We hope you’ve all been having a hot, sporty summer! In that vein, we’d like to congratulate an a/e ProNet client, Keisker & Wiggle Architects, Inc. The United States Tennis Association (USTA) recently named the Indian Wells Tennis Garden as its 2014 Featured Facility Award winner. Keisker & Wiggle, a Capistrano Beach, California firm, did the master plan and layout of the renovation for Stadiums One and Two.

Indian Wells Tennis Garden

In addition, Indian Wells Tennis Garden has been recognized as one of 12 winners of the USTA’s 33rd annual Outstanding Facility Awards Program, recognizing excellence in the construction and/or renovation of tennis facilities throughout the country.

Opened in March of 2000, Indian Wells Tennis Garden is home to the second-largest tennis stadium in the world, with the main stadium seating 16,100 fans and includes 44 stadium suites, broadcast and media facilities and an 8,000 square foot food commissary.

Representatives will be honored during the upcoming US Open at the USTA Awards Breakfast on Sept. 1, during the association’s Semi-annual Meeting. The award recognizes one facility from among all those that meet the criteria for an outstanding facility award. The “featured facility” exemplifies the highest level of excellence in facility design; court construction; court amenities; and other related components such as strong programming and implementation of 10 and Under Tennis.

“The Indian Wells Tennis Garden has embraced many of our initiatives, including youth tennis utilizing 36- and 60-foot courts, introducing thousands of new players to the sport each year,” said Kurt Kamperman, Chief Executive, Community Tennis, USTA. “It is outstanding tennis facilities like the Indian Wells Tennis Garden that help us grow the game at the grass-roots level, and for that reason and so much more, we are proud to recognize the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for its ongoing impact and contribution to the sport of tennis.”

Shout-out Credit:

Alicia K. Igram, AAI, VP & Branch Rep
Design & Consulting Liability Specialist
IOA Insurance Services – Aliso Viejo, CA
Email: Alicia.Igram@ioausa.com / Phone: 949-680-1789

Ghost town architecture is rarely lauded for its form, style, efficiency, and grace. Enter Lone Mountain Ranch House, located on the turquoise trail between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

Lone Mountain Ranch House by Rick Joy - Photo Credit Peter OgilvieThe design by Rick Joy Architects has been called “a light-filled twist on the low-slung form” by the Architectural Record blog.

The American West merges with the Far East on a 27,000-acre Wagyu-cattle ranch in a ghost town called Golden, New Mexico. Tucson-based architect Rick Joy designed a six-bedroom house for a couple who inherited the land. ‘They went to Japan, learned all about [Wagyu], got the stock, and put together this company selling beef around the country,’ says Joy. ‘Interestingly, the house turned out to be very Japanese in feel.’ — excerpted from Laura Raskin’s article for Architectural Record Continue reading “Lone Mountain Ranch House by Rick Joy”

We’d like to congratulate Santa Monica architecture firm Koning Eizenberg on their recent win at the 2013 World Architecture Festival! They received the prestigious Housing Award for their 28th Street Apartments project in Los Angeles, California.

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The World Architecture Festival, held in Singapore earlier this month, gathered over 1,750 architects from around the world to exchange ideas and inspiration for design. This year, only 15 of the 260 shortlisted projects were from the USA, and Koning Eizenberg was the only American firm to receive an award.

Referring to the 28th Street Apartments, the judges noted: “This project demonstrates architecture as an agent for social transformation. The architect was able to knit together historical continuity and something very new, something of high architectural value.”

Koning Eizenberg’s website describes the project this way: “The restoration and expansion of a landmark YMCA built in 1926 restores principal spaces, reconfigures original housing, and innovatively adds replacement units. The design re-establishes this building’s role as an important community focus and brings living quarters in compliance with contemporary standards.” Read more on their website.

It’s so exciting to see our members’ clients set themselves apart on the world stage this way. Well done, Koning Eizenberg!

Shout-Out Credit:

Alicia K. Igram, AAI, VP & Branch Rep
Design & Consulting Liability Specialist
IOA Insurance Services – Aliso Viejo, CA
Email: Alicia.Igram@ioausa.com / Phone: 949-680-1789

a/e ProNet client Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects of San Francisco has been named to Architect Magazine’s Architect 50 again, and this time they’ve received a top honor!

lms_greenarchitect

Earlier this year, we blogged one of LMSA’s award-winning sustainable projects, the Merritt Crossing Senior Apartments in Oakland, California.

Find out more about the Architect 50 at Architect Magazine’s website, including the Top 50 Business, Top 50 Design, and Top 50 Sustainability.

Congratulations, LMSA!

Shout-Out Credit: 

Leslie Pancoast, CIC, RPLU
Managing Partner
IOA Insurance Services – Pleasanton, CA
Email: Leslie.Pancoast@ioausa.com / Phone: 925-416-7862

We wanted our 100th post here at The ProNet Blog to be something special! So, we decided to use it to give a much deserved shout-out to the a/e ProNet clients who were recently recognized by the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE).

According to the ArchDaily blog:

“The COTE Top Ten Green Projects program, now in its 17th year, is the profession’s best known recognition program for sustainable design excellence. The program celebrates projects that are the result of a thoroughly integrated approach to architecture, natural systems and technology. They make a positive contribution to their communities, improve comfort for building occupants and reduce environmental impacts through strategies such as reuse of existing structures, connection to transit systems, low-impact and regenerative site development, energy and water conservation, use of sustainable or renewable construction materials, and design that improves indoor air quality.”

