AIRE Santa Monica and Casa Namorada win 2019 Gold Nugget Award of Merit

Judges for the 2019 Gold Nugget Awards have named JFAK Architects as an Award of Merit winner in its annual competition, which honors architectural design and planning excellence and draws entries from throughout the United States and internationally. JFAK earned its Merit honors for AIRE Santa Monica and Casa Namorada, which were honored for multi-family and single-family categories, respectively.

Chosen from the elite pool of Merit Award winners, Grand Awards will be announced on May 31 as a feature highlight of PCBC®, the nation’s largest regional conference and trade show for the real estate development field. “Gold Nugget Award winners reflect our industry’s best, brightest and most innovative architects, planners and builder/developers,” said Judging Chairman and Gold Nugget ceremonies administrator Lisa Parrish. “We applaud them all, and we forward to our May 31 celebration of Merit and Grand Award winners.”

Now in it’s 56th year, GNA is the largest and most prestigious competition of its kind in the nation. It honors design and planning achievements in community and home design, green-built housing, site planning, commercial, retail, mixed-use development and specialty housing categories. Winners this year were chosen from over 600 entries from around the world.

Read more about the awards program and the other winners in PCBC’s 56ths Annual Gold Nugget Awards here.

Casa Namorada Wins a 2019 AIA|LA Residential Architecture Award

JFAK Architects’ Casa Namorada was awarded a Residential Architecture Award (RAAs) by the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Chapter (AIA|LA) last night at a ceremony in Los Angeles. The project earned an Award of Merit in the Single-Family Residential category (up to 5000 SF). The project’s Design Principal, John Friedman, FAIA, accepted the award on behalf of the firm.

Judges shared, “The curves of this building are stunning. Excellent use of the floating elements in the front façade and then having the back side open up and completely connect to the garden; it’s a great duality.”

Read more about the awards program, the jury, and the other winners in AIA|LA’s press release here.

JFAK Awarded UCSD's Main Gymnasium + Natatorium

We’re happy to share that JFAK has been selected as the Executive Architect for University of California, San Diego's Main Gymnasium and Natatorium project renovation and expansion. Originally completed in 1968, the buildings are excellent examples of Mid-century Modern Architecture, and a portion of the buildings’ facade is historically protected. The project will include approximately 64,300 SF of renovation, restoration, and seismic retrofit, and an approximately 10,000 SF addition. It is intended to be certified LEED Silver at minimum. We're excited to work with the UCSD community to breathe new life into this pair of iconic buildings.

Interior Design: 12 Cool College Campus Design Projects

Interior Design featured JFAK’s Roberts Pavilion at Claremont McKenna College today as one of these recent projects worth cheering for. Check out the other 11 projects at interiordesign.com

JFAK one of the Top 50 Firms making up Interior Design Magazine’s PowerGridLA

Image Credit: Adoramassey

JFAK was named one of the top 50 firms shaping the Los Angeles skyline by Interior Design Magazine in this year’s PowerGridLA ranking. The overall ranking, based on all applicable information available at the time, as interpreted by Interior Design, is an evaluation of the top 50 firms based on their total square footage of development projects completed in the past 18 months combined with ones the firms are currently work­ing on. The survey requested information on firms’ devel­opment projects completed in the past 18 months and current on-the-boards development projects within downtown L.A., Arts District, Culver City, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Long Beach, and Pasadena. The data was compiled and analyzed by the Interior Design market research staff in New York, led by Wing Leung, research director. Read more at interiordesign.com

Alice Kimm Speaks at UC Berkeley x AIA East Bay hosted Lecture Series

Alice Kimm spoke on Identity, Innovation, and Placemaking at a UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design as part of a lecture series co-sponsored by AIA East Bay.

Alice Kimm on Inside the Issues with Alex Cohen

Alice Kimm to be Featured at UC Berkeley's Lecture Series, cosponsored by AIA East Bay

Alice Kimm will be participating in UC Berkeley’s Spring 2019 Lecture Series, created in partnership with AIA East Bay.

