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Children’s Museum of Sonoma County

By on November 13, 2012


We are honored to be working on a very exciting project in Santa Rosa. Last year the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County (CMOSC) was awarded a $1.8m grant by the state of California’s office of Grants and local services. The grant money is to be used to design and build the outdoor museum features as part of a nature educational facility called “Mary’s Garden”. Mary as in Mariposa, the garden will be an interactive learning experience for children to learn about metamorphosis and pollination. The outdoor area is approximately 60,000 sq. ft. in size and will provide interactive exhibits.

The interactive exhibits are designed for children 10 and under to enjoy with their entire family or on a school field trip. We are working with the Museum staff to develop age-appropriate learning objectives that complement the curriculum for California state education.

With hands-on interaction, children and parents will develop a bond with nature that inspires future learning and a commitment to sustainable environmental living practices in their own lives.

The concept design of the site was developed by looking at a transect of the environments of Sonoma County – from the inland agricultural valleys to the Pacific Ocean. The idea is to connect children to the local environment through play.
The site design is centered around the main water feature. The ‘Russian river’ begins at the headwaters in the hill, and flows through the site to the beach, passing through gravel beds, and marshes along the way. This environmental reference creates the base for the different educational exhibits in the garden.
The exhibit also has a component of education around water issues. In the mechanical water play area, children learn how water gets pumped, stored and diverted through different simple mechanical ways, such as an Archimedes screw  and hand pumps.
We are doing this project in partnership with Ron Holthuysen from Scientific Art Studio who will be building all the exhibits. The design process has been incredibly collaborative and hands on with. Once the concept design was agreed upon, we took a field trip to the site to layout the design and get a better idea of the dimensions and the overall feel of the space.

It was a fun day out on the field. The site is pretty much flat and a blank canvas full of possibilities. We started by marking a 10′ x 10′ grid with orange landscape flags. Our amazing intern Jessica Forys and I started to translate the design layout into the grid with construction spray paint. It was pretty much like doing a giant drawing on the ground. While Jessica and I worked away, Andreas and Ron spent most of the day debating the plan and discussing life. Yay for women getting the job done! And the best part the client was happy with the layout and the feel of the space.

 

 

 


One big construction task was to relocate the existing driveway. Construction had begun and it was exciting to see all the heavy machinery working and relocating the driveway while we were there.
A few weeks after that we went on another field trip with Ron to the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Ron wanted to show us the water play area that he built there. We are planning on building a similar water exhibit and we needed to understand the spacial considerations for the underground utilities, filters, pumps, etc. It is always fun to get to see how things work and everything that goes on underneath the built environment.

At the Bay Area Discovery Museum, Ron built a rock enclosure that holds all the equipment within. At the end of the “creek” the water goes through a strainer into a sump pump and then through a filter that cleans the water to be reused. This circulation reduces the amount of water used on the exhibit. We are probably doing something very similar for the “Russian River” water play part of our exhibit at the museum.
Today we had a design meeting at Ron’s shop. He started working on a live size mock up of the kinetic butterfly that will be at the entry of the garden. The butterfly will be operated by kids and they will be able to move the wings. It is fun to see the project start to come to life. Stay tuned for progress on this project, grand opening is planned for October 2013!

(PARK)ING DAY

By on October 2, 2012

(PARK)ing Day, is a global annual event where citizens transform street parking spaces into temporary public places. It’s one of the coolest ideas and we are proud to say it got started by our classmates John Bella and Blaine Merker of Rebar.

My first experience creating a space was in 2007 when I did a (PARK)ing day installation with my former coworkers at DPW Landscape Department John Dennis and Kathleen O’Day. Our installation was dedicated to Kathleen’s brother and my own spiritual brother Joaquin, both of whom were suffering from Hodgkins Disease.  The installation was adjacent to the SF Library and it attracted flocks of people who stopped to take a break, eat lunch and even play the accordion!

 This year we were contacted by Passerelle Investment Co. to help them design a (PARK)ing day installation in downtown Los Altos. This was the very first (PARK)ing Day installation in Los Altos so it required a fairly hefty city approval process. The installation spanned three parking spaces, from a Peets coffee shop to the 359 State Street bike shop, which evolved into an art gallery with live music later that night.

Our design strove for simple elegance – incorporating bike parking, which is in short supply outside of Peet’s and it created seating and gather space via tables and chairs. The planters, which created a barrier from traffic, were painted with chalk paint so kids could use them to draw.

A lot of excitement for sleepy Los Altos, even if only for one day. Many residents came out to support the installation  and we hope that this is the beginning of many public installations to invigorate Downtown Los Altos.

At the end of the day Brooke Ray took us out to celebrate at Bumble, which is another project that we worked on a few years ago. It was great to see it full of kids having fun. The food is excellent, and I highly recommend it if you are ever in Los Altos.

