Platt-Whitelaw Architects

City of San Diego

Lifesaver at the Bay? Designing for Comfort…Stations

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Platt/Whitelaw is Architect-of-Record for Many of Mission Bay’s Most-Visited Buildings

On average, humans spend up to three years in the bathroom over their lifetimes. Chances are, you visit the bathroom six to eight times a day.

With the pun very much intended, isn’t it a relief to know there’s one nearby?

If you’re in Mission Bay, there certainly is one — or a whole lot more — nearby. And you’re welcome for that. We’re confident to say we wear the architecture firm crown in Mission Bay thrones.

Can an architecture firm really tout itself as a top civic design firm without having serious cred in public restroom design? We think not.

Our Work

Allow us to submit to you not one, not two, but eight public comfort stations in Mission Bay for which Platt/Whitelaw Architects provided architectural services.

They are, in relative chronological order:

Through a mix of new construction, remodel and pre-manufactured replacements, we’ve helped provide swimmers, surfers, paddle boarders, dog walkers, bike riders, sunbathers and others the essential accommodations they need while enjoying the Mission Beach and Bay area.

Specific Requirements

It’s not all sunshine, warm breezes and a walk in the park, though. These comfort stations need to be tough!

The City of San Diego has a lot of design guidelines for the buildings. They must be low maintenance, highly durable, safe, accessible and vandal resistant.

The current stock of comfort stations in this area is a mix of types and styles, but the city is moving toward a model of gender-neutral, individual toilet rooms with sinks on the outside of the building. Patrons at Tecolote Shores will see this new model.

Being within five miles of sea air, metal material in any of these comfort stations must be coated appropriately for durability. Concrete floors help fight erosion from sandy shoes and feet. Natural (stack or cross) ventilation keeps the buildings comfortable, even on hot days.

When possible, we orient the comfort stations based upon air flow, nearby foot-traffic flow and so the doors are visible to passing safety patrols.

Wait, There’s More!

It’s hard to overshadow our decades-long legacy of Mission Bay/Beach bathrooms, but we’re proud to have an even bigger footprint in this sand. We’ve also worked on the Fiesta Island Master Plan with KTU+A; a master plan for a lifeguard headquarters on Hospitality Point; ADA upgrades at Santa Clara Point Recreation Center; and design for the Associated Students of San Diego State University and UCSD Recreation’s Mission Bay Aquatic Center.

Consisting of over 4,235 acres of land and water, Mission Bay Park is the largest aquatic park of its kind in the country. The adjacent Mission Beach is one of San Diego’s most iconic beaches. We are grateful to have the opportunity to help people appreciate these coastline gems, whether it’s from the bird’s eye view of a master plan or just a convenient place to “go.”

Want the 411 on Balboa Park’s Botanical Building Redo? Tour with Us!

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Excitement Builds as Renovation of Iconic Balboa Park Structure Progresses

In the early 20th century, California was promoting redwood construction. The 1915 California-Panama Exposition was the perfect place to showcase its redwood lumber to the rest of the nation and the world.

This is why the Botanical Building in Balboa Park, built as part of said exposition, is made predominately from redwood.

A Tour & Trivia

We’d like to thank Wayne Donaldson, who co-led a recent construction tour of the Botanical Building for our staff and threw in some trivia, like the fact above. It’s exciting to see our architectural restoration design come to life and to learn more about the preservation of this majestic building.

Wayne, a preservation architect and former State Historic Preservation Officer of California, is part of our design team for the Botanical Building restoration, which is currently underway. EC Constructors is serving as the general contractor, and its owner, Jim Summers, was the other half of the duo leading our tour.

Rebuilding a San Diego Icon

“EC Constructors is doing great job producing high quality work,” said Platt/Whitelaw Principal Sandra Gramley, AIA, who along with Yolanda Velazco, LEED Green associate, and Sam Saltzman comprise our PWA team for the Botanical Building. “Curved, wood moldings are something contemporary framers don’t often have to deal with, so Jim and his team truly became craftsmen to form the wood to match the moldings from 1915.”