The lecture will take place February 13th at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design. It will begin at 7:30PM in 112 Wurster Hall and is open to the public.

JFAK Awarded Alumni Center Project for Cal State Long Beach

California State University Long Beach awarded a new 7,000 SF alumni center to John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects. The structure will be designed to meet LEED Silver and Net-Zero Energy standards, and project process is expected to start in January 2019.

John Friedman Speaks at Otis College of Art and Design

The lecture will begin at 7:00 pm in the Forum, Academic Wing, Elaine and Bram Goldsmith Campus, Otis College of Art and Design, 9045 Lincoln Boulevard, Los Angeles, 90045.

The lecture and parking are free and open to the public.

Team JFAK Celebrates Halloween

Urbanize.LA: Four-Story, 22-Unit Condo Development Planned in West Hollywood

A trio of small multifamily residential buildings in West Hollywood is set to make way for a condo development of a four-story building that would feature 22 condominiums above 48 parking spaces on two basement levels.

JFAK Architects is designing the proposed low-rise development, wrapping around an interior courtyard.

The Spaulding Condos call for a mix of one- and two-bedroom floor plans, with a total of four units to be set aside as affordable housing at the very-low-, low-, and moderate income levels.

Read more on Urbanize.LA

Urbanize.LA: Concept Designs Unveiled for "A Bridge Home" Facilities

CONCEPT BY JFAK ARCHITECTS AND RELM STUDIO

ULI Los Angeles - in coordination with the office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti - recently tapped a trio of architecture firms to create conceptual designs for emergency shelter facility's under the "A Bridge Home" program, which is intended to help homeless Angelenos transition into long-term housing.

The three architecture firms - DLR Group, Studio One Eleven, and JFAK Architects - worked with three landscape architecture firms - EPT Design, RELM Studio, and SWA Group - on three different site challenges: a 50-bed site, a 100-bed site, and a 150-bed site.

According to a press release, ULI Los Angeles is currently working with CBRE and Gensler to identify suitable sites in each of the 15 Los Angeles City Council Districts that are owned by government agencies to facilitate the development of these temporary shelter facilities.

Read more at urbanize.LA

LA Times: Architects were asked to design appealing homeless shelters on a $1-million budget. Here's what they came up with

CONCEPT DESIGN BY JFAK ARCHITECTS AND RELM STUDIO

CONCEPT DESIGN BY JFAK ARCHITECTS

The designs — depicting shelters of 50, 100 and 150 beds — produced by a group of architects working pro bono in support of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s $20-million initiative to build shelters in all 15 of Los Angeles’ City Council districts.

The goal is to come up with standard designs that could be placed on a lot anywhere in the city, and are pleasing enough to help the shelter plan overcome its two biggest obstacles: First is the reputed aversion homeless people have for the dreary conditions in shelters. Then there’s the almost inevitable community opposition that shelter proposals encounter.

The architects were recruited by the nonprofit Urban Land Institute. Working independently, all three teams came up with similar ideas for easing the isolation and regimentation of traditional shelters, where cots are lined end to end in a large building with limited access to the street.

Read more

John Friedman and Alice Kimm speak at AIA|LA Design for Dignity Conference

Design for Dignity is an annual conference organized by the Los Angeles branch of AIA. Currently in its third year, the conference will serve as a forum to discuss best practices and strategies for addressing the regional homelessness crisis. During the day-long event, architects, designers, urban planners, civic leaders and community activists will all convene to share their insights.  

Alice and John have both been asked to speak at the upcoming Design for Dignity AIA | LA conference. John will talk about the urgent and temporary design strategies for shelter and amenities, while Alice will lead a panel entitled “On Accelerating Innovative Design & Development of Permanent Supportive Housing & Services.” During the panel, she will discuss with other architects and designers to seek answers to pressing questions for alleviating poverty and preventing homelessness. Overall, they will both contribute to the ongoing conversation surrounding the design and creation of temporary and permanent homeless shelters in Los Angeles.

To register for the upcoming Design for Dignity conference, click here.