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May 17

TLCD Architecture Joins Sonoma County Best Program

TLCD Architecture has joined Sonoma County BEST, Building Economic Success Together, which is a five-year strategic plan for job creation and prosperity to directly address our economic challenges. TLCD Architecture, along with the other BEST investors,  form a collaborative partnership between the private and public sectors in Sonoma County to collectively work together to create jobs and restart the economic engine in Sonoma County. This is an exciting opportunity for us to be an active participant in the effort to reinvigorate our community.

May 17

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Congratulations to Jaime Stich on his Promotion to Project Captain!

“Gotta love that smile!”Jaime has recently been promoted to Project Captain in recognition of his hard work and continued success in the healthcare studio. Jaime is the lead on multiple small projects for Kaiser San Rafael and Kaiser Santa Rosa and has been responsible for all phases. Jaime is currently assisting Jason and myself with several marketing leads and has consistently demonstrated his commitment to design and sustainable practices. Thanks again for all the hard work!

Apr 25

Deck Love

Ready for summer

TLCD's newly refurbished green-roof deck.

Last week in honor of Earth Day a few of us (Avian, Bridgett, Bill, Julie, Marina, Stephen, Jack and myself) got together to give our green-roof deck a bit of love. We gathered up the deck furniture, got out the sanders and went to work. If you heard something last Wednesday at lunch that sounded like 10,000 angry hornets descending on TLCD, that was us. While some of us sanded off years of sun-baked slivers, others cleaned out the detritus that had accumulated on the green-roofs. In addition to a general clean, we decided to add some new plants to the roof. What was once a green-roof is now an eatable green-roof! Amongst the native grasses and sedums you will now find strawberries, lettuce, basil and tomatoes. It’s an experiment to find out what can be grown on a living roof. Thanks to all who joined in and helped. Now get out there and enjoy a nice break or lunch on the deck.

Apr 1

TLCD Beer Brewers Share Their Wares

This week’s Wine Wednesday was all about beer!

Our Own take on a British Amber Ale

For those unfamiliar with this longstanding tradition, every Wednesday at 5:00 the TLCD Architecture office gathers in our “Garage” conference room for snacks, refreshments, and a fun presentation.  The topics range from updates on current project designs, the latest trends in architecture, current events in our community, slides shows of recent vacations, and sharing of our favorite hobbies.

Kevin, Dean, and I prepare to sample our homebrews!

It was a big turn out for our beer brewing presentation.  What started as a fun experiment, has evolved into a full-fledged obsession and it was great to share my experience with everyone in the office.  Dean Snodgrass, a fellow home brewer, helped describe the process of fermentation and the role that each ingredient plays in flavoring a brew.  We also discussed a brief history of microbreweries (there are over 1,482 microbreweries across the United States, Sonoma County boasting some of the best!) and the burgeoning home brew culture.

During the presentation, participants sampled a number of our homemade brews including a Carmel Colored British Amber Ale, California Pale Ale, and Milk Stout. Kevin brought his own special dark stout and awesome pale ale to sample as well.

All in all it was an exciting talk and a fun way to share some outside interests with the rest of TLCD Architecture folks.

Mar 23

Sidney R Garfield Center Open House

Yesterday, Bill, Julie, Suzanne and myself were invited to tour the Sidney R. Garfield, The Health Care Innovations Center to see the mocked-up medical spaces and to test out the new Steelcase Furniture Standards.  The Garfield Innovation Center is a living laboratory where ideas are tested and solutions are developed in a hands-on, mocked-up clinical environment.  The environments we toured were, a Patient Room, Micro Clinic, Innovation Refresh Area, NICU, C-Section Room, Labor + Delivery Room and at the end we tested out the different furniture seating options provided by Steelcase.

Another important element that we viewed and experienced in the Micro Clinic was Kaiser branding tool, the Total Health Environments.  The Total Health Environments is about creating innovative, people and eco friendly environments that are less sterile than in the past and are cost effective.  This was demonstrated by the use of fresh paint colors, sustainable materials such as linoleum flooring, recycled tile, the use of modular nurse stations, energy efficient lighting and testing of different types of light fixtures.

Check out the pictures from the Garfield Center.

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Mar 18

DeTurk Round Barn – open for business!

St. Pattys Day was more than Corned Beef and Guiness this year. The DeTurk Round Barn, after a much needed restoration, was officially dedicated and opened for business. Under the care of The City of Santa Rosa, Recreation and Parks Department the barn went from a tired 120 year old building to a vibrant public space, ready for another 120 years of memories.

There were two events of interest on this day. A wonderful ceremony, complete with bagpipes, occured at the new dog park. A new memorial for “Maverick”, a K9 killed in the line of duty in 2000, was dedicated. With generous financial support from TLCD Architecture and the general contractor on the project, GCCI, a suitable plaque was unveiled, that will honor Maverick well into the future.

DeTurk Dog Park Memorial Dedication for "Maverick"

DeTurk Round Barn Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

The second event was the ribbon cutting for the round barn. Approximatley 250 people attended, and were entertained with videos, drink and wonderful food from On Q Events and Catering. A really special part of this event was mingling with the guests and talking about the what it took to get to this point:

1. Community support and involvement, especially from the citizens that live near the barn in the West End Neighborhood and Historic District.

2. Understanding and cooperation from the varied departments within the City of Santa Rosa as the project was navigated through the approval process.

3. Wonderful programs, like the California Cultural and Historical Endowment , meant to save important architectural landmarks like the DeTurk Round Barn.

