The Sacramento Chamber of Commerce Building was a $80,000 three story structure built in 1921. The building was designed by E.C. Hemmings. The terracotta features above the entrance were done by Gladden McBean and Company of Lincoln, California. The building was razed sometime in the 1970’s.
Images via Sacramento Public Library, Center for Sacramento History, SacMod ,and the Courtesy of Gretchen Steinberg.
Designed to eliminate water discharge into the Sacramento River and provide greater energy efficiency, the Central Plant at 6th and Q Streets in Sacramento provides chilled water for cooling, steam for heating and compressed air for controls to 23 existing State-owned office buildings in the downtown Capitol area. The complete project included a new facility, demolition of the existing plant built in 1968 and a new thermal energy storage.
At the time of its completion, the new facility was the most energy efficient central plant west of the Mississippi River. In addition, the design-build team’s solution provided the State with an all new campus with room for expansion, a LEED Platinum certification versus the required LEED Silver and no disruption to the existing plant’s operations during construction.
Having outgrown their location in downtown Sacramento, the Sheriff’s Department relocated their 911 operations to the Sheriff’s existing South Area Station House in Elk Grove. In the early stages of the project, Nacht & Lewis worked closely with the County and Sheriff’s Department on a two-part feasibility study. The study determined the facility’s suitability, identified its deficiencies and the improvements necessary to meet essential services requirements and transform the facility into a functional, state-of-the-art 911 communications center.
After determining that the facility was suitable for the Sheriff’s Department’s needs, over 70 percent of the building was gutted to accommodate the new 911 operations. The new operations floors, equipped with 35 call taking and dispatch workstations, are designed for controllability of lighting conditions and proper room acoustics. The equipment room provides rack space for the Sheriff’s current radio and call taking systems and expansion space for future growth. The electrical and mechanical systems were overhauled to provide redundancy. The building’s security was upgraded to increase the level of ballistic and blast resistance while maintaining the architectural character of the building.
The North Natomas Public Library is jointly used by the Natomas Unified School District and Los Rios Community College District. A part of the Natomas Educational Complex, the facility is located on a 240 acre Regional Park site that incorporates Regional Light Rail Transit, Inderkum High School and the American River College Natomas Center. The building’s plaza identifies the entry to the Educational Complex. The Library includes a gallery entrance to house community events and display projects for school and community groups. The reading room is defined by a large vaulted ceiling that allows natural daylight into the space. The facility includes shared computer labs, distance learning center, study rooms and interior and exterior meeting areas.
As a public library in a community which is aggressively adopting sustainable building practices, LEED Gold certification was achieved by incorporating many high performance features. Water and energy use reduction, regional and recycled materials, extensive construction waste management plan were the main highlight of sustainable practices adopted. Key among the sustainable features is the abundant use of controlled natural daylight through clerestory windows resulting from the “open-book” design of the main reading room.
The Giraffe Barn and Viewing Deck project was a response to the Zoo’s expanding giraffe program, which resulted in a new state-of-the-art giraffe housing and care facility and elevated viewing deck for Zoo visitors. The textures, material and details are rustic and refined with an aesthetic gesture to the color of the giraffes. The giraffe motif is reinforced by using giraffe profiles in the structural brackets at the viewing platform and on the shutters of the barn.
The design intent was to invite the Zoo visitor into the world of the giraffe by placing a viewing deck that is surrounded on three sides by the giraffe exhibit roaming area. The deck is raised and accessed by an elegant dual ramp, transitioning visitors into the expansive space and views into the giraffe’s taller world. Adults and children alike meet these incredible animals eye-to-eye, providing a hands-on and up-close experience that both raises awareness of giraffes and promotes future participation in giraffe conservation efforts.
As part of a retainer agreement with Colliers International, Nacht & Lewis continuously assists with ongoing building management services to CalPERS at their headquarters building in the heart of Downtown Sacramento. Shortly after the building opened in 2005, Nacht & Lewis began a wide variety of post occupancy work. Technical assistance with general maintenance concerns, functionality issues and space reconfigurations are all elements of the work done for the East and West building locations. Through the years, Nacht & Lewis has developed standards for future office reconfigurations and assisted in selecting a pool of qualified on-call general contractors.