the modern era of glass and steel architecture,” he added. 

It now sits on the city’s list of registered landmarks and underwent a three-year historic renovation beginning in 2010 that fixed up its sheet metal decorative elements, repainted it to its original blue and gold color scheme—in honor of its first occupant, the University of California — and replaced all the glass. It currently houses the San Francisco chapter of the AIA. 

8 Octavia Condominiums

8 Octavia Condominiums (Google Maps)

Stanley Saitowitz’s 8 Octavia is “one of a very few sustainable buildings to use sun control as a design driver, expressed by its over-scaled vertical blinds, and by far the best residential building built in the Octavia Corridor,” Blosizies said. 

The corridor used to be part of the Central Freeway, which was demolished in 2003 after being damaged during Loma Prieta. Recently, State Senator Scott Wiener has been among those calling for the removal of more of the freeway overpass to make room for more housing, but has faced pushback from neighborhood groups fearing gentrification. 

Least Favorite 

Sutro Tower

Sutro Tower (Getty)

Blosizies acknowledged that in the 50 years since Sutro Tower went up near Twin Peaks it has become “a revered icon for some, but not for me.” 

“It was ugly when it was erected and getting uglier as it is adorned with more and more cell antennae,” he said.

900 Kearny Street

900 Kearny Street (LoopNet)

Blosizies said the Francis Ford Coppola-owned Columbus Tower, built in 1907 and also known as the Sentinel Building, is an architectural beauty. But the neighboring tower at 900 Kearny Street, built in 1989, “makes a feeble attempt to mimic the Columbus Building and represents the worst type of new:old architectural references.” 

100 Van Ness

100 Van Ness (SGB)

Bloszies is all for office-to-residential conversions, but said this one missed the mark. The 1974 office tower near Civic Center, which formerly housed the California State Automobile Association, was converted to over 400 apartments with a design by Solomon Cordwell and Buenz in 2015. 

“The new façade and especially the forms at the top are not much of an improvement to the skyline near City Hall,” Bloszies said.

Andy Rastetter PE and LEED AP, Associate at Buro Happold 

Rastetter is both an architect and a structural engineer in the Oakland office of London-based Buro Happold and has worked on designing the seismic system at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in LA, among other projects. 

Favorites

De Young Museum

De Young Museum (via Wikimedia Commons)

Rastetter chose Herzog & De Meuron’s 2005 rebuild of the De Young Museum for its “natural extension” of surrounding Golden Gate Park, which he prefers to the Academy of Sciences’ 2008 rebuild across the concourse. He also appreciates how the De Young provides a “great backdrop to art” that has a strong presence without overwhelming the works inside. 

Chapel of Chimes

Chapel of Chimes (Jon Evans from Toronto, Canada, CC BY 2.0 – via Wikimedia Commons)

Rastetter pointed out the “incredibly ornate interiors” of Julia Morgan’s 1928 redesign of this Oakland building, which has been used as a funeral home since the 1980s. He called the chapel “possibly the best kept architectural secret in the Bay Area, considering that it is freely open to the public seven days a week” as well as “some of the most ethereal interior environments I have ever come across.” 

Salesforce Park

Salesforce Park (Salesforce Transit Center)

Rastetter raved about the Pelli Clarke Pelli design of Salesforce Park, which he called “one of the best urban spaces in San Francisco.” The four-block-long elevated park above the Transbay Terminal opened in 2018, then closed almost immediately afterwards when cracks were found in two steel beams, then opened again in summer 2019. The company’s neighboring namesake 61-story tower itself is “nothing special,” which put it on the top of his least favorite lists.

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Least Favorite

Salesforce Tower

Salesforce Tower (Hines)

Also designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli and the last of Cesar Pelli’s designs to be completed during his lifetime, Salesforce Tower got a thumbs down from Rastetter. 

“The tower that defines the San Francisco skyline should not be so ordinary, mundane or phallic,” he said. “This was a missed opportunity to do something great.”

Neiman Marcus Department Store

Neiman Marcus Department Store in San Francisco (Niles Bolton Associates)

Rastetter called this Johnson/Burgee design from the early ‘80s “probably Johnson’s worst project, there is almost nothing I like about this building.” Its only redeeming feature is the original turn-of-the-century City of Paris atrium, he said, which was saved by preservationists when Neiman Marcus bought the Beaux Arts building in the 1970s with plans to demolish it. 

“It feels like the atrium is held captive behind the poorly detailed post-modern façade,” he said. 