Also taking shape are the windows and the arcade across the front of the building, which are being recreated from the original design.

“The stucco arcade and windows were part of the original building but few people living today have seen them as part of this structure,” Sandra added.

The last renovation of the building happened in the 1950’s, which is when the windows and stucco arcade were removed.

Even More Trivia

The Botanical Building is one of just four structures from the 1915 exposition that was designed to remain in place after the exposition.

Another piece of trivia Wayne shared during our tour was this: The building wasn’t included in the original master plan for the park.

It not only got added to the plan, but the building is still here nearly 110 years later. What’s even more fascinating: it just had a refurbished, 2,000-pound cupola plopped on top of it.

Our readers may have seen press coverage of the cupola installation. The copper steeple and dome cupola is the same one first installed in 1915.

Men (& Women) at Work

Restoration work still pending includes window installation, some framing, wood trim, stucco application and molding work. Those keeping careful tabs will already know that the work is happening from the west end of the building and progressing to the east end.

The restoration work also involves preserving the iconic Moreton Bay Fig tree planted at the northeast corner of the building when it was originally constructed in 1915. Over time, the tree roots grew into the building! To make sure the tree can keep growing, modifications were made to the exterior facade.

While a few other mature plantings remained in place during construction, the City of San Diego will eventually repatriate and add new smaller plants that have been living off site while work progresses.

Then, Now & Gratitude

Over the decades, water damaged the wood and steel extensively and a remodel compromised the original design of the Botanical Building. For the past couple of years, we’ve provided architectural design services to restore this beloved structure and worked with a wonderful team to do so. It’s an incredible project to be part of, and we’re grateful to the City of San Diego for the opportunity.

A Post-Occupancy Survey of Park de la Cruz Neighborhood Park & Therapeutic Recreation Services

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Architectural Design to Transform a YMCA Building into a Recreation Destination for all Ages and Abilities. 

Several years ago, we were honored to transform a 25,000-square-foot YMCA building into a City of San Diego facility accommodating therapeutic recreation services (TRS) for the City Heights neighborhood and its surrounding communities.

In so doing, San Diego became one of the first cities nationwide with a dedicated and customized city TRS destination offering services and activities for community members with disabilities and special needs.

Recently, Sandra Gramley, AIA, returned to Park de la Cruz Neighborhood Park and TRS to reconnect with Kristi Fenick, CTRS, the District Manager of San Diego Parks and Recreation Department, Therapeutic Recreation and Agewell Services. Sandra wanted to know how the facility had evolved, how it was performing and what lessons could be learned for future projects.

Post-Occupancy Survey

We’re happy to report the facility is looking great. Sandra loved seeing that staff added gallery hangers to some of the walls to display work from students who attend the facility’s classes.

Acoustics are always tough in exercise facilities (and when adapting existing buildings), but the perforated gypsum board we specified for the hallways is doing a great job at absorbing sound.

Since many of the existing building’s interior rooms were dark, our team selected tubular skylights to bring natural daylight into lower spaces. Sandra’s visit also allowed her to verify the lighting strategy implemented works well now that the building is fully operational. The facility first opened at the start of the pandemic, which limited occupancy.

A key element of the TRS, Sandra got to tour the sensory room, which is outfitted with light fixtures, interactive toys, a swing and more. We designed the sensory room to give an immersive sensory experience for people with various abilities and to support emotional and cognitive development.

Grant-Funded Community Facility

Park de la Cruz Neighborhood Park and TRS was a project that grew gradually, and our services grew along with it. The initial project budget was just enough for paint and flooring, but the City kept pursuing and securing grant funding. Accordingly, our scope of work increased incrementally. Despite the ladder-stepping structure, the design and construction program appear seamless when you tour the building.

What does Sandy wish we could still do? It’s the same wish Kristi has – to create a party room. The demand is there, as well as rental opportunities, but it wasn’t possible to provide it in the existing building framework or budget.

