Platt-Whitelaw Architects

Naveen Waney

Give Me Shelter

By

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!

By

“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.

Increasing Water Independence for the City of Camarillo

By

Most people don’t think much about water supply beyond turning on their tap or garden hose and expecting water to come out. Behind-the-scenes, however, is far more complicated. Fortunately for many Southern Californians, we have people on staff who think about water supply a lot.

Most recently, our firm principal Naveen Waney and associate Thomas Brothers have been thinking about water for the people of Camarillo. Our firm is fortunate to have teamed with engineering lead Brown & Caldwell and their partners (all of whom designed the highly complex process work) to create the North Pleasant Valley Groundwater Desalter Plant.

And why would Camarillo need to desalt its water, you ask? (Okay, pretend that you did.)

It’s an interesting story. Camarillo’s aquifer sits downstream from many other communities in Ventura County. As such, the salt bloom from all of that groundwater draining down to Camarillo sits under the city. Usable groundwater (i.e. water that wouldn’t taste like the ocean or rapidly kill plants) amounted to only 40% of the demand in Camarillo. The remainder had to be imported.

By creating a desalter plant, the city can use a reverse osmosis process to leach enough salt from the groundwater to significantly reduce its reliance on imported water (and not kill plants or gag its residents). The city expects to double the amount of water it can rely on from its groundwater supply with the North Pleasant Valley Groundwater Desalter Plant.

However, the appearance of water processing equipment doesn’t always make the welcoming statement a city wants to make at its gateway. And guess what – the highly visible North Pleasant Valley Groundwater Desalter Plant is located at the northern entrance to the City of Camarillo.

Fear not. In addition to thinking about water, Naveen and Thomas think a lot about attractive architecture. They worked with the community and its leaders to develop an architectural style that would complement the Spanish Revival buildings that are pervasive in Camarillo.

Using a style that blends traditional and more modern mission styles of architecture, our team created a design to house the plant’s engineered infrastructure, provide an attractive and welcoming gateway and even provide an educational visitor experience.

Stepping into the lobby of the plant, visitors see a window into the inner workings of the plant and have access to a large conference and education room.

The visitors and residents aren’t the only ones to benefit from this plant. California is known for its produce production, and Ventura County is a big contributor, with major crops like strawberries, citrus fruit, avocados, leafy greens and more. A reliable and affordable water supply is incredibly important for Camarillo’s farmers, too.

For Thomas, this project was personal. His in-laws own and operate a prolific produce farm in Camarillo, and Thomas even volunteers at their farmers’ market booths when they travel a little further south to market their wares. He understands the passionate and sometimes tenuous relationship between farmers and water supply and he was excited to work on this project.

The North Pleasant Valley Groundwater Desalter Plant marked our firm’s first foray into designing pleasing facades and people spaces for reverse osmosis facilities, but it’s not our last. We’ve already found ourselves working on a similar facility in Escondido.

At this writing, we’re happy to report that parts of the North Pleasant Valley Groundwater Desalter Plant are already occupied, and operation of the treatment equipment is initiated. We have the highest respect for the talented engineering team at Brown & Caldwell and are grateful that they included us in this project, but this effort certainly took more than just our two firms.

W.M. Lyles Co. did a great job constructing the plant, and they, along with Fleege & Associates, are also providing start-up services for the equipment. Water Systems Consulting provided construction administration services, and Separation Processes Inc. contributed its leading reverse osmosis system design skills. Inframark will operate the plant.

As Brown & Caldwell’s Project Manager Andrew Lazenby says, “This is a landmark moment for Camarillo’s long-term water future. We applaud the City’s visionary approach to reclaiming and reusing groundwater and doing so in a way that is both cost-effective for customers and beneficial to the environment.”

And in conclusion…what Andrew said.

 

Aspects of Creativity in the Architectural Design Process

By

Architecture is unique for its blend of art and science. Architect Antonin Gaudí, for example, is world famous for his unconventional shapes, colors and textures. But, at the end of the day, his designs for the Sagrada Familia, Parc Güell and other noted structures had to be technically sophisticated enough to reach into the sky without falling down and to last for centuries.

