Enjoy making origami cranes of many colors!
Featured
Share Center
Share Center
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Location: Salinas, CA
Year: Completed in 2021
Budget: $6,000,000
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Due to the exponential increase in unsheltered communities, the County of Monterey recognized the importance to fund an emergency shelter. WMA worked with a team of 14 members to determine the appropriate programming for the facility.
The site needed to provide a full service 24-hour day center and a separate sleeping facility for 100 guests, flexible enough to house families, women, and men. In the interest of meeting the $5 million budget and schedule due to a grant, WMA proposed a single 16,000 SF prefabricated metal building to accommodate all needs.
The result:
A day center consisting of a reception, waiting room, staff offices, staff break-room, health clinic, counseling offices, library, children’s program room, multipurpose room, dining room, and a full-service commercial kitchen for serving and training.
A site including a 27 space parking lot with mobile health van parking, dog park, pet kennels, outdoor dining, outdoor activity space, and separate children’s outdoor space.
A sleeping facility providing 100 beds. Living spaces are provided with wayfinding features and a name plate to personalize each room. A block of rooms is provided with special doors to allow staff to flip the entrance side, providing more flexibility and security for different groups (i.e. families, women, men).
Living Spaces
Front Desk
Learn + Advising
Play + Eat
Dining and Activity Space
Exterior
Construction – Dining and Activity Space
Construction – Exterior
Rendering – Dining and Activity Space
Elevations + Finish Plan
County of Monterey Public Defender
County of Monterey Public Defender
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Location: Salinas, CA
Year: Completed in 2018
Budget: $500,000
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WMA has a standing agreement with the County of Monterey and the fast track remodel of the 2nd floor from the permit center to the Public Defenders offices was a challenge. Working with the entire team; WMA reconfigured all existing furnishings, relocated lighting, added walls and designed new internal offices so that the PD could move to the new location in less than 3 months.
The County of Monterey Public Defender’s Office consisted of a tenant improvement to the 2nd floor office. Programming requirements were to add a lobby, rearrange the existing cubicles and filing cabinets, and create some collaboration spaces. The budget was extremely limited so WMA got creative with space solutions.
Removing the old filing cabinets in the hallways opened up and brightened the space. With the fabric panels of the partitions now exposed, WMA implemented colored panels as an inexpensive yet effective way to add interest to the space. New demountable glass wall systems created new spaces such as the lobby and the conference room. Special pieces of furniture were incorporated in with the existing to give a fresh look and feel.
After
After
After
Before
New Floor Plan
Existing & Demo Floor Plan
Silicon Valley Glass
Silicon Valley Glass
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Location: Morgan Hill, CA
Year: Completed in 2018
Budget: $480,000
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Remodel of existing office space including new offices, conference room, break room and work area. A great opportunity to work with Silicon Valley Glass and incorporate a complete new look and feel. This project was Design build and completed on time and on budget.
New Meeting Room
New Workspace
New Meeting Room
New Break Room – After
Break Room – Before
New Floor Plan
Existing Floor Plan
Centennial Recreation Center – Studio Addition
Centennial Recreation Center – Studio Addition
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Location: Morgan Hill, CA
Year: To be completed in 2021
Budget: $2,500,000
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The exercise room addition was so successful the City has chosen to embark on another addition to include a larger studio space for exercise classes. WMA is happy to be working with the City team on this exciting project.
This addition consists of an aerobic studio, multipurpose space, and
large double sided storage closet. Ample glazing allows for an expansive view of the landscape.
The existing and new studios connect by way of a staff storage room and open up to a shared hallway for visitors.
Interior – During Construction
Exterior – During Construction
Interior Rendering
Steel Framing
Floor Plan
Existing Building
Gilroy Center for the Arts
Gilroy Center for the Arts
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Location: Gilroy, CA
Year: Completed in 2019
Budget: $2,800,000
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With its growing popularity in downtown, Weston Miles Architects sought to transform the Gilroy Center for the Arts into a hub for the Gilroy community. The new design brings art to the outside of the building to capture the audience. Large storefronts and roll up doors provide a welcoming entrance. The interior draws in the crowd and provides a comfortable atmosphere for entertainment.
Interior Rendering
Interior Rendering
Exterior Rendering
Existing and New Floor Plan
Before
Before
San Martin Gwinn Elementary
Morgan Hill Unified called upon WMA to design two modular CHPS certified buildings, creating an additional 6 classrooms for San Martin Gwinn Elementary School. The classrooms function as the school’s Environmental Science Academy which promotes discovery through Project Based Learning encompassing mathematics, social, scientific, linguistic and scholastic disciplines. In addition to the new buildings, WMA created a new entry drive, drop off and parking lot, making the school much more functional and a whole lot safer for students!
Before
New Exterior
New Exterior
New Interior
Existing Site Plan
New Site Plan
Celebrating 36 Years
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Philosophy
Sustainability is the key to the future. As architects, we are responsible for designing projects that live lightly on the land and encourage minimal use of resources. The keys to sustainable design are simplicity of materials, use of local resources, and a view to flexible space.
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
Charles and Lesley attended the first USGBC conference in 2001 and became members. They began working with the principles, immediately developing the structure for the Los Paseos School and Community Center project toward LEED Certification.
The LEED Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Members of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) representing all segments of the building industry developed LEED and continue to contribute to its evolution. LEED was created to:
- Define “green building” by establishing a common standard of measurement
- Promote integrated, whole-building design practices
- Recognize environmental leadership in the building industry
- Stimulate green competition
- Raise consumer awareness of green building benefits
- Transform the building market
LEED provides a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting sustainability goals. Based on well-founded scientific standards, LEED emphasizes state of the art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environment quality. LEED recognizes achievements and promotes expertise in green building through a comprehensive system offering project certification, professional accreditation, training and practical resources.
More information about LEED can be found at the U.S. Green Building Council web site.
Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS)
Weston Miles Architects are members of CHPS and all Weston Miles current new school projects are going for CHPS certification.
High performance school buildings improve the indoor environment by providing cleaner air, better acoustics and natural light. They also improve the global environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. By using renewable energy in schools—such as solar power and day lighting—and by reducing energy consumption through efficient design, school districts can reduce reliance on fossil fuel sources to heat, cool, and light school buildings.
The mission of CHPS is to facilitate the design, construction and operation of high performance schools: environments that are not only energy and resource efficient, but also healthy, comfortable, well lit, and containing the amenities for a quality education.
CHPS helps facilitate and inspire change in our educational system. The goals of CHPS are to:
- Increase student performance with better-designed and healthier facilities
- Raise awareness of the impact and advantages of high performance schools
- Provide professionals with better tools to facilitate effective design
construction and maintenance of high performance schools - Increase school energy and resource efficiency
- Reduce peak electric loads
Pacific Gas and Electric Savings by Design and the Solar Program
Weston Miles has worked on numerous projects with the PG&E Savings by Design program. The opportunity is to obtain additional design assistance to build the most sustainable building possible as well as receive substantial rebates for energy savings and innovation.
The Solar program, though more complex for commercial projects, has provided a substantial opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint and receive grants to assist on the purchase of equipment. WMA used the program effectively on the Granary by adding a 16 kW system to the building that will provide at least 75% of the building’s electrical needs.
The Bay Area Green Business Program
The Bay Area Green Business Program verifies that businesses meet higher standards of environmental performance by helping local businesses comply with all environmental regulations and take actions to conserve resources, prevent pollution, and minimize waste. They provide businesses and agencies an easy-to-use framework for improving environmental performance. Over 1,600 businesses and public agencies have been certified since 1997.