Our team and theirs recognizes that we could turn an old, unused pool that’s currently being used for storage into a dance hall and party room. However, the City would need to come up with millions more in funding to support the construction costs, which is no small task.

Program Garden

Soon after Sandra’s tour, the City hosted an event to debut and celebrate a garden at Park de la Cruz. Sandra wouldn’t have missed it.

This garden doesn’t just sit there and look pretty, it has work to do! It’s a program garden.

The garden supports classes, clubs and kitchens. In addition to supplying the on-site commercial and teaching kitchens, the garden is used by the Green Thumb Club, Yummy Meals on a Budget class, Let’s Get Cooking class and more.

Community Engagement

The well-attended garden debut featured lots of fun activities like sing-alongs, pickle ball, bingo, corn hole and line dancing. A color-by-numbers art mural was very popular, with kids and adults painting designated portions within the butterfly outline created by a local artist.

Park de la Cruz Neighborhood Park and TRS is an asset to the community – from kids to seniors. In a San Diego neighborhood that’s been historically underserved with public resources, seniors-in-need can now visit Park de la Cruz for free lunch five days a week. It’s also a place where people of all ages and abilities have access to a wide array of programs and activities.

We’re proud to support the City in its mission to provide these services in a safe place.

Learn more about the TRS activities and resources available for winter 2023-2024 here.

Dogs Celebrate Reopening of Upgraded San Diego Park in Carmel Valley

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Platt/Whitelaw Architects’ Park Design Experience Expands to Include Torrey Highlands Park.

Dogs throughout the Del Mar and Carmel Valley area are rejoicing at the reopening of Torrey Highlands Park…and maybe their owners, too.

This popular dog (and people) park has been closed intermittently for the last year or so for a minor makeover. Platt/Whitelaw Architects was lucky enough to work with the City of San Diego to bring the 1989 park up to today’s standards.

Now our canine friends and their humans can find some reprieve under a newly installed shade shelter with attached benches (from Poligon). A new, half-acre parking lot offers additional capacity so even more dogs (and their humans) can enjoy the park. And a new walkway makes it easy for dogs to dash as quickly as possible from the car to the park (sorry, humans).

California gnatcatcher

It wasn’t just dogs (and their humans) we had to think about, though. This area is home to the California gnatcatcher, an endangered species of bird. We had to engage an ecologist to investigate the park and make sure no California gnatcatchers had built their nests nearby.

Whether it was a dog deterrent factor or just finicky birds, the gnatcatchers didn’t think the park measured up for home construction that year, so we were clear to make modifications.

Much of the design plan involved upgrades to comply with current Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines. This included knocking out and rebuilding one wall of the restroom structure to provide adequate turning radius for mobility devices.

Nature’s Challenges

Along the way, nature’s challenges continued to pop up, as 2023 proved a remarkably wet year. While the contractor, Ramona Paving, was already working with our civil engineering partner, Kimley Horn, to try to avoid paving over an elusive underground gas line, they had to do so between rain delays.

The very beginning of the project was delayed, too. This time, due to a virus. Just before we were ready to submit architectural plans to the city for approval, COVID-19 shut down everything, including the plan approval process.

While the city would roll out an efficient online review system partway through the pandemic, it wasn’t up yet, so we worked with our wonderful project manager Yovanna Lewis to submit through email.

We appreciated working with a team well versed in park design and construction that took challenges in stride. This included our own Yolanda Velazco.

We’re pleased to announce that Torrey Highlands Park opened in mid-September and is, once again, crowded with dogs (and their humans).

APWA Awards: A Banner Year for Our Clients

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The vast majority of our firm’s architectural design work happens for public agency clients. That’s why honors from the American Public Works Association (APWA) mean so much to us.