In a profession ruled heavily by technical and codified requirements, what room is left for creativity, and how does it shine through?

We posed a series of questions along these lines to some of our staff members, and some themes emerged.

The Spark

The architectural design process starts with understanding the client’s vision and needs, as well as the context of the project, and then touring the site. During the first site visit, the architect is looking to learn more about the texture of site, its environs and neighbors, its history, the social and environmental aspects, sun angles, views and more.

After this visit, the architect needs a creative spark. From this spark comes the design concept around which the rest of the project falls into place.

“With a strong design concept, all other decisions fit easily into a framework,” said Sandy Gramley, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C. “As other people get involved, the design concept can guide them, too.”

For example, knowing that the North Pleasant Valley Desalter Facility in Camarillo, California was located on the border of the city, Naveen Waney, AIA, decided that using ‘gateway to the city’ as his design concept would spark the rest of his design.

Kristin Holbrook and Yolanda Velazco used a photo of a beautiful sunset as creative inspiration for the Oceanside Crisis Stabilization Unit color palette.

Sourcing a Spark

Where do these sparks come from?

In addition to the two examples above, the proverbial spark can come from anything.

“I look at lots of different resources,” said Naveen. “It might come from flipping through a magazine, from past projects or just about anything.”

The ‘just about anything’ often includes nature.

“We see a lot of nature-inspired design, including biophilic design,” said Sandy. “Biophilia is the practice of taking concepts found in nature and bringing them into design.”

She referenced the inspiration a fabric designer found in observing how geckos’ feet stick to surfaces to then create a removable wallpaper, and an engineer’s study of how a cactus sheds water in that engineer’s efforts to design a water preservation system.

Naveen also credits architecture schools for helping budding architects build a strong foundation for creative spark. History classes, for example, are helpful for reviewing magnificent architectural examples from the past and then working backwards to understand them, he said.

Kristin agrees, and added that travel is also important for sparking her creativity.

“Travel is a big inspiration for me personally. I don’t always get to execute the ideas I generate right away, but it opens your mind to a different aesthetic possibility.”

Sandy pointed out that technology has opened up travel as a design inspiration for designers who may not have the wherewithal to jet to a faraway destination. With the vast resources of the Internet, including Google Earth and three-dimensional or virtual reality tours, architects can expand their creative horizons much more easily than in decades past.

The Role of Technology

Technology, however, can be a double-edged sword.

“Now, computers allow conceptual designs to develop three-dimensionally much faster,” said Sandy. “But is that better or worse? You still have to be able to do a lot in your head. [Formulating the design] without a computer can be a slower process that gives you time to work through some parameters. Conversely, a computer offers more opportunity for iterations.”

Naveen added that technology can work in the opposite direction of modeling, but neither starting point is right or wrong. “My generation learned by sculpting with chipboard, but now many architects are used to having environmental data and light studies that they can use to work backwards to shape the building,” he said.

Despite technology comprising a significant part of her architectural education, Kristen realizes the standard options available in many software programs can stifle creativity.

“If you rely on technology over drawing, you can let it make all the decisions,” she said.

Will I Dream?

In 2010, the sequel to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the partly sentient computer HAL asks, “Will I dream?” – a chilling reminder that we don’t expect a computer to think like a human. It is, in fact, the human element that an architect must be responsible for infusing into a project.

“The architect has to understand where the project’s stakeholders are coming from,” said Sandy.
We need to step into their shoes, especially to have cultural sensitivity if that’s something relevant to project.”

Civic projects make up a big portion of our work at Platt/Whitelaw, so we often seek input from many different people and groups.

“[Community input] will always color your perspective,” said Kristin. “The architect should be sensitive to it and ask, ‘Who is this project is for? What is their culture? How do we honor it in the design?’”