Vaillancourt Fountain

Vaillancourt Fountain (Getty)

Rastetter concedes that the early 1970s fountain by Canadian artist Armand Vaillancourt in Embarcadero Plaza is not a building, but the precast concrete square tubes make the 40-foot-high structure “very architectural in its size and proportions.” 

“This sculpture literally makes the plaza look worse,” he said. “But these days you could argue that it blends in nicely with the adjacent homeless camps!”

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Time is one of those elusive things that affects everyone, but no one can fully understand or explain it. Dave Barry, the American author and humorist once wrote: “Other than Velcro, time is the most mysterious substance in the universe. You can’t see it or touch it, but a plumber can charge you up to $75 an hour for it without necessarily fixing anything.” Barry’s rate should be adjusted for inflation.

Whether we consciously realize it or not, our understanding of the world around us is inseparable from our perception of time. Time leaves its mark on everything and everyone, and without that time signature we’re lost. Imagine that all people look the same age – even if they are born. Or if every stone and stick looked equally worn and patinated. It would be a bit outside of the Twilight Zone – life seems frozen and we would have no idea where to position ourselves in relation to things around us.

This applies in particular to architecture. As we walk through a city, we experience buildings not only as shapes and colors, but also as time markers – meaning that they are artifacts from different eras in which they were built. Buildings are littered with visual cues, some obvious and some subtle, but a shortcut to this is architectural style. Although occasionally expressing superficial fashions and whims, architectural styles directly reflect building technologies, available materials, solutions to overcome technical or aesthetic challenges, and even political conditions and the general zeitgeist of an era. Of course, geographical location also plays an important role in the design of buildings.

So when we see a Federal-style house, we relate it to post-revolutionary times; a Victorian style house or building from the late 1800s during the reign of Queen Victoria; a typical brick building on Main Street, around the turn of the century; Art Deco belongs to the 1920s and 30s, a time when architects had a new challenge to design much taller buildings; Brutalist concrete architecture – unfortunately what most people associate with “modern architecture” – dates from the 1950s and 60s; and postmodernism was rife in the 1970s and 80s. (The latter two were arguably the most awkward of the bunch, much as the 1970s were for fashion fads.)

To the disappointment of some die-hard custodians, cities and towns are not stagnant museums, but ever-renewing places, with structures added and remodeled over time. It is normal, even desirable, to have modern style buildings next to older style buildings. Modern architecture, when thoughtfully executed, can be warm and appealing and is not incompatible with historical architecture. This juxtaposition of styles and time signatures creates a richer and far more interesting place, and most importantly, makes the historic buildings so much more valuable. Contrast makes everything easier to read, which is why federal and state monument protection guidelines require that additions to historic buildings be differentiated and not imitate the old buildings. This way we can distinguish what is original and what is new.

But what happens when we mess with our sense of time? What if, instead of designing buildings that look, function and belong to our time, we design them to visually mimic ancient and historic buildings? It would not be flattery; it would be fiction. We would simply fool ourselves and send false signals that distort our understanding of time and place. Sooner or later people would find out they were fooled and nobody likes to be fooled. In addition, the authentic historical buildings would also suffer as they would withdraw into a no longer recognizable jumble of doubles and impostors. In a way, we would be creating Disneyland’s Main Street, only worse, because no one is fooled by Disney’s Main Street – they know it’s a theme park. However, our cities are not amusement parks.

Which brings us to the sensitive subject of historic neighborhoods and historic landmarks. Most municipalities apply these categories narrowly and judiciously, landmarks apply to individual buildings or locations, while districts apply to specific city blocks or sometimes neighborhoods. Usually, for a place to be called a historic district, there has to be a preponderance of historic landmarks that are clustered closely together (think San Francisco’s “Painted Ladies”), or where the streets themselves exhibit unique historic qualities (think that cobblestone streets of New York City). streets of Tribeca). This makes sense, because if the name is to have any meaning, you have to be selective and not cast your nets too far, lest you catch more algae than fish.

Summerville has both types of designations, including a fairly expansive area covered by its historic district. In fact, I would argue that the district is too big as it contains many nondescript houses and streets with no historical significance. Still, there are some who suggest that we should enlarge the district as it would protect more of Summerville from poor development. I certainly identify with the feeling, just not with the solution.