 

 

2o Coloquio Ambiental

By on October 2, 2012
Earlier this summer I was invited to speak at a conference in my home town San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The conference was organized by my cousin Marcos Algara and hosted by the Environmental Engineering Department of the Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi.
At the conference with my cousins, Dr. Paola Algara and the organizer Dr. Marcos Algara
Other special guest in the audience cheer-leading me, my beautiful aunt Laura and cousin Laurie, thanks for your support!
I gave two presentations, one was part of a round table where I spoke about Urban Agriculture.
I wanted to talk about local examples because when I talk about the Algarden, people always say its only possible to do such thing in Berkeley. And the best part was, that I did had lots of real local examples. A year and a half ago, when I last visited San Luis I was invited to speak at Eaton. That talk was the opening of a company wide series on health and well being for their employees. My talk was on healthy eating habits. Most of the attendants to my talk were low income workers who complained about not being able to afford organic healthy veggies and of course we ended up talking about my passion: urban agriculture. They all got pretty excited when I instigated them to grow their own food, but told me that they did not had any space to grow food in their small houses and did not know where to do it.
The room where I was speaking, at the Eaton campus, had huge windows opening to a very large expanse of lawn and so I pointed to that and said what about there. Everybody got really excited and wanted to know the details of how to do it. But I could also sense the uncomfortable looks coming from management. At the end of the talk I explained to management the social benefits of having a urban farm in their campus. Growing food, builds community! So we explored the options and they found a site on campus that was totally underutilized. They started a pilot garden project. They had a community day, families were invited to help out start the garden. Children came by to help and it was a really beautiful event.
Francisco Ybarra who is the main organizer of this project came to my talk. He shared this pictures and his experience in urban agriculture on a corporate campus. He told the audience that they just harvested tons of onions, everybody on the company got onions and they still had extras. I got a small taste of their garden while I was visiting, they send me zucchinis, tomatoes and delicious peaches!

Here are some pictures of their garden after only a few months.

Another great example of local urban agriculture is the garden of Aventura Culinaria, the culinary academy of my good friend Alejandro “Birdman”  Medrano Puga. This is his garden in the front of the school where is growing chiles, culinary herbs and Papayas!!!
He also came to my talk and took great pictures and made sure I stayed real by texting me in the middle of my talk and constantly reminding me not take myself so seriously and laugh at myself…
Birdman introduced me to Ricardo Vélez from Ruta Ahimsa Colectivo from Querétaro who is doing great things and teaching amazing workshops on natural building, urban agriculture and green roofs.
Ricardo had just taught a class on beer brewing at Alejandro’s school so we hit it off talking about the importance of being sustainable and learning to make the things you really love, like beer. And by doing so, avoid giving your money to the giant corporations that make most of the beer, especially in Mexico. In the bay area we are lucky with all the choices we have. But thanks to that workshop, Alejandro has now started a new beer “nachomyson” if you are ever in San Luis don’t miss it.
I also showed pictures of Doña Mary’s “garden”. Doña Mary has a taco stand outside of the hospital and so she spends most of her day there. She decided to take over the median strip and plant a garden there. She waters it with the left over water from her dish washing. She had planted basil, corn, tomatoes, pumpkins, beans, an avocado and peach tree, she was so proud to show me her garden! She said sometimes people harvested her veggies when she was not there. I asked her if that bother her and she said, no, she was happy that her garden was feeding people who needed the food. THAT’s the spirit!
 You can see the taco stand on the background
My main presentation was on corporate landscapes and how they need to evolve from their romantic garden lawns and car oriented settings to the new paradigms that we are confronted with. I talked about Bishop Ranch as an example. Bishop Ranch is one of the largest business parks in the west coast and we are working with them to turn it into a more sustainable environment and a place that supports community and not just a work space. I, of course, keep pushing for a farm with a full series of classes, workshops and programming, hopefully next year there will be one :)

Pickled Brains, Cannons & Cavalry Gates

By on August 14, 2012

Several weeks ago, I had the pleasure of accompanying Camey Yeh, project manager from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy on an outing for a very unique project – a Mobile Ranger Station we are designing and constructing for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  Camey and I took a field trip to San Francisco’s Presidio, and after a turn down the wrong end of a one-way street, we arrived at the utterly unremarkable Building 901.  This nondescript brick warehouse contains the Presidio’s private architectural salvage warehouse.  The warehouse inventory spans centuries of history, and we were there on a mission: to find parts, widgets and artifacts that I could integrate into the design and construction of the Mobile Ranger Station.