Kristin added that as equity and diversity advance in the architectural profession itself, the shift will “open up exciting opportunities for creativity to unfold into projects” and to reflect sparks from more types of people.

Final words

As our staff contemplated the role of creativity in architecture, Naveen offered a good summary.

“Creativity doesn’t stop or have a specific place. It needs to continue through to building occupancy. It’s expressed consistently in figuring out how the pieces fit together.”

Photo by W K on Unsplash

Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve, New Amenities, Buildings Complete

By

By Naveen Waney

Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve, a self-sufficient, 190-acre, 7-lake park and RV campground in Santee, California, can now offer visitors and staff additional amenities, upgrades and a new administration building, general store, kitchen and dining deck.

Platt/Whitelaw Architects, Inc. worked with Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve and El Cajon-based construction and project manager CBSI six years ago to create the Preserve’s Dynamic Vision Plan, a 20-year guide for upgrades and improvements throughout the facility. Our firm subsequently provided architectural services for the latest upgrades and additions.

The Dynamic Vision Plan includes an expansive fishing dock; lake shoreline re-contouring, creation of new picnic areas and parking between lakes 2-4; a new administration building, expanded general store, coffee bar, kitchen and dining deck; clubhouse and pool improvements; a Yurt village, and various campground upgrades.

The latest project, a $9 million upgrade to the Preserve’s business hub at Lake 5, is the most expensive project in the Preserve’s history. This project encompasses three buildings: a 2,045-square-foot administration building, including four offices, a conference room, open workspace, public and staff restrooms, a break room and a locker room for park staff; the Event Center (formerly the Teen Center); and the General Store remodel, which includes a complete reconfiguring of the store and reservations center, the addition of an 850-square-foot kitchen, and construction of a 4,664-square-foot, steel-framed dining deck over the water of Lake 4, complete with a shade structure.

Site improvements throughout the project include landscape, new parking and fresh paint. Tin Fish Restaurant and Oyster Bar will occupy the kitchen space.

The work represents the third major project of the Preserve’s vision plan and will be an iconic addition to this award-winning park. Working with a great leader like Director of Park and Recreation for Santee Lakes and City of Santee Councilmember Laura Koval has been inspiring.

CBSI handed over keys and a certificate of occupancy for the project to Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve staff at the end of April. Construction began in July of 2019.

“The entire team worked closely together to make sure that most parts of the Preserve could remain open during construction,” said David Suter, president of CBSI. “We were able to rotate staff and amenities to different buildings throughout construction to make sure park operations remained functional and accessible.”

Other team members included general contractor Team C, MEP engineering firm Turpin & Rattan, civil engineering firm Nasland, structural engineering firm AARK Engineering, In-Site Landscape Architecture and Food Service Design Group.

Originally Built by the Padre Dam Municipal Water District, the 190-acre Santee Lakes attracts about 750,000 visitors annually.

If you haven’t visited Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve recently, now’s a great time to go!

What Does a Return to Work Look Like – One Year Later?

By

By Sandra Gramley, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, and Naveen Waney, AIA

The one-year anniversary of California’s initial lockdown has come and gone. With its passage, we at Platt/Whitelaw Architects are reflecting on the impacts the past year has brought to public workplaces and what a return to work could look like for those working from home offices or dining room tables.

At the onset of the pandemic, local government and school leaders closed facilities, shifted classes and programs online and adapted their constituent services to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Now, it’s common place to visit a public structure, from administrative buildings, schools, libraries and beyond, and see plexiglass sneeze guards, socially distanced desks and floor signage marking 6-foot increments.

Are these changes a permanent part of our new normal? Only time will tell.

Organizations have realized the benefits of a remote workforce. Costly, time-consuming commutes became a thing of the past. Employees and companies reduced their carbon footprints. Working with newfound flexibility, workers at home have been able to juggle doing their jobs with caring for their children and elderly family members impacted by COVID-19, be it by school closures or illnesses.

But as the pandemic ground on, the long-term viability of a remote work model came into question.

