Dear Members, Colleagues, and Friends of the AIARE,
We are pleased to feature our Firm Partner in this week's newsletter - Quattrocchi Kwok Architects! In addition to their amazing work and stories, we are including this week's, and next week's chapter events.
Thank you to QKA for being a long-time supporter of the Redwood Empire Chapter!
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Firm Spotlight
35 Years and a Commitment to Social Justice
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As QKA celebrates 35 years in business, we want to honor our accomplishments and further our investment in our staff and the architectural profession. Thus, we have made a commitment to discovering, acknowledging and actively improving our firm’s social justice and equity impact. Last year, QKA employees founded the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council to spearhead updates to policies and practices that ensure QKA is an equitable place to work. Among the DEI Council’s initiatives was our participation in the International Living Future Institute’s (ILFI) JUST 2.0 Program.
The JUST program is a voluntary disclosure tool in which policy statements on a number of human resource and community stewardship practices are translated into an organization’s “nutrition label”. The label, or score card, outlines 22 specific social and equity indicators within six general categories, including diversity + inclusion, equity, employee health, employee benefit, stewardship and purchasing.
As intentioned, the submission process became a catalyst for our Council’s revision of internal policies, as well as strategic plans to lead our firm in more equitable practices that benefit our employees, current and future, as well as the larger communities and systems we operate within. This has included working to set up community outreach to local schools to expose underrepresented students to careers in architecture, as well as firmwide trainings on topics such as diversity and allyship.
We wholeheartedly believe that our success in these endeavors is synonymous to the future success of QKA and desire to be realistic, transparent, honest and actionable in order to reach our goals towards building a better, more just world.
If your organization is interested in learning more about ILFI’s JUST 2.0 submission process, please reach out to Principal Mark Quattrocchi, FAIA at markq@qka.com.
Image: 35th anniversary logo and QKA team photo from a project tour of Historic Alameda High School in 2019
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Project Spotlight
Cardinal Newman High School’s New Student Life Center & Library
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We were happy to mark the occasion with Cardinal Newman High School, recently breaking ground on its new Student Life Center & Library as it continues significant rebuilding and expansion efforts following the devastating Tubbs Fire in 2017. Designed to mimic a modern college Student Union, the two-story, 24,000 square-foot building replaces the severely damaged library and media center and includes an innovation lab, digital media lab, restrooms and support spaces. Also included are an indoor cafeteria and full-service kitchen, as well as the addition of a student lounge, conference and group study rooms. The new facility is being constructed in two phases and expected to complete in Spring 2023. As designer and master planner for the school’s ongoing campus rebuild, QKA is excited to see these projects come to fruition for the students, staff and community. Read more about the new Student Life Center & Library, here.
Image: Rendering
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Project Spotlight
Sustainability-Focused Modernization of Mendocino High School
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QKA is currently working on a full modernization of Mendocino High School that will highlight energy conservation and sustainability. Set to complete in 2022, the project will transform the 1940s buildings for modern learning, including new finishes, new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, and new educational technology. Existing fossil-fuel burning boilers will be replaced with all electric systems, powered by an on-site photovoltaic array with batteries, rendering the project zero net energy (ZNE) and carbon neutral. A fitting project as the firm celebrates this milestone anniversary, Mark Quattrocchi, FAIA started his career on this same campus with Mendocino Unified School District, designing its new alternative high school in 1989.
Image: Rendering of Mendocino High School’s new Student Union
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About Quattrocchi Kwok Architects
QKA provides comprehensive master planning and design services for K-12 and higher education, historic renovation and community facilities in Northern California. With more than $2.5 billion in projects completed in its 35-year history, QKA’s award-winning portfolio reflects a commitment to design that emphasizes environmental sustainability and community impact. Building Design + Construction has recognized QKA as one of the nation’s top K-12 and BIM (building information modeling) architecture firms. Engineering News-Record has called it one of America’s top design firms. Majority employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), QKA continually lands on the North Bay Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” list. Visit qka.com to learn more.
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The Redwood Empire faces specific regional challenges in the design, implementation, and funding of various types of housing including market-driven, affordable, multi-family, veteran, senior, and ADUs. The wildfires that the region has endured within the past five years have also posed certain challenges, but not necessarily how we imagined.
The panelists, Mary Dooley of MAD Architecture and Warren Hedgpeth of Hedgpeth Architects will discuss how local architects are tackling these challenges and creating new concepts for healthy, affordable, livable environments and more fire resistant communities. This program will concentrate on design ingenuity and the healthy future of the Redwood Empire Chapter region .
Wednesday, September 1st, 12:00-1:00pm
1 LU | HSW | Virtual
AIA Members: Free | Non-members: $15
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Last Thursday of each month
August 26th, 2021
5:00 - 5:30pm PDT
We miss seeing you all, so come on into our virtual meeting space so we can check in with you.
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As we navigate this unprecedented crisis in our global community, AIA is committed to equipping our members with the information they need to help navigate these uncertain times. This page is intended to provide guidelines, policies, and tools for our members and will be updated frequently as new resources become available.
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is now being populated with virtual CE opportunities from Chapters across the state, many of which are FREE.
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We are in this together and we are here for you...AIARE is doing everything in our power to keep our membership connected + informed.
Feel free to drop us a line if you have any questions, concerns or if you just want to chat.
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Thank you to our 2021 FIRM Partners. |
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Thank you to our 2021 Network Partners. |
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Thank you to our 2021 Chapter Partners. |
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If you're already a Partner or Sponsor, we greatly appreciate your support.
Thanks for reading!
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