If there are individual buildings outside the district that have real historical value, we may, with the consent of the owner, consider designating them as historical landmarks to protect them. There are individual names for this. However, covering the city with a historic district would deprive property owners of their investments, stifle economic growth, snuff out all design creativity and innovation by imposing an architectural straitjacket, and trap us forever in a time warp. Worse, it would create a theme park of fictional “historic” homes and buildings that would mock the entire historic district – the Disneyfication of Summerville.

The answer to bad development is not bad development that looks old. The answer is a thoughtful and well-designed development led by architects who are talented and responsible designers. It also includes a Design Review Board that holds developers to a high standard, discourages architectural pastiche, and encourages elegant and forward-thinking design that belongs to our times and adheres to established urban design principles.

Historic districts should not be used to embalm a city, but rather to preserve and celebrate the truly historic structures of the past while leaving plenty of room for new projects to sustain and enliven city life, pushing us forward confidently and uncompromisingly . The vitality and future of Summerville depends on it.

As Charles F. Kettering, a prolific inventor and a key figure at General Motors, astutely said a century ago, “You can’t have a better tomorrow if you’re thinking about yesterday all the time.”

Eric Epstein lives in Summerville and is the director of Epstein Architecture, a design practice focused on projects that bring people together. Eric has also taught architecture and urban design and is an occasional guest critic at architecture schools. He can be reached at eric@epsteinarchitecture.com.

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Bay Area studio David Baker Architects has completed 145 units of social housing using modular construction and a weathering steel facade in San Francisco, California.

The 63,000-square foot (5,850 meter) project – called Tahanan, the Tagalog word for “coming home” – was completed in November 2021 through a financing prototype that aimed to accelerate the timeline and reduce the cost of permanent supportive housing.

Modules make up the social housing in San Francisco

“This is a particularly meaningful project for our team, because it provides homes to formerly unhoused people, along with the services they need to thrive,” said David Baker Architects (DBA) principal Daniel Simons.

The six-storey project stacks 87 two-unit boxes – fabricated by Factory OS in nearby Vallejo – atop a concrete podium that contains a flexible community room, in-house social services, and tenant retail space.

The six-storey project stacks 87 two-unit boxes

David Baker Architects designed the modules with an angled end that creates a sawtooth facade along the project’s western edge, orienting the 290-square foot (27-square meter) apartments toward downtown San Francisco, rather than the adjacent judicial complex.

The compact units contain only the necessities — a bedroom, kitchenette and bathroom — and rely on the support services and amenities of the building and surrounding neighborhood to fill out the rest of the residents’ living spaces.

Only the necessities are included in the compact units

“The site is in the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural District, established to preserve the cultural diversity of the area by highlighting the culture and contributions of the Filipino American community,” the studio said.

Simons noted the team’s interaction with the local community group SOMA Pilipinas group “had a direct and strong influence on the patterns, textures and colors of the project, especially the exterior and the public spaces.”

The raked is clad in weathering steel

The raked facade was clad in copper-coloured weathering steel and silver aluminum panels perforated to resemble a rice terrace. Additionally, the ground floor concrete was cast using traditional banig mats to create a handwoven texture.

Balancing security with transparency through layered glazed spaces, the ground floor opens to a rainbow mural-lined courtyard designed by Fletcher Studio.

David Baker Architects added a rainbow mural-lined courtyard to the ground floor

“This interplay facilitates social connection and offers visual links across the varied spaces, including a peek into the life of the building from the street,” the studio said.

The design utilizes best practices that both the studio and the developer, Mercy Housing, have found through years of supportive housing design to help residents feel safe and welcome.

The design works to help residents feel safe

“Tahanan integrates those best practices into a beautiful space where residents feel comfortable,” said Mercy Housing’s real estate director Barbara Gualco.

“The fully-equipped apartment homes, calm and private case management offices, and spacious communal areas provide an excellent foundation for residents to build towards their personal goals.”

Tahanan intends to tackle San Francisco’s homelessness crisis

The project’s goal – to provide people with secure housing as quickly as possible to combat California’s homelessness crisis – was expedited through the use of philanthropic funding from Tipping Point Community and the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund.

The use of modular construction reduced the project’s timeline from the average five to seven years to three. The prefabricated modules were installed on site in just 10 days.

Scalloped facade fronts Parisian social housing block by Jean-Christophe Quinton

“Another gratifying aspect of the project was being able to meet aggressive goals of reduced cost per unit along with an accelerated schedule to occupancy,” said DBA modular lead Jonas Weber.

“These goals often work against one another, and the development, design and construction teams were collectively committed to defying conventional wisdom.”