We’re celebrating our clients’ wins this year at the San Diego APWA Awards Program:

Oceanside Crisis Stabilization Unit, County of San Diego – Project of the Year: Structure

  • Oceanside Crisis Stabilization Unit is a new, 24-hour, 7-day-a-week walk-in facility based on a living room model that offers a kinder, gentler approach to intervention and stabilization for anyone suffering from a behavioral or mental health crisis.

Bud Kearns Memorial Swimming Pool, City of San Diego – Project of the Year: Historic

  • The Bud Kearns Memorial Swimming Pool is an outdoor facility located in Morley Field Park in the North Park Community. First opened in 1933, it is San Diego’s oldest public pool. It was reopened this year after a two-year renovation process.

North Park Mini Park, City of San Diego (prime consultant: KTU+A)

  • North Park Mini Park is a new, half-acre park and plaza with family-friendly amenities situated behind the historic North Park Theater.

Ocean Beach Walkway, City of San Diego

  • The walkway needed rebuilding over a jetty to provide an accessible path of travel onto Dog Beach.

As projects of the year, Oceanside Crisis Stabilization Unit or Bud Kearns Memorial Swimming Pool could be selected by the jury to be recognized at the APWA San Diego chapter gala in the fall. That project would then get submitted to the national APWA competition.

Further North

It’s also worth noting that further north, the Ventura County APWA honored the City of Camarillo for its North Pleasant Valley Groundwater Desalter Plant. We teamed with engineering lead Brown & Caldwell and their partners to design a reverse osmosis facility. Here the city of Camarillo can leach enough salt from the groundwater to significantly reduce its reliance on imported water.

Congratulations to all of these agencies up and down Southern California for your vision and leadership and to the many firms that collaborated to bring these projects to life.

Photo Left to Right: Sandra Gramley.

The Botanical Building in Balboa Park – Makeover Edition!

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Iconic San Diego structure will soon be restored to its original condition…plus a few improvements

By Sandra Gramley, AIA, LEED NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, principal at Platt/Whitelaw Architects, Inc. 

Restoration is underway on the Botanical Building in Balboa Park! If you’ve been following our news site, you know that we’ve written about this building before…and a time before that. But how can we not celebrate the kickoff of this historic restoration with a special article?

First, a review of the building’s history

The Botanical Building was originally built for the 1915-1916 Panama-California Exposition as part of an effort to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal and to spotlight San Diego’s port. Bertram Goodhue was hired as site planner and architect for the Panama-California Exposition.

During this time, Goodhue and his team created the Botanical Building, the Cabrillo Bridge, the California Bell Tower, Spreckels Organ Pavilion and the buildings now known as The Museum of Us and the Balboa Park Club. Except for the Bell Tower and the Balboa Park Club, these were the few structures that were meant to remain indefinitely.

The Botanical Building itself was designed by team member Carleton Winslow to serve as an anchor for a botanical garden. It was the largest wood lath structure in the world when it was built and remains one of the largest to this day.

Restoration needed

To remain indefinitely, a building needs some regular maintenance work. The Botanical Building has suffered from a lot of deferred maintenance and changes to the original structure, but the work underway will give it new life.

Thanks to the efforts of the Balboa Park Conservancy (now rebranded as Forever Balboa Park after a merger with Friends of Balboa Park) and government funding sources, the Botanical Building is receiving some TLC. The work will also address major termite damage, severe rust and those years of structural changes and deferred maintenance. Forever Balboa Park oversees the restoration project, along with the City of San Diego and the Parks and Recreation Department.

A team of RNT Architects, Spurlock Landscape Architects and Tres Fromme (horticultural designer) created architectural bridging documents for the restoration.

Now, our team, which includes EC Constructors, Platt/Whitelaw Architects, Michael Baker Intl, Estrada Land Planning, AB Court & Associates, Degenkolb, Turpin & Rattan Engineering, Recon, Meridian and Milford Wayne Donaldson, will work through construction to refine and implement the bridging documents’ vision.

What’s happening now

Can you imagine moving over 2,100 varieties of plants out of the Botanical Building? A handful of larger plants will stay through the construction, but the majority are now headed to the City of San Diego’s nursery for safe keeping.

