Nestled into the vibrant Bankers Hill neighborhood. The project emulates and reflects the values of the community while offering a modern respite from the active urban life. The building is broken up into two zones for the livability and privacy of the long term tenants & short term tenants. The heart of the development is an open courtyard for the long term tenants to enjoy and come together to create a community. The short term tenants have a small courtyard and a roof deck to mingle and utilize as an amenity. Taking advantage of the temperate San Diego climate, all units whether short term or long term have their own private patios directly tied to the unit to bind an indoor / outdoor lifestyle and further enhancing the quality and experiences of everyday life. MY MIDWAY POINT is vibrant. This project emulates and reflects the values & visions of the Pacific Highway Community Plan by inviting in the active public realm to an enhanced and linked destination of community character and useability. The project caters towards an open indoor / outdoor usability that creates new inviting access paths from the streetscape to a quality activated courtyard space. The architectural volumes are thoughtfully broken up to accommodate natural light, air and views into a public courtyard. This plaza will serve as a gateway for future community intermingling, connection and serve as a recognized landmark within the adjacent proposed community development ‘Midway Rising Master Plan’ set to bring 4,000 housing units and a new 16,000 seat arena creating a diverse central urban hub. Watch Video Nestled into the epicenter of North Park lies OH.MEGA; a project that stands on the shoulders of a neighborhood that has been undergoing a nationally recognized transformation for the past 10 years. OH.MEGA sits within the transit priority area in the North Park neighborhood. Utilizing the Complete Communities update, the project proposes an 82 unit multi-family development, 7 story multi-family development with a unit mix of studios, 1 bedrooms & 2 bedroom units and lofts, pool, gym, fire pit and a suite of amenities for the residents. Watch Video Located in the Hollywood Hills, California -Ni.LA is nestled in a canyon like setting. The community has vibrant recreational hills and trails as an amenity for the inhabitants to utilize along with a resounding cultural scene all within a short drive. The Hollywood Hills are situated in the Santa Monica Mountains and off er breathtaking views of Downtown Los Angeles, Catalina Island and the surrounding areas. The site is intertwined into the landscape that gives the residents the sense of seclusion and solitude despite being only minutes away from the bustling metropolis that is Los Angeles. Borrowing from the neighborhood’s past and unique lessons in its centuries-old architecture and urbanism, the building will encapsulate the identity of the community. The playful form and muted materials echoes the character of community; humble yet bold. Upon entering the building from the street, the resident is absorbed into an intimate and highly vegetated space. A floating accessible wood walkway ramps the resident up off the street into an interior courtyard. A small grove of trees and outdoor seating area create a comfortable setting where the tenants and their guests can intermingle, connect and create a sense of community outside of their homes. Spilling plants rain down from above, creating an artistic and aesthetically pleasing experience en route to the units. All units will cater towards an open indoor / outdoor lifestyle helping erase the boundaries of interior & exterior. Spacious outdoor private decks, oriented towards the iconic views of Coronado and Downtown, creating a place for entertainment and respite. There is a housing crisis in San Diego. The Complete Communities program ushered in by the City in 2021 offers a real opportunity for infill developers to make a meaningful contribution to the region’s housing supply. Concurrently, the pandemic is forcing us to reexamine how we interact with our homes and our communities. As architects and builders, we have a responsibility to recognize and address these shifts and reevaluate our approach to meet the needs of the time. Starting with Le Parc, we have reexamined the entire building system and developed our own approach to meet the demands of today. Through the analysis and careful selection of building materials, assemblies and environmental systems, we have developed a product that will reduce costs and construction times, while delivering more units and improving the quality of living.Partner / Collaboration: Christian Dimeling The central objective of the design was to incorporate natural light, fresh air, vegetation and courtyards to support an indoor / outdoor lifestyle. our team pressed to invite warm natural light into courtyard spaces and voids between the volumes to attract a soft welcoming glow. As one approaches the home, they are initially met with a backdrop of trees that washes light into what ordinarily is a dark mundane garage space. We feel it important to begin the sequence of entry early on with inherent beauty to help set your tone and wash away your day and commence your path to your well deserved lotus seat. Guests would enter through large double gate entry doors only to realize they are entering into the outside. They are met with vegetation in a courtyard space with seemingly hugging volumes washed with natural light in a private calming space. Welcome home! Located in the Greater Golden Hill neighborhood, San Diego, CA, this ~7,240 SF parcel is within a transit priority area. Utilizing the Complete Communities update, we are proposing a 27 unit multi-family development, 4 story walk-up with a unit mix of studios, 1 bdrms & 2 bdrm unit / lofts. The units will cater towards an open indoor / outdoor lifestyle helping erase the boundaries of interior & exterior. Each Unit has a spacious outdoor private deck for the tenants to enjoy and entertain their guests. The architectural volumes are separated, to break up the massing and create light wells through the open public courtyard spaces. The courtyards