The use of modular construction reduces the project’s timeline

The studio recently released a monograph that outlines its methodology for creating social housing.

The studio, with offices in San Francisco, Oakland, and Birmingham maintains that affordable housing should be indistinguishable from market-rate housing and has constructed a number of social projects like a convex, tile-clad micro-unit development in nearby Hayes Valley.

The photography is by Bruce Damonte.

Project credits:

Developers: Mercy Housing California, Tipping Point
Financial partners: San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund
Architect: David Baker Architects
Custom Furnishings: DBA_Workshop, Pacassa Studio
Custom rainscreen: BOK Modern
General contractor: Cahill Contractors
Modular fabricator: Factory_OS
Landscape architect: Fletcher Studios
Structural engineer: DCI Engineers
MEP engineers: FARD Engineers
civil engineer: Luke + Associates

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Hertfordshire-based Michael Collins Architects have added a box-shaped, two-story addition made of copper and charred larch to a row house next to a train station in south London.

The extension and renovation was called the Jewelery Box, a nod to the way the Victorian terrace and subtle extension hide the more lively interior of the house.

Michael Collins Architects added a box-shaped extension to a Victorian terrace

“Our customers talked about the house’s jewel box quality, where a simple shape is pulled apart to reveal a more complex, lighter and more textured interior,” said Michael Collins, founder of Michael Collins Architects.

“The extension to the rear is designed as two cubic volumes that slide over a base with glass surfaces in between,” he told Dezeen.

The extension on the ground floor contains a kitchen

The studio extended the house to the rear with two blocky annexes influenced by the various ad hoc extensions to row houses in London that can often be seen on train journeys around town

On the ground floor, an annex made of oxidized copper contains a kitchen and dining area, while a smaller annex with charred larch wood above houses a bathroom on the first floor. This is crowned by a roof terrace, which is accessible from the second floor.

The annex opens to a small garden

“The blocky exterior was inspired by the simple poetry of the stacked, box-shaped, self-made ‘add-ons’ and ‘closet recirculations’ that can be seen along the back of railroad decks, reflecting the diverse lives of their residents attempting to create a highly ordered composition create, “said Collins.

“A central topic was how to create a feeling of spatial generosity in this cramped area and how to approach the steep natural embankment in the rear area.”

Gold and Inchyra Blue are combined in the kitchen

The studio clad the outside of the house in dark industrial materials to hint at the nature of the site next to the train tracks and the former owner of the house, a chimney sweep.

Satish Jassal Architects is adding an oak-framed conservatory to a renovated London townhouse

“The uses of oxidized copper and charred larch were determined by context,” said Collins. “Especially the urban memory of a famous chimney sweep from south London who lived and ran his business on the property, but also the sooty quality of the masonry along the embankment and the oxidized metal infrastructure along the way.”

The interiors contrast the dark exterior

In contrast to the restrained exterior, the interiors were designed in light colors, with inchyra blue cabinets and surfaces combined with golden back walls in the kitchen.

“A flush panel water element hides utility space, pantries and a toilet wrapped around the interior walls of the kitchen to create a sense of immersion and continuity with the trained plants lining the garden walls,” added Collins.

The studio has also renovated the main house

Overall, the architect is of the opinion that the house suits its location and wouldn’t make sense anywhere else.

“We hoped the project would be as idiosyncratic as its surroundings,” he said.

“The project grew out of the location and two very unique customers. These factors have shaped its orientation, size and materiality, and we think that it would not make sense at any other location.”

Jewelery Box was placed on the longlist in the Small Interior category of the Dezeen Awards 2020. This category was won by the Sim-Plex Design Studio Four Bedroom Smart Home in Hong Kong.

Photography is by Jacob Milligan.

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Below is a list of the best and leading architects in San Francisco. To help you find the best architects in your area in San Francisco, we’ve compiled our own list based on this review point list.

San Francisco’s Best Architects:

The top rated architects in San Francisco are:

• Winder Gibson Architects – offers first-class architectural designs for private and business customers
• Architect Andrew Morrall – specializes in creating living spaces with a clear and bold design
• Martinkovic Milford Architects – creates experience-oriented and personal solutions for various customer needs
• Kaplan Architects – offers bespoke projects to create a unique architecture
• Kerman Morris Architects – a women owned company that provides well designed living spaces

Winder Gibson Architects

Winder Gibson Architects offers first-class architectural designs for private and business customers. They have a large portfolio of different designs to suit every preference. Your architects work closely with their customers. This will help them provide the most suitable design for them. In addition, they offer interior and exterior designs for residential homes. They offer space and design in perfect balance. In addition, their designs for commercial space create the mood for the business. They provide fluid space to serve more customers. Your designs celebrate the daily hustle and bustle.