In addition to working around the plants that must stay, our project team is figuring out ways to lower the soil level of the building’s planting beds, which has risen over time, without compromising the plants that have to remain in place. To do this, we’ll create planters within the planting beds, surrounding what would otherwise be exposed trunks and roots.

Our team will also restore this building to its original 1915 condition. In addition to some general sprucing up and structural repairs, the work includes reintroducing arched windows on the north and south sides of the structure to return the building to its original 1915 appearance. It will also include new restrooms, water- and energy-saving measures and improved visitor and educational engagement spaces.

A new public entry on the north side is also planned to provide better access for private events. Just outside the northeast corner of the building stands a Moreton Bay Fig tree that is over 100 years old. We’re adapting the design and construction methods to save this tree and accommodate its roots – some of which have grown into the building.

Right now, we’re putting final touches on the design. The construction trailer is in, plants are moving out and the team is looking forward to getting the permit to start construction. The building is closed, but visitors can still enjoy the koi pond out front and the surrounding lawn areas. Completion is expected for summer of 2023.

Our firm is honored to help restore one of San Diego’s most recognizable buildings, most serene spaces and most beloved destinations.

-the end-

PWA Project Profile: Park de la Cruz Neighborhood Park & Therapeutic Recreation Services

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By Sandra Gramley, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C

Civic projects are the crux of what we do. Designing Park de la Cruz Neighborhood Park & Therapeutic Recreation Services (TRS) in City Heights was especially rewarding for us because we were truly designing for universal use.

The intention of our client, the City of San Diego, was to transform the decaying former Copley YMCA building and gymnasium into a new TRS facility. As such, the project has traditional accommodations but also those for wheelchair basketball, indoor soccer and a calendar full of special events and activities. Accessibility upgrades were a specific priority for the entire project.

Beyond ADA and other code requirements, the entire renovation was designed for the community to be able to easily access and use all the facilities. San Diego is now one of only a few cities nationwide that has a dedicated facility for TRS services. The TRS facility at Park de la Cruz is able to offer services and activities for those with disabilities and special needs within the community, along with helping veterans and seniors throughout San Diego County.

In addition to designing something for all abilities, the renovation also has a social justice component. This project enhances and encourages recreation and provides much needed services to the mid-city community of San Diego—a community historically left behind when it came to new and upgraded parks.

Our design even includes a daycare space, providing the opportunity to address a frequent barrier to employment – the availability of childcare. The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, emphasized the prominence and importance of Park de la Cruz when he held a news conference there in April about a new pop-up vaccination site in the City Heights neighborhood.

The design and implementation of the buildings’ renovation was preceded by a renovation of the adjoining seven-acre park, led by Schmidt Design Group in conjunction with Stantec. Features include a new skate park, a softball field and an outdoor multipurpose basketball court. Additional amenities added were picnic shelters, accent trees, sports lighting, solar canopy, drinking fountains, accessibility for persons with disabilities and path of travel improvements.

Our renovation of the 24,000-square foot TRS facility included offices and conference rooms for the staff, a commercial kitchen and a training kitchen, and outdoor and indoor areas for exercise and activities. Also integrated are rooms specifically for those with special needs and a variety of multi-purpose rooms for games, daycare, special events and dances, as well as for rentable space.

Gymnasium improvements include large insulated translucent windows with removable colored polycarbonate panels, fiberglass-sandwich-panel unit skylights, renovated restrooms and offices, new roofing, and new finishes, along with added air-conditioning and lighting improvements.

Earlier this year, Park de la Cruz earned an award from the American Public Works Association (APWA). We’re grateful for the chance to contribute to this terrific community resource that will serve San Diegans for generations to come.

 

The Creation & Restoration of Balboa Park

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Balboa Park’s origin story

Just outside downtown San Diego are 1,200 acres of land dedicated as park space by the City of San Diego. Known as Balboa Park, the space includes many natural and planted areas as well as buildings that represent some of San Diego’s most iconic architecture.

