Mixed-use Architecture and District-making

Mixed-Use Architecture

RIOS Ideas | Vol. 1

DESIGNING DISTRICTS

Design is Never Without Story Design is never without story.

It connects people to each other and the world around us.

Together we work beyond boundaries to reveal, explore, and invent designs that amplify experiences.

RIOS was founded in 1985 as a design collective working beyond boundaries to amplify the impact of design.

This innate understanding led to an ethos of design as a continuum, a notion that defined transdisciplinary practice and a body of work that celebrates the connection between people and place. The practice operates at the intersection of architecture, landscape, urban planning, interior design, graphics and signage, exhibit, and product design to inform design at all types and scales — from plates to parks. We believe, fundamentally, that design is better when you think inclusively about ways to solve a problem and we practice this way within our studios and interdisciplinary teams.

We are problem-solvers, innovators, and creative thinkers. This proclivity can be seen in the offshoots of RIOS, like notNeutral and Guillermo, but also in our unshakable nature as storytellers revealing the potential each project has to celebrate our diversity and humanity. Our work is irreversibly connected to the narrative of place and the complex order of human culture, creating solutions that are joyful, authentic, and unexpected.

Each project is a genuine expression of the important stories that connect us and reveal location, ecology, culture, and ethnography.

RIOS has been recognized for skill and design excellence across the broad spectrum of design disciplines, including as a finalist for the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for landscape architecture, and as Firm of the Year by the California Council of the American Institute of Architects. Our consistent body of unique design work and our redefinition of the boundaries of design practice has also led to numerous national and local AIA and ASLA awards, as well as recognition for graphics, interiors and furniture design. Our work has been featured in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Architecture, Architectural Record, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture and Metropolis.

We treat the design intent and execution for every project as a solution unique to each client and to their programmatic requirements. Our clients often actively participate in the creative process. This client-focus has allowed us to produce a consistently high quality body of work which displays a stylistic range as broad as our client list.

Designing Districts: Principles Lincoln Heights Jail festival street

The following principles are vital to successful district-making. They help to compose places that are rich in character, culture, and social life while being unique and identifiable places in the world.

Echo Street West central courtyard

Flower Mart Market Hall entry

Columbia Square

Lincoln Heights Jail amphitheater

➊ Community and Connections Each community has qualities—physical, cultural, vernacular, historical—that provide its context. The community is built on these visible and invisible connections, which are important considerations in any design. As we look at connections to infrastructure or culture or public space, we are mindful of how design contributions will relate to the surroundings and consciously improve the neighborhood and public realm by its presence.

➋ Program Assemblage Districts are magnetic fields, forces of attraction that draw people in search of an authentic experience and human activity. Diverse programmatic components that are balanced and synergistic are the organizing elements—from dining and drinking, to independent retail and entertainment, to creative workplace, and multifamily residential.

Successful districts are a convergence of the many things that create vibrancy, distinction and identity. The mixture of uses overlap and accumulate, giving rise to gathering and the presence of more people and life in the public realm. This continuous cycle of occupation and use of public space adds a sense of safety and security through eyes and ears on the street, as well as fueling the amenities economically.

➌ Immersive Experience, Placemaking and Identity A sense of place created by the unique mixture of form, program, and experience are at the heart of why people seek out districts to gather, work, live, or visit. We ensure that diverse visual interest is integrated into the design, layered through architecture, landscape, and experiential graphics for unique visual impact, variety, and immersive experience.

From the entire public realm, to the more intimate moments, we orchestrate an experience for the individual, or the collective, that establishes a specific identity of place. This is what we call placemaking—the magic that exists in harnessing the tangible and intangible qualities of a place through experiences that make it attractive, memorable, and worth coming back to over and over again.

Designing Districts: Strategies

The design of a successful district requires a combination of invention and experience, pragmatism and adventure, held together by a disciplined, thoughtful process. Our layered strategies include the following: Begin at the beginning.

Start simple.

First, we must define the problem and the desired outcome. This sounds simple, and often it is. However, if we investigate and develop the definition of a project and its feasibility from a business context, or a political context, or a community context, in which there is no prior specific outcome required, then we are missing an opportunity.

Starting at the beginning also allows us to design the process through which to develop the project, whether that includes extensive public or stakeholder outreach, or code and zoning analysis, or cost and program analysis. Through research, experience, and inquiry we can develop the outlines of a vision and its feasibility for bringing that vision to life.

Solving the problem is more effective when the problem is fully defined.

Using the simple building blocks of urban spaces—streets, plazas, gardens, yards, and building blocks that are appropriately scaled—we create a basic planning framework to best connect the new district into the existing community through a network of spaces and places that orchestrate the hierarchy of spaces and buildings into a singular experience. We use urbanistic strategies such as compression and release, contrast, and formal hierarchy— all informed by a deep knowledge of precedents and disciplines as well as experience with this scale of design.

Understand the Place.

We aim to fully comprehend the community and place that we are creating in the world by understanding all the factors that shape its identity.

The cities and places where we create districts are usually complicated. There are myriad technical and legal issues to consider: infrastructures; codes; historic resources; community politics; etc.

We know how to ask the appropriate questions to move the ideas forward without getting mired in unnecessary info or missing an opportunity to explore further.

