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Gloria Nonaka-Rubio Joins Platt/Whitelaw

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How a family on the frontlines of history influenced her career ambitions

Our team is diverse in many ways, including in our professional backgrounds. For example, Platt/Whitelaw’s newest team member, Gloria Nonaka-Rubio, cut her chops at both engineering and general contracting firms.

“Attention to detail is one of my top strengths,” Gloria said. Through her time working with engineers and contractors, she saw how even a small mistake or inaccuracy on architectural drawings could lead to issues down the line.

Becoming an architect

Gloria’s initial motivation for choosing a career was to help people. She had a strong interest in art and design growing up, but she thought the legal profession would better suit her ambitions. After trying out law school, she realized that architecture was a better professional match for her. She also realized that it, too, offered ways to help people.

Gloria is a licensed architect in Mexico and has worked on both sides of the border. She parlayed her design experience with industrial, retail, residential and high-rise buildings into providing architectural support, primarily for school projects, at Platt/Whitelaw.

In addition to supporting communities through school design, historic preservation—another Platt/Whitelaw specialty—also suits Gloria’s passion for design. She’s already had the chance to work on the historic Julian Witch Creek Schoolhouse belltower through Platt/Whitelaw.

History through the lens of the Nonaka family

Gloria’s enthusiasm for history is firmly rooted in her family history. Her grandfather owned Tijuana’s first photography studio and documented much of Tijuana’s growth. Gloria’s father was involved in the Tijuana Historical Society, and Gloria herself fought to preserve a Tijuana building where she worked.

Her family played a role in some historic events, too. Her Japanese grandfather fought in the Mexican Revolution. Then, during World War II, he and his family were given 48 hours to move from Tijuana to Mexico City. Residents of Japanese descent were removed from coastal areas and ordered to the east, with no compensation.

Explaining her passion for history and its associated architecture, Gloria said: “We are who we are because of it.”

Moving forward

While work keeps her very busy, Gloria’s current ambitions include earning her California architect’s license and completing LEED Certification training. She also makes time to spend with her husband and their two dogs and to support dog adoption groups.

 

 

Platt/Whitelaw Architects Moves Office!

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One of San Diego’s Oldest Architecture Firms Occupying Space in Old Town Plaza.

We’ve got big news! We’ve moved from the village of North Park to the historic neighborhood of Old Town. Our firm secured space at Old Town Plaza, located at 2251 San Diego Ave.

“As much as we love North Park, working in San Diego’s most significantly historic neighborhood, Old Town, is fitting for our firm and offers some wonderful public transportation options for our staff,” said Co-Owner and President Naveen Waney.

“Old Town feels right,” added Co-Owner and Vice President Sandra Gramley. “Historic preservation architecture is a mainstay of our work, so it seems appropriate. Our firm was founded in 1955, and we’re proud that it makes us one of San Diego’s oldest architecture firms.”

Our firm’s work also includes a wide range of community-serving buildings, from education, recreation, and places of worship to restaurants, wellness facilities and public infrastructure.

Our firm’s phone numbers and email addresses will remain the same. To secure, build out and move into the new office space, we worked with relocation management firm Transom, furniture design firm Cultura, general contractor Pacific Building Group and real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.

Thanks to our amazing staff and to everyone who helped make our office move a success!

 

 

A Trip to the Republic of Serbia

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Architecture and Culture at the Crossroads of Europe.

For decades, our staff has come from all over the country and the world. We think diverse voices and perspectives make for better architecture and inclusivity.

Similarly, we’re excited for our staff members when they travel — and even more so when they share about their experiences. We’re grateful that Project Manager Julijana Petrovic agreed to share about her recent trip to Serbia. We hope our blog readers will find value in her story, too.

It had been three years since Julijana made the 15+ hour plane journey back to her home country, the Republic of Serbia.

On this three-week trip, she and her husband stayed briefly in the capital city of Belgrade and made a visit to his hometown of Sokobanja. They spent most of their time, though, in her hometown of Niš (pronounced Neesh).