with their outdoor seating and vegetation will encourage a comfortable setting where the tenants and their guests can intermingle, connect and create a sense of community.Arch Collaboration: Christian Dimeling Development Team: Mahon DevelopmentModel: Gerardo Sandoval URBO Studio A boutique hotel HLJH is a home designed from a process of discovery. The site is set in an active urban environment sandwiched between 3 neighbors and a sports complex which can be loud at given times. Due to these constraints, the premise was to create a place that lives privately within its own landscape. A sanctuary for its inhabitants to reside. Watch VideoTucked into a dense urban fabric, SR1 is an urban infill project that sits in a narrow 50' x 100' lot surrounded by neighboring buildings on 3 sides. The concept of the project was to allow for natural light to filter in through the sides creating a soft glow within its realm.17 units and 1 penthouse suite.23,405 sfDesigner / Project Manager: Dominique Houriet Located in San Diego, California, The Patio on Lamont is a newly developed restaurant in Pacific Beach. The concept stems from an existing restaurant that had been a part of the community for many years. The old structure was in such disrepair that we had to rebuild it, in its entirety. Using the same building footprint, we left choice pieces untouched to exhibit the building's history. Other items that had to be disassembled and removed, lead to many great opportunities in repurposing those old materials. The big idea was to open the surrounding interior spaces to the heart of the restaurant, which is The patio on Lamont. collaborators:tectu.rebeatrize arruezlahaina architects In a collaboration with Lindsay Brown Studio, project BPO is an office program for a financial investment firm in Mexico. The project is located in a LEED certified building within 20 minutes of the US, Mexico border. The wooden slats that wrap the reception and conference room were reclaimed timber from the cedar fires that burned in Julian, CA. Iglesia de la Natividad was an international closed competition amongst 14 architects from around the world. The project was for a prominent Catholic Church which would sit on a hillside overlooking a lake in La Primavera, Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. The nave would house 700 guests with additional space for classrooms, a crypt and plazas sprinkled throughout the campus. Anonymously, our team won the community and the judges vote, but the client has yet to proceed with our concept? We hope to proceed with this project to completion.special thanks to co-lab, dust db and pi.kl for all your help In this collaboration with Sebastian Mariscal Studio, my role was to take the project from development, design, entitlements through construction completion. The site was a single lot split in two, making 2 lots 18' wide x 67' long. The project resides on a busy street in downtown San Diego, so the concept was to make the houses live inward, with a central courtyard that allows light and air to breath into all the spaces.Photography by: Hisao SuzukiArchitect of record: Art Balourdas Project Fay or 2-inns, are 2 single family homes built on a hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The dwellings are a careful composition of cast-in-place concrete, wood and glass. The main feature of the house is its connection to the exterior by a series of removable walls. The nana wall system slides on a single track and parks itself within a storage enclosure. Once open the kitchen, living and dining spaces seem to be outside with simply a canopy overhead to protect from the elements. My role in this project for Sebastian Mariscal Studio was project management from initial design through construction completion.Architect of record: Art Balourdas Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico is a serene raw landscape located approximately 50 miles south of the US-Mexico border. The temperate valley attracts a layer of fog which quenches the roots of the grapevines every morning. Working with Sebastian Mariscal Studio, our client was needing a wine laboratory to aid in his wine exploration and production process. The project is a play of the rugged landscape with the organization of the wine making process. Project Ravina is a series of rowhouses that each are composed of 2 parts, the service elements (stairs, elevators, storage, and the like) are placed in the limestone-clad volumes. The bedrooms and private areas are located in the wood volumes that bridge between the stone elements. Under the wood forms, a large loft-like space for the kitchen and living areas extend into the gardens at both ends. This connection is made seamless by using fold-away glass doors that completely open the space connecting the interior to the exterior.Architect of record: Art BalourdasProject by: Sebastian Mariscal Studio, Photography by: Hisao Suzuki Project 88 was a development spec-house designed for La Primavera, Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico We are designers, developers that work with architects to develop infill projects. We are designers, developers that work with architects to develop infill projects. Iglesia de la Natividad was an international closed competition amongst 14 architects from around the world. The project was for a prominent Catholic Church which would sit on a hillside overlooking a lake in La Primavera, Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. In this second rendition of the church, the nave would house 800 guests with additional space for classrooms, a crypt and plazas sprinkled throughout the campus. The client has yet to proceed with this second rendition? We hope to proceed with this project to completion.special thanks to co-lab and pi.kl for all your help Located in La Mesa, CA. the project on Edgewood was a remodel of an existing 2500 sf house. The task was to make the house more responsive to the elements by closely connecting to exterior living spaces and increasing the efficiency and function of the spaces for living and working. The materials were mostly found recycled old wood fencing, flooring and siding planks.