HIstoric

Making Our Home in Old Town San Diego: Embracing A Fresh Chapter

March 5, 2024 By admin

After a Year in our New Platt/Whitelaw Office, We’re Celebrating with Gorgeous Photos!

As architects, we may overthink when it comes to choosing office space for our firm. But you can’t argue with the results!

In fact, we’re so pleased with our choice that we’re taking time to show off here with some fancy new photos of our space.

Why We Chose Old Town

Vibrant – Coming from North Park, we were spoiled for choice with restaurants, cafes and street life. We didn’t want to give that up. Fortunately, we didn’t have to. Old Town offers terrific dining, a walkable neighborhood, cultural resources and beautiful park spaces.

Unique – Old Town is a special combination of urban, suburban and recreational. And with a mix of historic, Spanish, Mexican, craftsman and other building types, the architecture is inspiring.

Historic – For decades, our firm has worked on historic renovation and preservation projects. We felt that making our home in Old Town reinforced (and inspires!) our commitment to this work.

Transit – Our firm designed the first building in the U.S. to earn the Energy Star Award. Environmental responsibility is in our blood. It’s important to us that our staff has alternatives to driving. Old Town is well served by bus service and the San Diego Trolley.

Central – We work with public agency and community-focused clients all over San Diego County and beyond. Having a central location is important for travel efficiency, and Old Town is a great fit.

Perks of Our Office/Building:

The View – With views of downtown, the ocean and historic Old Town, we’re reminded every day of why we’re lucky to live and work in San Diego.

The Flow – It’s easy to navigate around our office, with good visibility but also functional privacy and dedicated meeting space.

The Vibe – The open ceilings and exposed duct work lend a cool industrial vibe, but we’ve warmed it up with beautiful wood beams and finishes. Earth-toned textiles help balance the design.

Our Community – We love hanging out with our wonderful landlord, property managers and fellow tenants at organized and impromptu meetups in the beautiful, central courtyard outside.

You

We’ve used a lot of “we” and “our” in this article, but we’re thinking about you. As in, ‘have YOU visited our office yet?’ We love showing it off (clearly), so friends, clients and future clients—contact your favorite PWA staffer to arrange a visit! We hope to see you soon.

Photos by ©Eddie Bojorquez at www.Studio512.com

A Trip to the Republic of Serbia

October 19, 2022 By admin

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).

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.

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.

“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.

“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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Woot! Sandra Named to SDBJ’s Women of Influence!

May 24, 2022 By admin

We’re celebrating our co-owner Sandra Gramley, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD&C, for landing a second consecutive spot on the San Diego Business Journal’s annual Women of Influence in Architecture list!

To understand why she’s such a rockstar, we’re sharing some of the ways Sandra has built her distinguished career and made a difference in our region and in our profession.

Sandra is co-owner of one of San Diego’s oldest architectural firms…that’s us! She continues our firm’s legacy of designing for public/community projects, and many of our region’s schools, libraries and park facilities, came from Sandra’s imagination and talents.
Sandra’s expertise in historic architecture helps preserve the legacy of San Diego – including work in Balboa Park, at SDSU and other historic preservation projects in the county.
Sandra believes in employing people that reflect an array of cultures, races, lifestyles, and genders, and that our projects are more successful for it. She safeguards Platt/Whitelaw Architects’ reputation for diverse hiring practices — not just accepting different cultures but celebrating them.
A champion of improving accessibility for everyone, many of Sandra’s projects involve accessibility improvements to public spaces. For example, she recently worked with the City of San Diego to develop a Therapeutic Recreation and Agewell Services Recreation Center, the first of its kind on the west coast.
For 13 years, Sandra taught interiors and sustainable design at the Design Institute, helping a new generation of designers start designing spaces with minimal environmental impacts.
Sandra has given generously of her time and talents to the American Institute of Architects (AIA), serving as president of the San Diego Chapter in 2020, interim president last year, and in several other AIA roles over the years.
Many years ago, Sandra and her AIA San Diego Committee on the Environment team worked with the community to determine specific goals. They then secured a Sustainable Design Assistance Team grant from the national AIA organization to set up the Pacific Beach Eco-District. To this day, the Eco-District works to increase equity, resilience and climate protection for the Pacific Beach region.
Sandra served a two-year term on the AIA California’s Board of Directors.

We’re all honored to work with such a great role model and someone who genuinely cares about elevating the architectural profession. Thank you to the San Diego Business Journal for recognizing Sandra and including her on the Women of Influence list.

