Siegel & Strain Architects is honored to receive an AIA San Francisco Community Alliance Award, the Firm Achievement Award, given in recognition of "outstanding contributions to the community, advancement of the profession, and for producing distinguished architecture." The AIA San Francisco Community Alliance Awards celebrate the accomplishments of its awards recipients and the nonprofit community to make San Francisco and Northern California a beautiful, affordable, and resilient place for all.
Pioneers of the architectural sustainability movement, Siegel & Strain Architects was recognized for innovative, beautiful architecture, sustainable design, and historic preservation and research, acknowledging that places designed to support and build community, can also respond to site and climate and achieve high levels of environmental stewardship.
Siegel & Strain designs many different types of projects, all with resilience and sustainability that reflect client missions and goals. The firm, founded in 1985, has consistently excelled in integrating sustainability and research into their work, setting new standards for the larger community of architects.
Specific to the Firm Achievement Award, most Siegel & Strain projects in the last decade have involved many different types of communities — towns, neighborhoods, schools, camps and parks — projects for groups of people who come together daily, weekly, annually as a community.
"We are honored to receive this award in recognition of the work we do for many different kinds of communities," commented Henry Siegel, Siegel & Strain co-founder. "I think this award is more about the breadth of Siegel & Strain community projects, and the depth of our sustainable design efforts. We have invested our resources heavily over the years in those projects that benefit communities and environments where people gather."
Siegel referred specifically to Siegel & Strain projects for towns: Portola Valley Town Center, Yountville Town Center, Orinda City Hall, Brisbane Library; other community serving designs: Bayer Park, McClellan Ranch Environmental Education Center, and the Redwoods National and State Parks Visitor Center. The firm has also left its mark in learning communities and schools, including projects such as the Bishop O'Dowd Center for Environmental Studies, the Hamlin School, Vincent Academy, the Dwight Early Childhood Development Center at UC Berkeley, UC Berkeley Hillel, and the Maritime Child Development Center. Siegel & Strain is also proud to have worked with many environmental education and camp communities including the National Environmental Science Center in Yosemite National Park, Camp Arroyo Environmental Education Camp, Camp Newman, the Wilshire Boulevard Temple Camps, and Camp Bothin.
The Community Alliance Awards recognizes individuals, firms, and organizations for their contributions to enriching the quality of life in the Bay Area through their commitment to design excellence. Now in its second year, the awards jury consisted of Shalini Agrawal, Director at CCA's Center for Art and Public Life; Michael S. Bernard, AIA, Founder of Virtual Practice Consulting; Susie Coliver, Principal at Herman Coliver Locus Architecture; and Patrick Otellini, Chief Resilience Officer at City and County of San Francisco. Recipients will be honored at a breakfast event in San Francisco on December 9, 2016.