Not every object inside was a related to the use of force.  Included in the Presidio’s trove were objects such as a fake pickled brain (stage prop for an old movie filmed in the Presidio), nickel-plated toilet roll holders and, oh, hey, look at that in corner, the original Presidio gates from 1776.  As we both lept into the fray of objects, Camey and I sorted and brainstormed about how to reuse pieces.  I think it was at that moment that I really appreciated the uniqueness of this project, of this type of creativity, and that my client had an appreciation for this type of design process, which must by definition involves unknowns, improvisation, and discovery.  This trio is held together by professional and personal trust and communication, and fueled by curiosity.  Over the past many years, I have become increasingly bold about following my curiosity during the design process.  This curiosity has drawn me, quite happily, into old barns, noisy metal scrapyards, abandoned horse farms, and quarries in foreign countries.

The outing to Building 901 has made me think about the creative process as a ongoing process of accretion and refinement.  Abigail Washburn a chinese law scholar/bluegrass violinist describes this creative process as a process of collage.  I resonated with her description of her own creative process – for what are each one of us but an organism that takes cues, objects, and stimulus from our individual experiences?  How could our creative process be anything but a collage?  Our engaged brains are the ultimate collage artists, whether we collage that information into a painting, a DNA helix, a landscape, a story, or a jazz composition.  As I continue to mature as a designer, I have become more familiar with my own accretion//refinement process [collage] process.  No longer does it seem scary, inefficient, or messy.  Or, let me rephrase that – the “mess” along the way does not seem scary or inefficient, but instead an inevitable, and even embraceable part of the process.  I’m getting faster and more agile understanding how to move through the process, yielding more elegant, thoughtful, and articulate designs.  Just a few more decades, and I may be on to something.

Good luck out there as accretion//refinement creatives.

San Francisco National Cemetery

By on March 21, 2012

A recent trip to the Presidio led to a traverse through the San Francisco National Cemetery.

I have always been fascinated by cemeteries.  These κοιμητήριον, or “sleeping places” are often an under-appreciated and utilized part of our public cultural landscape.  At this moment in history, we have a particularly monomic use of cemetery grounds.  However, they did not always have such a singularity of purpose.  Indeed, when uncle FLO (Frederick Law Olmstead) designed Mount Auburn Cemetery in the Boston suburb of Watertown, it was intended to be a “garden cemetery”, and function much like a park.  With a bucolic, open, rolling design, the landscape was accentuated with studded with beautifully worked monuments to life.  This also reflected changing cultural reflections upon death and the afterlife.

Sprawling Minimalism

The vast, sparse expanse of the space channels my attention to the few elements that are present: the sky, the white marble grave markers, the verdant grass, the sweeping Bay views, and stately monterey pine.  Continuing up the slope and neatly hopping a low stone fence revealed a stand of close growing Monterey Cyress, standing as straight and orderly as a brigade of soldiers.

An American flag will never fly from the rifle rack of my pickup truck, but I feel humbled and grateful for those who protect our country.

Click here for more info from the NPS about Post Cemetery

 

Japanese Tea Garden

By on March 14, 2012

At our BASE corporate day-long retreat, we enjoyed the visual and somatic comfort of these elegant, timeless site furnishings at the Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park.

The Japanse Tea Garden in San Francisco is the oldest public tea garden in the country.  Having a visioning session there was consistent with our desire to live in, contribute, and be inspired by the public landscape.

The Hagiwara family originally created this tea garden as a “Japanese Village” exhibit for the 1894 Midwinter International Expo.  Originally 1 acre, the site grew to its current 5 acres, and the family lived there until 1942, when, at a low point in our history, they, along with 120,000 Japanese Americans, were moved to internment camps.  After the war ended, the Hagiwara family was not allowed to return to the beautiful garden they had so thoughtfully crafted-a harsh exile indeed.

Simple in construction, durable in materiality, and refined in their demeanor, I was impressed with the obvious signs of workmanship on these pieces.  I do not know the origin of these pieces.

Signage Matters

By on March 13, 2012

Environmental signage is important, whether it’s a monumental piece of artwork or a simple moveable element.  In this case at Lincoln Center’s public recital hall, I appreciate the contrast of the high quality “charlie brown” sign with polished hardscape and industrial strength entryway.  The simplicity of message, the clarity of direction, its movability, the elegance of proportion, the economy of construction – all well done, in my opinion.

We are fortunate to have worked with several high quality signage fabricators in the area – if you need a recommendation for professional signage fabricators, we recommend you check out Martinelli Graphics here in SF, or the handpainted creations of tattoo-artist/signage company Made For Glory (no official website, but googlable) in Oakland, CA.

Bobcat Lessons

By on March 2, 2012

bobcat lesson

A big “thank you” to Del Fitchett @ Bishop Ranch, as he was generous enough to give us instruction on the Bishop Ranch bobcat.  Our mission was to help load greenwaste into a dumpster destined for off-site disposal.  As part of its sustainability initiative, Bishop Ranch is in the process of composting its copious greenwaste on-site and returning it to the soil to build nutrients and create a probiotic soil conditions over time.  Healthier soils require fewer fertilizers, and have the ability to retain a greater volume of water.