University Administration and Library

She knew to expect changes. There are always changes when she returns. She was disappointed, though, to find that a large park in the city center was paved over. “Any little piece of land in the city gets filled,” she said.

Historical Monument in Serbian Fortress

This urbanization, however, is juxtaposed with the staggeringly beautiful mountains, rivers, and other natural landscapes still so plentiful in Serbia. The country is also known for its music festivals. The annual EXIT Festival near Belgrade has earned particular notoriety as one of the biggest music festivals in Europe. There is also Nisville in her hometown of Nis which is the biggest jazz festival in Eastern Europe.

Looking away from downtown

“I miss the different mentality of Serbia,” Julijana said. “People work to live. They love to spend time with friends over coffee or dinner. You don’t have to schedule months in advance. You can always hit someone up to go for a walk, and there’s always something going on.”

She says travelers will be hard pressed to find a more friendly place in the world. “You definitely won’t be hungry or thirsty,” she added.

If someone offers you stuffed cabbage leaves when you’re traveling in Serbia, you’d be well advised to take them up on it. Julijana says this is one of the nation’s most famous dishes.

For fans of architecture (um, we might know a few), Serbia won’t disappoint there either.

Church near Pirot

“You see a lot of history and evolution of architecture in Serbia,” said Julijana. “Every stone you see has a story to tell.”

University Administration and Library View from Fortress

For a big chunk of history, every war or conquest went through Serbia (formerly Yugoslavia), so numerous different cultures are represented. “It’s the crossroads of Europe,” Juliana said.

In Nis, homes can easily range from 200 to 400 years old, and many have handcrafted facades that may include relief or sculpture work. Decorative forged iron fences are common, too. The weather means that stone-based building materials last longer, so those materials became predominant. Serbians take upkeep of these structures very seriously.

And it’s not unusual to find partly built houses in Serbia. People often build their houses by adding rooms gradually.

Unfinished

Serbia also experienced a brutalism period of architecture from the 1930s into the 1950s that reflected the communist political structure of the time. While the concrete buildings were stark, monolithic, and undecorated, they did offer a complete community of residences, a school, and a park, often on the same block.

Strip Mall
Downtown Promenade

Over time, the cities have expanded out and up, so visitors will see a mash-up of historic and ultramodern architecture, sometimes in the same building.

Moments in time

You’ll also see a fortress in just about every city’s center. Julijana has fond memories of the secret passages in the Nis fortress. She was also struck by the numerous and diverse locations of monasteries in Serbia – including some built in caves!

Downtown Fortress
Downtown Fortress 2

Serbia’s architecture has influenced Julijana’s design philosophy and approach. The ways things were built in Serbia was appropriate for their time, and maintenance has always been a priority.

“This approach makes sense for sustainability aspects of the 2030 climate goals the U.S. has,” she said. “Communities need to understand that the built environment needs to be maintained.”

It’s culturally and geographically diverse views like this that make up the fabric of our firm’s design philosophy and approach. We’re proud to have Julijana on our staff and grateful that she shared her story. The travel bucket lists around here just got a little longer.

Architecture a Century from Now

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How our Senior Associate Peter Soutowood helped shape the conversation at the AIA Young Architects Forum’s Summit 30: Mission 2130

Can you imagine the role of architects more than 100 years into the future?

That’s exactly what Platt/Whitelaw Senior Associate Peter Soutowood had the chance to do when he was selected as one of 50 AIA members from around the country to participate in the AIA Young Architects Forum’s Summit 30: Mission 2130.

Chosen based on essays they submitted, the 50 participants were asked to imagine and address challenges the profession will face in the next 100 years, focusing on architecture, society and our planet.

“I think I was chosen because I put a lot of work into my essay and was very honest. I addressed the state of things now and how much they need to change, including food and the environment, not just architecture,” Peter said.