While we, of course, congratulate all the winners of this important distinction, we are especially excited for the clients of our members, including Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects of San Francisco and Brooks + Scarpa of Los Angeles!

lmsarchitects_merrittcrossingLeddy Maytum Stacy Architects / Merritt Crossing Senior Apartments

“Located at the edge of Oakland’s Chinatown, this new affordable senior housing transforms an abandoned site near a busy freeway into a community asset for disadvantaged or formerly homeless seniors while setting a high standard for sustainable and universal design. The high-density, transit-oriented project is one of the first new developments planned near the Lake Merritt BART regional transit station. The upper floor apartments respond to the character of the eclectic Pan-Asian neighborhood with colorful and varied porous facades that reflect their orientation. The south façade features an independent screen that provides shading, privacy and acoustical modulation while enlivening the view of passing freeway drivers.”

brooksscarpa_yinyanghouseBrooks + Scarpa / Yin Yang House

“This nearly net-zero energy live/work home and office was designed to function not only as a home and commercial office for both parents, but also as a private home for a large and growing family with several children. We sought to create a calm, relaxed and organized environment that emphasizes public space and changes the stereotype of a live/work home for a large family with young kids. Part private home and part business, the house is meant to serve as a place to entertain and a welcoming space for clients and teenagers. It was designed to incorporate sustainable design as a way of teaching a green lifestyle and the offices are purposefully integrated with the home, making both the house and office feel large despite their small combined area. Passive measures, such as a very tight building envelope, reduce energy demand by more than 50 percent. The 12-kW solar system produces 100% of it’s electricity needs.” Continue reading “2013 AIA Top Ten Green Projects List: a/e ProNet Clients Among the Winners!”

aiabirdpurplegoldThe American Institute of Architects recently announced that its 2013 Jury of Fellows elevated 122 AIA members to its prestigious College of Fellows, an honor awarded to members who have made significant contributions to the profession. Subsequently, we are proud to announce that several a/e ProNet members have clients on this illustrious list!

Kurt Schindler of ELS Architecture (Berkeley, CA)

Martin A. Diaz-Yabor of Martin A. D. Yabor & Associates, Inc. (Miami, FL)

Kenneth D. Levien of Levien & Company (New York, NY)

Terrence O’Neal of Terrence O’Neal Architect, LLC (New York, NY)

Claire Weisz of WXY architecture + urban design (New York, NY)

Glenn Keyes of Glenn Keyes Architects (Charleston, SC)

Turan Duda with Duda/Paine Architects (Durham, NC)

Clive Wilkinson of Clive Wilkinson Architects (Los Angeles, CA)

William J. Worthen of UrbanFabrick (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)

Congratulations, lady and gentleman, on this well-deserved honor.

The 2013 Fellows will be honored at an investiture ceremony at the 2013 National AIA Convention and Design Exposition in Denver.

MLKMemorial_APPhoto
The MLK Memorial – Designed by ROMA Design Group – Photo via Smithsonian.com

“Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope.”

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial opened to the public in August 2011. It features a 30-foot high relief of the man himself. He stands boldly, arms crossed, rising from a chunk of stone which appears to have pulled out from between two similar pieces of granite behind him.

San Francisco-based architecture firm ROMA Design Group, an a/e ProNet client, came up with this dynamic design. Visitors pass through the Mountain of Despair to reach King, and a crescent-shaped wall of granite, 450 feet long, is covered in “excerpts from many of King’s sermons and speeches… the earliest from the time of the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama, and the latest from his final sermon, delivered in 1968 at Washington, D.C.’s National Cathedral, just four days before his assassination.”

The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Foundation “reviewed over 900 designs, submitted by architects, designers and students from 52 countries.” So, congratulations to ROMA!

And please join us in celebrating the profound work of Dr. King, the man who led a generation to and through the first, most painful steps of the Civil Rights Movement, and did it in the name of peace. Happy MLK Day!

Homes designed by a/e ProNet client Andrew Skurman have been featured in a wide variety of publications, including Architectural Digest, The New York Times Magazine, Western Interiors, California Homes, San Francisco Magazine, This Old House, Luxe. Interiors + Design, House Beautiful, and Gentry Design. Work by the firm is also included in the books Napa Valley Style (2003) by Kathryn Masson and San Francisco Style (2004) by Diane Dorrans Saeks. And now, Andrew Skurman has a book of his own!

In August, Princeton Architectural Press published Contemporary Classical — The Architecture of Andrew Skurman.

Excerpted from Princeton’s website:

“Skurman draws on an extensive architectural library of European and American design with the precision of an eminent art historian, skillfully adapting timeless design elements to suit today’s lifestyles. Collaborating with well-respected contractors, interior and landscape designers, lighting and audiovisual experts, and other consultants, Skurman blends modern comfort and conveniences into traditional settings. Featuring gorgeous photography and exquisite watercolor studies, Contemporary Classical showcases an exceptional range of residential work, including projects in San Francisco (Nob Hill, Pacific Heights), the Newport Beach coast, and Northern California.”

ProNet first got wind of Skurman’s new publication from lifestyle blogger The Style Saloniste who said, in her “fall preview”:

“San Francisco architect Andrew Skurman’s new book is essential for the collections of architectural students, interior designers, potential clients, and everyone who wants to learn about classical architecture—the real thing.”

And the San Francisco Chronicle’s review of Contemporary Classical was a rave!

“One of the guilty pleasures in reading coffee-table books about stunning residences is trying to determine which homes are pictured. Locals will have fun guessing from among the 20 anonymously featured in a new book by one of San Francisco’s most respected architects. [The book] features 255 pages of colorful photos of residences inspired by his love of French chateaux and classical Greek and Roman forms….”

The book retails for $60.00, but can be purchased now on Amazon for $37.80, and would make an excellent gift for your favorite architect. Happy shopping!

Item contributed by Leslie Pancoast of a/e ProNet Member firm IOA Insurance Services in Pleasanton, California.