Platt-Whitelaw Architects

Peter Soutowood

Designing a Stand-Out School to Inspire Students and Staff

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This Back-to-School Year is Especially Exciting for Clairemont Canyons Academy Wildcats

It’s back to school time, and we’re marking the occasion by shining a spotlight on Clairemont Canyons Academy (CCA).

This public school stands out in the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). It’s a mainstream elementary school with a high percentage of special-needs students. (SDUSD merges special ed programs into standard operations for diversity and a stronger student body.) As such, our design for the school includes many unique features.

For the last two years, the students have been using the new classroom building we designed, but when school starts for the 2024-2025 term, all the finishing touches will be complete. One of those touches that we’re particularly excited about is a ceiling-mounted harness, called a HOPSA dress track, which lives in the classroom of Karin Wehsener, Education Specialist, Moderate/Severe.

The harness enables children with limited mobility to be up close to an interactive board on the wall. Here, they can explore mechanical and tactile objects while easily moving themselves from side to side. We are particularly grateful to Ms. Wehsener for her valuable input throughout our work.

The Building

The 37,500-sf, two-story, ground-up administration and classroom building contains 14 classrooms, a maker’s lab, a sensory room and an administration core with student services. These services include counseling and speech and music therapy programs. More details about this building and its forward-thinking features can be found in one of our previous blog articles.

This year, the students will also have a new joint-use field and ball courts to use, and older buildings throughout the campus will be modernized. Students will have access to three new, shaded, outdoor learning classrooms that take advantage of San Diego’s temperate climate and offer the calming effects of an outdoor environment.

The Team

Our PWA design team of Sandra Gramley, AIA, Peter Soutowood, AIA, and Samantha Saltzman worked closely with SDUSD and the school to generate designs that allow for maximum positive impact on student learning and wellbeing, core values of community service-based learning and the logistics of building on an occupied site. We organized the programs and spaces within existing buildings in collaboration with the teachers and staff on campus to ensure equity and alignment with the school’s mission.

Without excellent construction execution, innovative designs can fall flat, so we are grateful to have Swinerton as our construction partner for CCA. The great communication and construction skills of their team have been invaluable in bringing this school design project to fruition.

Thank you

Our dynamic duo team is better characterized as a trio, because our SDUSD project manager Kurt Stolle is a talented visionary. We appreciate his leadership.

This trio grows to full-orchestra size when we account for the subconsultants, product representatives, contractors and site staff who stepped up to give the students of CCA an inspiring school.

Here’s to a great school year for the new and returning CCA Wildcats!

Sensory room photos by Peter Soutowood at Platt/Whitelaw Architects.
Other photos courtesy of Swinerton.

Designing for Substance Use Residential Treatment Services (SURTS)

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A Property and its Residents Get a New Lease on Life

The County of San Diego is committed to providing high-quality mental health and substance abuse recovery services. We’re fortunate to support this effort with architectural services for several buildings and campuses within the County’s Health and Human Services Agency program.

The Renovation

As part of the Agency’s Substance Use Residential Treatment Services (SURTS), we’re designing for the renovation and repurposing of a two-building property in National City.

The larger building is 270,000 square feet and shaped like an “H.” The previous owner was already using it as a dormitory, so the layout is well suited to a live-in detox and recovery center.

The 24 rooms are joined to shared restrooms and, thanks to the unique shape of the building, each room has an outdoor patio. Residents also have use of shared courtyards and common spaces.

The floorplate doesn’t require much changing, but with no as-built drawings available, one of our firm’s first tasks was to document the building. We did this with help from Zzyzx Imaging and its 3-D scanning and AutoDesk Revit technology.

The Work

Our scope of work includes the 200-page assessment we already finished for both buildings, as well as completely refurbishing the buildings, in and out, making ADA upgrades and incorporating a biophilic and energy-efficient design.

“For the large building, we envision screening it and making the mechanical system work with the building skin for maximum energy efficiency,” said Platt/Whitelaw Senior Associate Peter Soutowood. “We also hope to double-skin the building with vegetation and create a green roof.”

Our team plans to leverage the healing power of nature at the smaller, 6,000-square-foot building, too. Additionally, residents and staff will be able to use an adjacent garden that will be a great complement to the kitchen located inside.

The smaller building currently includes laundry facilities, but both the existing kitchen and laundry will be redesigned to make room for offices and other essential functions.

The Challenge

One of the biggest challenges to renovating the small building is creating an all-electric kitchen, which requires upsizing the electricity supply coming into the building. To help create a net-zero energy environment, our team will incorporate smart sensors into both buildings to inform their energy management systems.

While most our projects progress from design to construction to occupation, this one may be unique. With several mental health properties slated for renovation, the County may need to phase construction so that residents can be temporarily relocated or consolidated from one property to another.

We’re used to working closely with general contractors in these types of circumstances, especially because of our work with school districts. It’s often necessary to construct part of a project while the students and staff are using another part of the property.

The Best of the Best

In addition to a great project manager at the County’s Department of General Services, we’re lucky to work with terrific subconsultants on National City SURTS project. They include: KTU+A (landscape architecture), Turpin & Rattan Engineering (MPE), aark engineering (structural), Nasland (civil), WJE (fire suppression) and Orness Design Group (commercial kitchen consultant).

At the time of writing, the County has not yet selected a general contractor, but we anticipate project completion in late 2025. The County also plans to select an operator for the facility.

Thank you.

We’re humbled to work on projects that can help transform lives for the better and support our community in such important ways. We thank the County for this opportunity.

 

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.

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.

Welcome Back, Peter Soutowood!

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After 10 years, we are excited to announce that Peter Soutowood is returning to the Platt/Whitelaw team.

Peter will be rejoining the firm as a senior associate, bringing his 18 years of architectural and entrepreneurial experience back to our firm in his new role.

A well-respected and celebrated member of the industry, Peter is not only an accomplished architect with an impressive portfolio, but also a friend and colleague with a comprehensive understanding of the nuances of our public and community-based projects. His history of building attractive and vibrant communities was, and will continue to be, an asset to Platt/Whitelaw.

Peter proved to be a valuable member of our team as a project architect for Platt/Whitelaw from 2007 to 2012. His project management skills and oversight of designers, engineers and construction management staff facilitated the trajectory of projects of all sizes, in every stage from design and planning through completion. His ongoing involvement in both professional and community organizations is proof of his commitment to the industry and continued expertise in the industry.

Since working with us, Peter has gone on to hold various positions at other architecture firms, including his own. He has remained active in his community, serving as chair of the Design Review Board in La Mesa for three years and as chair of the La Mesa Village Association since July of 2016. Peter also remained active with his alma mater, the NewSchool of Architecture and Design, where he previously served as chair of the Alumni Mentorship Committee and as both a board member and president of the Alumni Advisory Board.

We are thrilled about Peter’s return and can’t wait to apply his expansive knowledge and expertise to our projects.