San Diego History: Formative Architects and Architecture

June 16, 2021 By admin

Calling all architecture enthusiasts! Want to cement your savvy-San Diegan status? Dazzle friends with interesting cocktail party conversation? Become a riveting tour guide for your out-of-town guests?

We’ve put together an overview of some of historic San Diego architects (some household names, some not), who designed notable places in San Diego. Feel free to bookmark this page so you can cram before your next social gathering. 😉

Let’s start with a big disclaimer. This list is not even remotely comprehensive. We’ve focused on architects who were designing San Diego structures in the 1960s and earlier, and primarily public-serving structures. Plus, we 100% acknowledge our bias in including our firm’s founder, Robert Platt.

Since we’ve also had a legacy of female ownership at Platt/Whitelaw, we’re shining the architecture spotlight first on a woman: Lilian J. Rice. This home-grown talent was born in 1889 in National City. She’s considered an early ecologist, and her understanding of the relationship between nature and architecture is evident in the Rancho Santa Fe Town Center, the ZLAC rowing club and the many homes she designed in La Jolla and Rancho Santa Fe. Eleven of these are on the National Register of Historic Places.

A bit more ornate in their designs were the Quayle Brothers. Charles was born in 1865 and Edward in 1869. They were responsible for the San Diego Police Headquarters building downtown (now the renovated Headquarters at Seaport District), a couple of now-historic Gaslamp buildings, the North Park Theatre and the Cal Western School of Law (where, incidentally, Platt/Whitelaw Architects provided a face lift and some historic preservation work recently).

Skipping ahead a bit in time, a trio of very well-known contemporaries began designing in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries in San Diego. They were Irving Gill, William Templeton Johnson and Richard Requa.

Gill, who lived from 1870 to 1936, used to work alongside Frank Lloyd Wright under Louis Sullivan. Gill is credited with creating an original, regional modern style in San Diego. This style is manifested in his designs for the La Jolla Woman’s Club, the La Jolla Recreation Center, the Ellen Browning Scripps house (now part of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego – La Jolla), the First Church of Christ Scientist on Second Avenue and several houses in Bankers Hill. He also worked on the George W. Marston House and designed the Fountain at Horton Plaza Park, although these two structures are designed in a more historic style.

Requa apprenticed as a draftsman to Gill and was best known as the creator of the Southern California style of architecture, a mash-up of Spanish Eclectic style with influences from the Mediterranean region, Mexico, and Central and South America. He also designed the Darlington House in La Jolla, the County Administration Center (along with Johnson and others), the Old Globe Theatre (later rebuilt and modified after a 1978 fire) and the Del Mar Castle.

In addition to working on the team designing the County Administration Center, Johnson was responsible for designing downtown’s San Diego Trust & Savings building and Samuel L. Fox building, as well as the Francis Parker School, the La Jolla Public Library, La Jolla High School, the San Diego Museum of Art, the La Valencia Hotel and the Junipero Serra Museum.

A little later, Lloyd Ruocco (1907-1981), who attended San Diego High School, became the second most significant modernist architect in San Diego history, after Gill. He is famous for his post and beam construction with large expanses of glass. In addition to designing the Fifth Avenue Design Center in Hillcrest and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, he was an advocate for social change and sound city planning. Some know him best as the co-founder, along with Esther Scott, of Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 (C-3), a San Diego citizens’ planning group started in 1961.

During approximately the same time period as Ruocco, Los Angeles architect William Pereira (1909-1989) designed the iconic, futuristic Geisel Library at UCSD, and Sim Bruce Richards (1908-1983) designed the Morley Field Tennis Club and the Mission Bay Aquatic Center.

It’s hard to talk about iconic San Diego architecture without mentioning Louis Kahn (1901-1974). Along with Luis Barragan (1902-1988), Kahn designed the Salk Institute, arguably one of the best places to view the San Diego sunset at equinox.

The next (and last) generation of significant architects we’re covering includes our very own Robert Platt (1921-1988), who’s noted mid-century designs include the Pearl Hotel in Point Loma and the Clairemont Library. Also of note is Robert Moser (1920-2015), who designed the Coronado Bridge, the Aztec Center at SDSU and Muir College at UCSD.

If you find yourself thinking in a very loud head voice, ‘hey, you forgot to mention so-and-so as a historic San Diego Architect!’, you’re probably right. Please feel free to write about so-and-so and link back to our article. The good news is that San Diego has so many cool structures, we could write for days about all the great architects involved…and so could you. Who will accept our challenge?

Photo by ARIS on Unsplash.