Products:

Architects, commercial, residential

LOCATION:

Address: 1898 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Telephone: (415) -318-8634
Website: archsf.com

REVIEWS:

“They do good, responsible work, and they know good design.” – Devin Smith

Architect Andrew Morrall

The architect Andrew Morrall specializes in creating living spaces with a clear and bold design. He emphasizes creativity after a thorough evaluation of construction and cost. In addition, he follows the client and budget in the design process. His designs are complicated down to the smallest detail. He started his practice in 2003 and has provided excellent services. In addition, he has designed hundreds of projects, from conversions to apartment buildings. He also pays attention to details when bidding and building. Several customers have praised his services in various publications and online.

Products:

Architect, residential

LOCATION:

Address: 2730 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Telephone: (415) -341-5980
Website: andrewmorrallarchitect.com

REVIEWS:

“I attended his first art opening as an aspiring artist at the North Shore Perimeter Gallery in the Chicago Gallery District. visited San Francisco while completing his first home, which he built in 2001, and his newest house on the hillside, which he had only completed in 2016. I look forward to following Andy’s career and I recommend him as your architect for your next renovation or new home in San Francisco and the Bay Area. “- Devin Smith

Martinkovic Milford Architects

Martinkovic Milford Architects creates experimental and personal solutions for various customer needs. They also take into account the context of their customers in order to deliver their preferred designs. In addition, they examine the interests of their customers to identify untapped opportunities. They innovate their designs with the customer in mind. Your designs are interwoven through function and creativity. The balance between design and practicality can be observed in her numerous projects. In addition, they are aimed at customers from the residential and commercial sectors. They also have splendid designs for medical facilities.

Products:

Architect, living, medicine, business

LOCATION:

Address: 101 Montgomery St # 650, San Francisco, CA 94104
Telephone: (415) -346-9990
Website: martinkovicmilford.com

REVIEWS:

“This group did a fantastic job planning and building my private plastic surgery practice, a med spa that I was previously affiliated with, and some improvements to my surgery center. Not only was the design top of the line, but I felt like they were really committed to my interests during the construction process, which can be nerve-wracking for the uninitiated. Highly recommended and I am sure I will use them again. “- Scott Mosser

Kaplan Architects

Kaplan Architects offers bespoke projects to create a unique architecture. You have successfully completed many types of projects. In addition, they supply commercial and private architects throughout the region. They have timeless and functional designs. Your solutions are constantly evolving over time. In addition, they provide all the necessary planning and technical details during construction. They also work with the contractor to keep the project running smoothly. In addition, they guide customers through the entire process. They ensure that customer preferences are followed every step of the way.

Products:

Architect, residential, commercial

LOCATION:

Address: 49 Zoe St Suite 10, San Francisco, CA 94107
Telephone: (415) -974-6794
Website: kaplanarchitects.com

REVIEWS:

“We highly recommend Kaplan Architects. Their designs, their knowledge, their professionalism, their personality exceeded our expectations. When the plans became a reality it was amazing to see that they could foresee how different elements of the project would come together into something beyond what we saw on paper. There were never any surprises or misunderstandings with them in any of our stores. The communication was excellent. “- Sharon Ventura

Kerman Morris Architects

Kerman Morris Architects is a women-owned company that provides well-designed living spaces. They are committed to providing excellent designs and fits for every working person. In addition, they specialize in housing developments. This includes homes, infill housing, and affordable housing. They are also aimed at mixed-use projects. Her adaptive reuse projects include changes to churches and historic buildings. They did great conservation work on various historical buildings. In addition, they are aimed at customers from the cultural sector of society. They offer designs for schools and common areas. Your designs correspond to the culture and practice of the project area.

Products:

Architect, residential, commercial, community

LOCATION:

Address: 139 Noe St, San Francisco, CA 94114
Phone: (415) -749-0302
Website: kermanmorris.com

REVIEWS:

“Great service and place to work. Here in San Francisco you can rely on your individual high-end home design. “- Vanessa Liu

Jeanie Burford is a reporter for Kev’s Best. After graduating from UCLA, Amy did an internship at a local radio station and worked as a beat reporter and producer. Jeanie has also worked as a columnist for The Brookings Register. Amy covers business and community events for Kev’s Best.

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