Through this Summit, the AIA hopes to understand what energizes a new generation of architects, even if the topics identified are outside the purview of architecture. In fact, Peter says the majority of the Summit group believed that the discipline of architecture, as we know it, would change massively over a century.

Future Solutions

Some thought artificial intelligence (AI) systems would take over many tasks. But, they asked, how vastly different would AI be in the future? Regardless, Peter points out that humans need to design for humans, and even AI is programmed by humans.

He also realizes that current AI systems reflect a lot of bias from the programmers, so the next step is to create a fresh system and use AI to see how the past can inform current and future architecture in a positive way.

Many Summit participants were excited about AI for code compliance and believe certain architectural tasks should be automated already. Also, they asked how AI can make architects more accessible to everyone—especially when current avenues are so limited and generally require a contract and money.

Peter’s working group at the Summit was called The Planeteers. Looking at a 100+-year timeline, they thought about milestones needed to eliminate fossil fuel use. For example, within the next 30 years, implementing intentional rolling blackouts may get people used to the necessity of those blackouts and further incentivize conservation. They also considered implementing a trash tax to encourage people to recycle instead of just dumping.

Several groups, including Peter’s, focused on deglobalization, where global energy and food systems would become localized. If it’s harder to transport things around the globe, they posited, people will start to localize food and energy production, thereby reducing negative impacts on the environment.

The Planeteers also discussed opening up new biomes in the ocean and on land and harvesting food and other renewable resources in different places. Peter’s group took a special interest in using waterways for food production, infrastructure and transportation.

Ultimately, each group hosted a five-minute presentation about their idea, with an oral and visual description of their vision.

Peter’s group included the idea of local neighborhood hubs for education, recycling, shade tree mechanics, energy production, food production and more.

The Summit Experience

Peter says that the Summit experience left him thinking about how to guide people to be more resilient and self-reliant and on ways to change our culture of cheap, disposable goods. While acknowledging its tragedy, Peter says that one positive outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic was the hyper-localization that happened and how quickly most of society was able to adapt to it.

Our team had a taste of this experience because Peter involved us before the workshop to further brainstorm. He presented the Summit’s prompts at a weekly Platt/Whitelaw staff meeting. Everyone, whether they specialize in architecture, marketing or administration, came up with great ideas and demonstrated that, as Peter said, “You don’t have to be an architect to know we need to make a major shift with our built environment and lifestyle. These questions of how to change behavior should be asked of everyone.”

So, esteemed reader, how do you think the design profession will change in relation to architecture, society and our planet? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

A Wind(sun)fall for Schools

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Investment Tax Credits Will Support Solar Panel Installations at our Nation’s Schools

At the end of 2020, we wrote about our work helping to implement San Diego Unified School District’s ambitious goals to create solar energy at every one of its more than 200 school campuses as well as various administrative facilities.

Our architects are providing design criteria to be used by design/build contractors for parking lot and playground shelters topped with solar panels. If you missed our article the first time around, it’s worth a look! Just click on the hyperlink above.

As that work continues and more school districts contemplate and implement solar energy systems, we’re celebrating the financial incentives now available to these school districts through H.R. 5376, also known as the Inflation Reduction Act.

According to Solar Power World, the Act includes a 10-year extension of the solar investment tax credit (ITC) at 30% (previously 26%) for both residential and commercial/utility-scale projects, direct pay for nonprofit and governmental entities, a 30% ITC for standalone storage, manufacturing credits for solar components and much more.

PV Magazine tells its readers, “Solar power projects eligible for the full 30% tax credit can increase their tax credit by an additional 10% – to 40% in total – by purchasing domestically produced hardware.”

We’re so glad this Act will support the good work already underway at SDUSD and other school districts around the country. Even better, the increased financial support may put solar energy in reach for additional school districts.

Also of note is a schools-specific provision of the Act that protects children, with investments to monitor and reduce pollution at public schools in disadvantaged communities.