4. A collaborative atmosphere during the project between Design Team and contractor. A project like this, where so much is about maintaining the origianl character of the barn won’t be successful if the trades in the field aren’t seen as a big piece of the solution. From the custom stair elements, executed wonderfully by The Welding Shop, to the large amount of exposed conduit for electrical, placed in a craftman like manner by Lunardi Electric, to the reclaimed oak flooring installed by H.Y. Floor and Gameline Painting, Inc. this project is successful in large part by dedication of workers in the field. Contact GCCI for a list of all sub contractors on the project.

A fitting end on St. Patty’s Day: “May your home always be too small to hold your friends”

Mar 16

Second Annual TLCD Bowl-a-Rama!

Last Friday a group of TLCD folk and family tested their bowling skills during a friendly but spirited tournament.  Jay Jensen (Scott’s Dad) impressed us all as he walked away with the award for High Game (169) and High Individual Average.  Carl Servais captured the highly-coveted Most Strikes award. 

Dayna goes for one of her many spares

Other awards (and braggin’ rights) included:

Best Team Name: The Bowlinators

Most Likely to go Pro: Max Psadelakis (Nanette’s son)

Best Bowling Form: Alyssa Moore (Josh’s daughter)

Best Bowling Outfit: Scott Jensen (gotta love them shorts)

Most Creative Ball Toss: Kevin Teel (complete with face plant)

High Team Score: The Flintstones (Yabba Dabba Doooo!)

High Team Average: The Flintstones (Wilmaaaaaaaa)

It was a great change of pace from our work environment and big fun to hang out with family members we don’t get to see real often. Aside from a few sore thumbs and weekender aches, the group got through the workout to make it to the pizza round across the street at Mary’s Pizza Shack.

George Psadelakis (Nanette's hubby) shows the pro form

Serious team strategy sessions

Mar 2

Ideas Worth Spreading

Biomimicry has been one of those buzz words in the architecture community for a while now. There are many different products on the market and also many buildings that claim to have been inspired by nature in some way, but I haven’t seen very many people using the concept on a larger, regional scale. This video is a short presentation by Michael Pawlyn about several concepts from nature that can be applied to architecture that could transform how our work impacts the environment. Pretty audacious, I know.  He tells an interesting story about a beetle in the desert who comes out at night in order to create condensation on its back.  The beetle’s shell is shaped so that it can pour the condensation directly into it’s mouth in the morning for a drink of life-sustaining water.  The beetle’s resourcefulness can be applied architecturally to help reverse desertification in Africa and other parts of the world.

The video is from the TED website, where they have a collection of short presentations about all kinds of interesting topics that are worth checking out. TED is a nonprofit that does conferences and other activities and, in their own words, they are “devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading”

Nov 23

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The Beauty and Desolation of Detroit

As many people may be aware the city of Detroit has admittedly seen better days.  To give an example the current population about 40% of its postwar peak.  This has resulted in what can be bluntly put as an excess of building stock, much of it in decay.  While it’s not something we think about very often the slow decay of buildings has a strange surrealism and beauty to it, this has been captured by various photographers in Detroit recently particularly well by the these photographers (see links below).

http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html
http://seanhemmerle.com/ (Look at the Rust Belt under PROJ)

Photograph by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre. http://www.marchandmeffre.com/

Sep 22

GULF OIL SPILL

Here is a message from the director of the spill response for IBRRC, Jay Holcomb. I thought that some of you might be interested to know some of the final numbers of the response effort. 5 months after the rig sank in the gulf of Mexico, our teams are coming home.

-Jaime

September 21, 2010

Dear Friends and Supporters,
After nearly five months working at the Gulf Oil Spill I just returned to California and want to give you an update on IBRRC’s efforts at the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
The demobilization of all four rehabilitation centers and the remaining two stabilization centers should be completed in the next few weeks as they are no longer receiving oiled birds. We still have five IBRRC response team members in the gulf helping Tri-State Bird Rescue get the last of the birds released. In terms of the rehabilitation of impacted birds, many of them did well considering the logistical and political challenges that were a part of this spill. Approximately 2,000 live oiled birds have been admitted to the rescue centers since late April.To date we have released over 1,200 birds and still have another 150 or so in care. The final numbers will be posted at the official end of the rehabilitation program. See: Updated bird numbers
This was an unprecedented event in our nation’s and IBRRC’s history. Our organization mobilized over 88 response team members, and completed well over 400 media interviews from CNN to documentary film crews. We also provided our expertise to the U.S. government and various organizations and agencies involved in the spill. In addition, we cared for many new species of birds and provided invaluable experience to new and existing staff and response team members.
During this large-scale effort, while up to our elbows in oiled pelicans and chaos, we received an outpouring of good will and encouragement from our supporters, members and others who repeatedly relayed to us that our efforts gave them hope during what seemed like a hopeless situation. This was an unexpected surprise and meant a great deal to all of us who worked long hours to ensure that each bird received expert care.
The specific details and stories, as well as more pictures and video of our spill response and experiences will be forthcoming in the next few months. To commemorate this historic event, we have also created a limited edition t-shirt that honors and displays the birds that were the true stars of the oil spill and deserve the most recognition. The shirt is available for purchase at our online store.
On behalf of all of our staff, volunteers and response team, I want to thank you for your support during the spill. We look forward to seeing you and talking to you in the future.
Sincerely,

Jay Holcomb, Executive Director
International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC)

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