Soul of the City is back! If you missed the kickoff event in February, then Wednesday April 25th is your next opportunity to participate in this engaging community dialogue series. This installment will follow the same interactive 'live-audience-questionnaire' format and will focus specifically on identifying special urban open spaces in our region. What do you think makes a good place to visit in our urban environment? Where are the most successful examples? Join us for this lively discussion that seeks to define where they are and what makes them great. This is the second of five planned dialogues this year which seek to bring designers and community members together to identify what qu

Where: The Crest Theater, 1013 K Street, Sacramento When: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 Time: 6:00 p.m. Tickets: $10.00 General Admission                  $5.00 for AIACV / ULI Members and Students buy tickets now Advance tickets may also be purchased at The Crest Theater. This American independent documentary frames a global discussion on the future of cities. Who is allowed to shape our cities? How do they do it? And how does the design of our cities affect our lives? The movie explores a diverse range of urban design projects in dozens of cities around the world, from massive infrastructure to temporary interventions. Featuring some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policy

Sacramento is home to a wealth of stunning structures. Some of the most impressive architecture can be found in the city’s houses of worship. With the help of local architects, The Sacramento Press identified some of the most significant examples in the central city. Saxon Sigerson, principal at Sigerson Architects, and Peter Saucerman, partner and planning principal at Dreyfuss & Blackford Architects, are both members of the American Institute of Architects. Together, they identified 10 churches in Sacramento that deserve your attention. According to Sigerson and Saucerman, the majority of the churches in Sacramento were built in traditional styles, many using basilica and cruciform des

The Soul of Sacramento, “What is it? Where is it? Let’s find it and celebrate it”. Facilitators: Kim Alexander of California Voter Foundation, Saxon Sigerson, AIA, Jason Silva, AIA and David Sarti, AIA. Sacramento is a place where people enjoy a unique quality of life – our goal is to create a resource to help people find what it is about our city that makes it such an enjoyable place to live? In an effort to create this resource we will be engaging event participants in a lively, interactive discussion, asking for your thoughts and feelings around a series of questions. Sample questions: • Where are the lovely courtyards? • Where is your favorite alley? • Which street might you walk do

New for 2012!!  Soul of the City is an engaging dialogue series between the public and the design profession on issues of importance to the community and the region with focus on improving communication, understanding and collaboration (formerly known as the 4th Wednesday Design Dialogue series).  Organized by the AIA Central Valley Chapter and the ASLA California Sierra Chapter, the dialogues are listed below for the year and the topics have come directly from the public and the profession from one of our dialogues last year.  We look forward to seeing everyone again this year for some engaging conversation!  See you at the first dialogue on February 29th, where we will kick-off the serie

Please join us on Wednesday evening, September 28th at 5:45pm at the AIA Central Valley Chapter office for this month’s 4th Wednesday Design Dialogue (4WDD). Encouraging community design excellence through the recognition of projects that exhibit Smart Growth principles in planning design and development actions. The Smart Growth Leadership Recognition Program seeks to encourage and promote those projects. How can this program be a benefit to your community and city? Find out at this month’s 4th Wednesday Design Dialogue presented by Bruce Monighan, AIA. For more information on the Smart Growth Leadership Program follow the link below. http://www.aiacv.org/resources/smart-growth/ Click he

Please join us on Wednesday evening, August 24th beginning at 5:45pm for this month’s 4th Wednesday Design Dialogue (4WDD). “Complete Streets” is the inspiring story of the planning, re-design and transfiguration of West Sacramento’s main street area: West Capitol Avenue. The project completely transformed a portion of old highway US 40 with a wide variety of improvements including new, widened sidewalks, re-structured roads, contiguous bicycle lanes, pocket plazas, landscape plantings and iconic bus shelters which celebrate the City’s unique identity. The re-development of this area has served to foster community spirit by addressing the needs of West Sacramento’s residents and employee

Please join us on Wednesday evening, July 27th beginning at 5:45pm at the AIA Central Valley Chapter office for the this month's 4th Wednesday Design Dialogue (4WDD). LPAS Architecture + Design will be talking about their design and experiences with the Vegetative Green Roof at their newly constructed California State Lottery Headquarters. Curtis Owyang, Brady Smith and Dave Cubberly from LPAS will be giving the presentation and answering questions about the project and the first green roof of its kind in Sacramento. The California State Lottery Headquarters is LEED Gold Registered. Click here for the flyer. The event is FREE and open to anyone. Refreshments provided. Please RSVP to info@

Please join us on Wednesday evening, May 25th beginning at 5:45pm at the AIA Central Valley Chapter office for the this month’s 4th Wednesday Design Dialogue (4WDD). Gus Fischer, Architect and Partner with Dreyfuss & Blackford Architects will present their project, The California Independent System Operator (CA ISO) Headquarters facility. Gus will discuss how they are achieving LEED Platinum and its impact on the culture and community. This secure 275,000 SF complex on a 27 acre site is a consolidation of the organization’s operations, offices and public education components and just completed construction. The event is FREE and open to anyone. Refreshments provided. Please RSVP to info@

How can we design ‘greener’ landscapes in Sacramento?  With the growing focus on water conservation, responsible use of resources, and the impacts of the built environment on human health and well-being, the conversation about what makes a site design ‘green’ is being elevated to a higher level. From pre-design and planning through construction and operations, a new rating system, dubbed ‘SITES’, has been developed which sets the bar for what we can do to design more sustainable places.  Developed to be incorporated into future versions of the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, SITES is currently in its pilot project phase.  Please join us on Wed