Whether designing new schools, modernizing schools or helping to power schools with solar energy, it’s hard for us to imagine investments more worthwhile than schools and the children attending them. With help from the Inflation Reduction Act, our nation’s schools can become more environmentally responsible, save money on energy and divert more operating capital to providing a first-rate education.

A School with a Superpower

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As school starts again this year, children attending Clairemont Canyons Academy are in for a big surprise. They will arrive at a colorful new 2-story administration and classroom building.

As kids fill the brand-new halls, work will continue elsewhere on the campus to modernize the existing school facilities and create a new joint-use field and ball court by the next school year.

We consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have provided the initial architectural assessment and then full architectural services for this special school…because Clairemont Canyons Academy has a superpower.

It’s a place for almost any kind of student to thrive. It’s a mainstream elementary school but with a high percentage of special-needs students. (San Diego Unified School District merges special ed programs with regular students for diversity and a stronger student body.) As such, the design plan for Clairemont Canyons Academy includes many unique features.

This unique school and its diverse student body inspired the architectural strategies and features we included to distinguish the Clairemont Canyons Academy learning environment.

The new building has 14 classrooms, a maker’s lab, a sensory room, and an administration core with student services, including counseling and speech and music therapy programs.

  • The sensory room has black-out curtains, a water feature, an audio system, therapeutic chairs, a special-needs harness, a projector and more.
  • Special education rooms must be on the first floor, so that floor includes a wheelchair storage area.
  • Special needs classrooms have running hot water to accommodate any required feeding tube cleaning.
  • The first floor also includes more single-use restrooms to provide space for helpers. Restrooms have a power source for mobility lifts.
  • The first-floor group restroom has its sinks in an alcove in front of the room of toilets for easy monitoring and helping kids at the sinks.
  • The new building includes two elevators instead of the usual one elevator.
  • Generous whiteboard and corkboard space is provided for teachers because they find it helpful to be able to pin, tape or use a magnet to display materials at all heights.
  • Since the campus fronts the busy and sometimes noisy Balboa Avenue, we found supercharged ways of managing the acoustics. This helps all kids, but especially those with sound sensitivities, focus on their schooling rather than auditory distractions.

Other creative ideas we employed had more to do with the site and circumstances than the diversity of students.

  • The long, narrow site for the news administration and classrooms building meant long, straight corridors. We broke those up with fun pops of color on the walls and the floor.
  • Reception areas can get noisy at any school. With especially high ceilings in Clairmont Canyons Academy’s reception area, we chose to hang artistic acoustic baffles above the main counter to quiet things down.
  • Natural light quality varied between offices, so we designed small windows just below the ceiling that could share some light from one office into another.

Finally, we wanted to enliven and enrich the students’ on-campus experience, so we incorporated bold colors inside (as mentioned) and out. Two exterior sides of the classroom building display copper-hued metal cladding. Brightly colored exterior window shade canopies are both practical and whimsical.

We’re excited that kids will soon fill the halls and classrooms of Clairemont Canyons Academy. We wish them, the teachers and the staff the very best for the 2022-2023 school year and beyond!

 

 

 

Give Me Shelter

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Pallet City in Chula Vista will provide temporary homes for more than 130 formerly unsheltered people

Community architecture is our jam, and that means architecture for everyone. We’re so pleased to work on a project that will provide individuals, couples and families – all of whom currently live without shelter – with temporary homes at Pallet City in Chula Vista, California.

At a recent groundbreaking ceremony, covered by CBS8, Chula Vista city officials, the building team and community members celebrated the start of construction for 66 pallet homes, also known as tiny homes, on city-owned land.

Located near Broadway and Main Street, the tiny-homes neighborhood, the first of its kind in San Diego County, will shelter more than 130 people and their pets starting this fall.

Residents at Pallet City will also have access to multi-purpose rooms, restrooms, showers and a laundry facility. On-site services will include job assistance, medical care and 24-hour security. Residents chosen for Pallet City are vetted through Chula Vista’s Homeless Outreach Team (HOT).