The novelty of a Zoom happy hour or staff meeting has worn off, and so too have the early work-from-home musings. With it the productivity gains employers witnessed at the start of the pandemic had begun eroding by the end of 2020. Part of this shift can be credited to the significant, almost universal increase in the average workday. According to a study released in July of 2020, the post-lockdown workday was up some 48 minutes, or 8% per day, according to meeting and email meta-data research from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

And while most workers continue delivering from home, it has come at a price. Recent studies have shown that working from home has introduced new types of work-related stresses. In part from being unable to separate their work and home lives, 69% of workers said the coronavirus pandemic is the most stressful time of their entire professional career, according to mental health provider Ginger.

Working from home has also taken a toll on workers emotionally, as interpersonal contact has all but diminished. According to a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 53% of American adults had their mental health negatively impacted because of stress linked to the pandemic.

As vaccination rollouts stymie the immediate coronavirus threat for many workers, we’ll likely see more people make their return to the office. Leaving designers industrywide grappling with the question: How do we get more people safely back at work?

That depends on the workplace. But ultimately, a return to the office may be more about the people than it is about the office. Bringing workers back to the office will be employee-focused, taking into account individual comfort levels, varying workstyles of employees and the actual work that’s being done.

As we move further into 2021, we are likely to see more permanent office design solutions that prioritize public health, bring the outdoors in and provide flexible workspaces for employees and hybrid schedules.

Filtered air and good ventilation will be a top priority. So, too, will promoting health in office buildings, which could mean bringing employees in contact with the outside environment. And while some employees are ready to get back to the office, others may envision a future where they only go in when absolutely necessary. If employees make the shift to a hybrid-working model, more office space could be dedicated to collaborative workspaces with less going toward individual workstations.

At Platt/Whitelaw, much of our work is community-based, involving structures where all members of the public are generally welcome. How do the oftentimes essential functions operating within these buildings transpire unimpeded in the future? What safety measures have to be in place to allow the public the access they need at these public buildings?

Again, preparing spaces for a return of the workforce comes down to the people and the customizations necessary to accommodate their expectations. Many public facilities function more like retail spaces than offices because occupancy varies greatly, and the designer must consider both the regular occupants and the frequent and infrequent visitors.

Whereas regular office staff may quickly grasp the rules and safety protocols, visitors are likely to require more direction and oversight. Lobbies and entry ways may become the first point of contact and control, requiring queueing and screening space, for example, as well as directional signage.

In short, holistic design solutions are more important than ever, and must include careful consideration of personal habits and preferences in order to provide a space where people feel safe, productive and happy.

 

Photo by Liza Summer from Pexels

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water Works: Blending Design and Function to Bring Water to Communities

By

At the heart of all architectural design projects is the combination of function and design…or how to make a building design look good while serving a specific purpose. Most people don’t think much about how water arrives to their faucet, but the facilities required to make this happen account for a good portion of Platt/Whitelaw’ work over the past three decades and some of our most lauded buildings.

When working on public projects, including water- and wastewater-related projects, the design vs. function dilemma is intensified by the need for the processes housed in the project to be accommodated in an efficient and cost-effective manner while also complementing the surrounding environment. Platt/Whitelaw finds ways to resolve these demands while also working in sustainable strategies in all our water and wastewater treatment plant and water reclamation projects. Natural daylight and ventilation, as well as material choices, help reduce the impact of the buildings on the environment while also supporting wellness in the workplace.

Of utmost importance, we have to consider how the flow of the process housed in the building needs to be considered in design. We work very closely with water experts to accommodate pipes, basins, filtration systems, treatment equipment and more. The extent of these requirements can present myriad complexities and require compulsive attention to detail.

“We may have to think about unique challenges like how to take valves and tanks in and out of buildings for maintenance,” said Naveen Waney, AIA, Principal at Platt/Whitelaw Architects. “For one project, we designed large, removable skylight hatches to provide access for a crane that can pull a valve out of its receptacle nearly 20 feet into the earth.”