In the residential sector, a building that produces as much energy as it consumes, or a Net Zero Energy (NZE) Building, is increasingly technologically viable. Yet, to achieve true scalability, these high-quality, efficient and architecturally advanced buildings must be coupled with affordability. Please join us on Wednesday Evening, Feb 23th beginning at 5:45PM at the AIACV Chapter Office for this month’s 4th Wednesday Design Dialogue (4WDD) where Shilpa Sankaran and Taeko Takagi of ZETA Communities will discuss an innovative approach to achieving affordability with offsite precision-building. The team will also present project case studies and live energy performance tracked by the DOE

Piped, paved and delivered. Well, almost. Underground work for what proponents call "Alley Activation" is complete. The Urban Design Alliance's Fourth Wednesday dialogue topic was “Delivery of the Midtown Pilot Alley.”  Guest speakers were Julie Young, co-chair of the Alley Activation Committee and Disctrict 3 City Council Member Steve Cohn. Greg Taylor of UDA and Dustin Litrell hosted the free event at the downtown office of the American Institute of Architects. The Alley Activation private/public works project has excavated the alley between 17th, 18th and L streets and Capitol Avenue. City water pipes and sewer lines have been replaced. The next step is application of permeable paver

This Wednesday's Design Dialogue will feature a presentation on the "Delivery of the Midtown Pilot Alley" by Julie Young with the Alley Activation Group and Steve Cohn, Council Member, City of Sacramento. Both Julie Young and Steve Cohn spearheaded the effort to implement a pilot project to activate the alley between 18th and 17th Streets/ L Street and Capital Ave that is currently under construction. On the 2nd year anniversary of UDA's "Imagine Alley Event", Council Member Cohn and Julie Young will present on the status of the Midtown Pilot Alley, global efforts to activate alleys, and efforts to name Sacramento's alleys. Join UDA and the AIA for a discussion and idea session on future

Please join us once again for this month’s Fourth Wednesday Design Dialogue (FWDD) as we discuss the Aspen Project with Randy Sater of Teichert Land Co. Topic: “Aspen Project” Date: Wednesday, July 28th Time: 5:30 – 7:30 PM Location: AIACV Chapter Office – Gallery, 1400 S Street (please enter on 14th Street) Info: Free Admisson Please click on the link to view the flyer

Join hosts Saxon Sigerson, AIA Arturo Levenfeld, AIA and Kris Barkley, AIA for a casual evening of design presentations and discussion centered around three examples of negative space: The Piazza San Marco in Venice; the open plaza at the Salk Institute; and Pershing Square in Los Angeles.   This topic is relevant as the City of Sacramento will soon be issuing an open design competition for recreating Capitol Mall. As the mall is the most prominent “negative” space in Sacramento it is important to achieve success with whatever solution is finally implemented.   The evening’s emphasis will be an open forum discussion of design as it relates to solutions for disparate negative spaces. Wh

Urban Design, and more specifically infill design, has become one of the most desired types of development in the central city and surrounding residential neighborhoods. With continued concerns about the city's design review process, lack of neighborhood support and a host of other issues, architects often find it challenging to fully expressing themselves through their architecture. After living and practicing architecture in Sacramento for several years, David Sarti of Flex Architecture will reframe this discussion, focusing on his "Little Red House" and discussing the opportunities created by building small, asking the question: "Why is Sacramento so slow to embrace modern Architecture

4th Wednesday Design Dialogue (FWDD) WHEN: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 ... 6-7:30 p.m. (doors open at 5:30 p.m.) WHERE: AIA Conference Room, 1400 S Street (enter from 14th Street; accessible) PRESENTER: Matthew Piner, Owner/Principal, PinerWorks Architectural & Building Group TOPIC: Integrating Climate + Form: A Valley City in Paradise ... please see attached flyer and feel free to post it in your workplace, if such posting is authorized. PROGRAM DETAILS: How do designers' and builders' responses to climate become elements of architectural form and style? Sacramento architect and green builder Matt Piner will discuss examples from local, global, and historical perspectives on certain

“What brings you to Broadway?” Greg Taylor, president of Sacramento’s Urban Design Alliance (UDA), posed this question to city planners, residents, professors and employees that attended a dialogue about Downtown’s popular Broadway held at the American Institute of Architects on Wednesday evening. Taylor answered his own question by saying that Broadway has “great urban character, great bones and great food.” Many agreed that food is Broadway’s main attraction, with popular eateries like Tower Café and Pancake Circus dotting the strip. One woman said that Broadway is a place she feels safe to spend time after hours. Others chimed in that they enjoy perusing specialty shops like R5 Reco

Sacramento Press intern Casey Kirk saw this press release and thought it might a good story for Sacramento Press to cover. I agreed. I also want to post this heads-up to anyone who might be interested. The release itself:   “Edge effect” is a term borrowed from ecology, where it refers to activity in the areas between different land uses. Broadway exhibits a degree of diversity that is similar to nature’s edge effect. On Broadway, these characteristics add up to a high-energy center that draws people from other parts of the city as well as from adjacent neighborhoods. The question of interest from an urban design perspective is: Will future development enhance or diminish Broadway’s edge