Central Park in New York City was the first large-park dedication by a U.S. city. In 1868, Balboa Park became the second.

It was actually in 1835, when the land was still part of Mexico, that authorities set aside 1,400 acres for public recreational use, most of which would eventually become Balboa Park. Once the land was ceded to the U.S., the City of San Diego’s Board of Trustees created a public park using this land.

Shaping the buildings

While the park was built in 1868, with multiple architects involved, most of its buildings sprung up later – because of two major events: the 1915-1916 Panama-California Exposition and the 1935-1936 California Pacific International Exposition, both hosted at Balboa Park. Today, Spanish colonial revival, mission revival and pueblo revival architectural styles dominate the park.

According to its Wikipedia page, “The park and its historic Exposition buildings were declared a National Historic Landmark and National Historic Landmark District in 1977, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.”

Bertram Goodhue was hired as site planner and architect for the Panama-California Exposition which was to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal and to spotlight San Diego’s port. He and his associate Carleton Winslow combined several styles of architecture to create the Spanish Colonial Revival style used for designing the buildings in the park.

For landscape design Goodhue’s team also included Kate Sessions and Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.

During this time, Goodhue and his team created the Botanical Building, the Cabrillo Bridge, the California Bell Tower, Spreckels Organ Pavilion and the buildings now known as The Museum of Us and the Balboa Park Club.

Later, for the California Pacific International Exposition, which boosted the region after the Great Depression, San Diego architect Richard Requa led design and oversaw the addition of the Old Globe Theatre (later rebuilt after a fire), the International Cottages and the Spanish Village.

From temporary to permanent

Many of these iconic buildings survived repeated calls for their demolition, including from Goodhue himself.

Structures built for the Panama-California Exposition were not constructed with durable materials, because organizers expected they would not be necessary beyond 1916. After the City of San Diego determined that they could be restored for slightly more than the cost of demolition, restorations started thanks to private donations and funding from the federal government for the labor.

A similar effort to raze most of Balboa Park’s structures that surfaced after the California Pacific International Exposition was squashed again.

Restoration continues

The need for restoration remains an issue for many of Balboa Park’s buildings, including the Botanical Building.

Designed by Carleton Winslow, it was the largest wood lath structure in the world when it was built and remains one of the largest to this day.

Thanks to Alfred Robinson, the world’s leading begonia breeder of his day, the idea behind including the building in the park was to serve as an anchor for a botanical garden. The Botanical Building is now home to more than 2,100 plant varieties.

When originally built, it was one of only four Balboa Park structures that were meant to remain indefinitely (along with the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, the Museum of Us building and the Cabrillo Bridge).

Balboa Park Conservancy leads the charge

Remaining indefinitely, however, requires significant restoration, and San Diegans have the Balboa Park Conservancy (now rebranded as Forever Balboa Park after a merger with Friends of Balboa Park) and government funding sources to thank for efforts currently underway to restore the Botanical Building. The Conservancy made the building a priority and raised or secured all the funds for planning and design. Forever Balboa Park oversees the restoration project, along with the City of San Diego.

The team of RNT Architects, Spurlock Landscape Architects and Tres Fromme (horticultural designer) created architectural bridging documents for the restoration.

Now, our team, which includes EC Engineers, Platt/Whitelaw Architects, Michael Baker Intl, Estrada Land Planning, AB Court & Associates, Degenkolb, Turpin & Rattan Engineering, Recon, Meridian and Milford Wayne Donaldson, will work through construction to refine and implement the bridging documents’ vision. Construction will likely begin early next year.

The work will repair termite damage, deferred maintenance issues and more, in addition to returning the building to its original 1915 appearance. It will also include new restrooms, water- and energy-saving measures and improved visitor and educational engagement.

Our firm is honored to help restore one of San Diego’s most recognizable buildings, most serene spaces and most beloved destinations.

https://www.balboapark.org/

Photo by Leslie Yu on Unsplash