Whether it is a wastewater treatment, potable-water or pure-water project, additional challenges always present themselves, and each job has unique issues. For example, chemicals such as acid are needed to clean and descale equipment on some types of projects. To purify water, some projects use filters while others use a heating process to create steam before recondensing it back to liquid water, leaving any impurities behind. Architects who work on water treatment and reclamation projects must face issues that they don’t face in most other types of building design.

Fortunately, the collaboration that goes into designing and building water and wastewater facilities is robust. Typically, the civil engineer lays out the facility. That professional knows where the water comes from and where it needs to go and makes specifications about distances, bends, pipe sizes and more accordingly.

With this information, the architect is programming, space planning and problem solving, while working closely with the engineers. The architects and engineers have to be flexible, inventive and work hand-in-hand. It’s helpful to consider the water as our mutual client and design to accommodate its demands.

Naveen and Platt/Whitelaw Associate Thomas Brothers  have worked closely together on several water and wastewater projects over the course of decades. Some of our firm’s projects include Operations and Maintenance buildings at the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant, Encina Wastewater Facility and South Bay Water Reclamation Facility.  Along with pump stations at Scripps Ranch and one at the new North City Pure Water Facility in University City and Chemical buildings at the Alvarado Water Treatment Plant in Mission Trails Regional Park – all in San Diego – and a Desalter Facility in Camarillo.

As with most types of architecture, the location of a project is fundamental to the architectural design. The Desalter project, for example, is industrial, located adjacent to the city of Camarillo. The challenge for Platt/Whitelaw is in making it look approachable. The Platt/Whitelaw team typically works with the city or county where the project will reside to find an aesthetic that isn’t hidden but also isn’t overwhelming for the surrounding community.  

Sometimes, the water flow itself determines the location. Due to the topographic configuration of San Diego, the Point Loma North Operations Building and Grit building our firm designed sits where wastewater flows – to a low point, in this case right at the ocean edge. After it’s treated, the water travels to an outfall location several miles into the ocean.  

An important task for our firm was to design a facility that respected the flow of the water and the process required to treat it while celebrating the remarkable location at the bluffs leading to the ocean. We accomplished this through a multi-level building design that complemented the natural topography and accommodated the water flow; with sustainable strategies that reflected the importance of the area’s natural resources; and with material and color selections that would complement the site.

Public art can also help bridge function with design and is used by Platt/Whitelaw in many of its public projects. “It’s a way of saying to a community that there is civic importance to the project,” says Thomas. “And we help celebrate that by making a space for public art.”

Thomas also points out that public art is a way to communicate the purpose of a project. “Lay people don’t typically know what the process is behind the project. An artist can present it in a way that is visually interesting while making it more accessible and sometimes educational.”

Working with water projects also allows Platt/Whitelaw to be a part of cutting-edge technology, including pure water projects, where instead of sending treated wastewater into the ocean or irrigation lines, the treatment facility can make it drinkable. It’s a process that involves making the water so pure that it’s then returned to the regular treatment facility and then sent to storage and distribution tanks for potable use.

The innovative approach lets the region take less water from natural resources (like the Colorado River), which are diminishing, while making the community more resilient to drought and other changes.

“We take pride in working on something very important for the community and knowing we are a part of it,” says Naveen.

Thomas adds, “With water and wastewater architecture, you are thrust into realizing that your design is part of a greater system.”

Naveen is a Man of Influence!

By

SD Metro named Platt/Whitelaw’s own Naveen Waney as one of San Diego County’s 2019 Men of Influence. Naveen was selected for this award based on his outstanding leadership skills for this firm and the community, and his outstanding architectural designs (which have resulted in multiple APWA awards). Congratulations Naveen!

#menofinfluence #inspiration #congratulations #architect #plattwhitelaw 

http://www.sandiegometro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/SD-METRO-NO-7-VOL-XXXIV-NEW-REDUCED.pdf