Originally envisioned as one large structure, Platt/Whitelaw Architects helped the city pivot during the pandemic to accommodate small, individual structures instead of one communal space. Working with prime contractor Kimley-Horn, Platt/Whitelaw managed site planning with support from electrical engineering consultant Turpin & Rattan and fire consultant Jensen Hughes.

This work included accessibility measures; layout of the units and property gates; hardware; signage; site lighting; electrical service upgrades; and fire suppression in each unit and common areas. Principal Naveen Waney led our team with assistance from Samantha Saltzman.

“We’re proud to be part of this creative effort to provide homes for San Diegans who have faced trials and tribulations that led them to live in a vehicle or on the street instead of in a home,” said Naveen. “By also coordinating on-site services, the City of Chula Vista is making an admirable effort to help some of its most vulnerable citizens to better their lives in a sustainable and dignified way.”

Samantha, who incorporated homeless shelter design into her study program when attending NewSchool of Architecture & Design, added, “It makes me all the more grateful to play a small role in seeing this project through. It’s nice to work on something that is adding resources and value to our community.”

Western Rim Constructors is performing the sitework, including the building pads and anchorages, while Pallet SPC is assembling the shelters for installation by Western Rim. Federal funding will cover the $3.5 million project, as well as the ongoing operations costs.

PWA’s Architecture Now Includes Restaurants!

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“Restaurants are like a machine for hosting a grand party every night.” – Peter Soutowood

And who would know that better than Peter, former restaurant owner and our senior associate? Since rejoining Platt/Whitelaw Architects, Peter has expanded our community architecture work to include restaurants.

These clients have found a uniquely qualified design partner in Peter.

“Designing is one thing but being on the ownership and operations side of a restaurant gave me a completely different perspective of why things should be laid out the way they are,” he said.

MRKTSpace

Along with Principal Naveen Waney and others from our team, Peter is helping Matt Power, owner of MRKT Space, design his third location. With locations already in Encinitas and La Jolla Shores, Matt is renovating space in downtown Rancho Santa Fe for the next iteration of MRKT Space.

As if we weren’t pleased enough to add an exciting new type of community architecture to our books, Matt selected a historic building designed by famous San Diego architect Lilian Rice for his new MRKT Space location. (This seems like a good place to shamelessly plug our experience in historic renovation.)

The Rancho Santa Fe building was subdivided over the years to make way for offices, so we’ll be restoring the original space to more closely resemble how it looked 100 years ago when it started as…a market.

The beautiful ground floor space, where a café and gourmet market will go, includes adobe, wood-framed walls. Above that level, Matt has already secured permission to create a roof deck with a full restaurant and bar, with a brand-new and historically complementary, stepped-back, second-story structure.

The Rancho Santa Fe MRKT Space will help re-activate the village center by providing an all-day venue. Opening is estimated for late 2023, and the food and beverage selections will be top-shelf and Italian-inspired.

We’re excited to be working with such a visionary restaurant owner (with impeccable taste in architecture) who has plans for further expansion of his food and beverage concept.

Little Madi & More

Fans of Madison in University Heights will be happy to hear that we’re also working with this restaurant owner to design an offshoot of Madison, called Lil’ Madi, focused on brunch service. This client is also having us design a pizza restaurant.

Allow us to drop hints about also working with some other entrepreneurs who are planning to open everything from bars to burger joints to patisseries.

No matter the type of space, “There’s a gigantic flow of stuff that needs to be invisible to people who come in, but the space still has to be as efficient as possible,” said Peter, adding that he always has the client walk them through the exact operation of their restaurant’s food or beverage concept before starting design.

Whether it’s Rancho Santa Fe, midtown or another of your favorite neighborhoods, keep an eye open for Platt/Whitelaw Architects banners on the next exciting hospitality construction site.