Create variety, not just a project.

Large scale singular and monolithic expressions do not allow for the variety and richness of identities, uses, and scales that are needed to create a unique and attractive sense of place.

Differences in the environment provide cues that allow us to read the uses and denote the circulation that is needed to experience a district in a meaningful and positive way. Solid verses void, tall verses short, stout verses thin, dark verses light, minimal verses elaborated, decorated in many and varied ways—these are all tactics that create difference, clarity, and experiential richness and hierarchy.

Create a unique identity.

Identity comes from differences in buildings expressions, scales, and sequence of spaces. These differences are key to placemaking. We build on the authentic variety of expressions that exist within the narrative of the place and both its existing and newly defined program elements and activities. When we give variety and difference to the buildings and places, we allow visitors to read the richness of the overall composition and connect it with the story of the existing community and environment. Differences are nuanced and deep, and they evolve naturally out of program, urban position, and sitespecific analyses. We look at history and culture, location and context, and amplify threads of that narrative to make unique places.

Shape the figure and the ground.

As we develop the design of a district we are thinking about the overall massing of the environment, and each building within it, so that we clearly articulate circulation, destinations, and activities.

We are actively shaping the ground plane and the buildings above using expressions that reflect the identity of the community being created. We prioritize pedestrian activity in spaces that are visible and accessible to the street or on the street, such as retail, restaurants, and other amenities. After we’ve established a critical mass around the intensity of ground level activity, we turn our focus to upper level exterior spaces that can be sprinkled throughout to enhance the more private experiences of working or living in the district and create a dynamic dialogue between active spaces.

Understand the pieces and the whole.

We think about the entire picture.

Our experience designing individual buildings and landscapes informs our thinking about the complete site at a master planning level. We know how big real places are, how they can and cannot be related to each other, and what other connections and support they need to work in the real world. We let these experiences inform the differences and distinctions that we use to orchestrate the variety we bring to each district we design. Places should be immersive, but comprised of singular moments that give variety, interest, and changing experiences based on each interaction.

Anticipate growth and change.

Often, a district is large enough that it is built over a period of time. This conscious phasing may be a matter of market absorption and phasing the district so that it matches the market growth, or it may be a matter of existing owners or tenants not being able to be relocated initially. We have developed an understanding of phasing strategies and market growth, and how they relate to things like transit and parking strategies. When necessary, we are versed in activating a site even before a project is fully developed with temporary or landscape-oriented uses. We envision a district and its place in the world growing over time and we give it space to evolve.

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Selected Projects Our ideas come to life through collaboration with our clients.

The following projects represent some of our rewarding partnerships.

Synchronizing Culture and H

g History Originally built in 1985 as one of the world’s first outdoor shopping malls, the revitalization of Horton Plaza into a thriving retail destination redefines its position as a central heart of the San Diego community.

Horton Plaza Location San Diego, CA

Size 1,200,000 sq. ft.

Services Provided Master Planning Architecture Landscape Architecture Interior Architecture Experiential Graphic Design

Program Creative Office Retail Public Plaza Sustainability

Opening the ends

Horton Plaza was built in 1985 as one of the first outdoor malls in architectural history.

It stands on 6.5 city blocks with 800,000 square-feet of existing mall space. By turning the mall typology inside out, the development became a new central heart to the San Diego community. Today, this iconic landmark is transforming into a center for discovery, this time for the creative professional.

Instigated by the reuse of obsolete spaces, Horton Plaza is poised to redefine the next chapter of creative office. The revitalization will add 400,000 square-feet of office and retain 100,000 square-feet of retail, equating to over 1.2 million square-feet of built space when it is complete in 2023.

s to the city

Opening to daylight

Green Canyon

The United States' largest adaptive reuse project takes advantage of embodied carbon by re-using the existing structure, while introducing new sustainable features within the buildings and landscape features. Targeted certifications include Net Zero Carbon for the office program, LEED Platinum, and WELL Building status. The development will integrate extensive use of daylighting, a passive solar facade for the high-rise, solar energy - featuring the largest photovoltaic microgrid West of the Mississippi - a fully electric central plant, and blackwater and greywater reuse systems.

Horton Plaza is home to the largest blackwater treatment system, saving 7.5 million gallons of water annually.

Existing

New

At the groundplane, existing hardscape is retrofitted with the introduction of permeable softscaping and sustainable features like stormwater filtration and shade trees. By reducing what is currently 100% hardscape to become 50% softscape, this next evolution of the mall diminishes the urban heat island effect while creating over 1-acre of green-space for residents and local workers to enjoy.

A Powerful Arrange

l ement The urban mixed-use campus of the Flower Mart brings together the best elements of Silicon Valley and San Francisco in one unique locale.

San Francisco Flower Mart Location San Francisco, CA

Size 2,300,000 sq. ft.

Services Provided Master Planning Architecture Landscape Architecture

Program Creative Office Retail Public Plaza Parking

Above Overall project site showing market alley and public plazas activated by a public farmers’ market Left Pedestrian connectivity within the district and beyond

Office

Flower Market

Retail + Restaurants

Pedestrian Circulation Entrances

An Iconic New District The San Francisco Flower Mart rises vertically, with retail and workplace elements that slip harmoniously into the scale of the cityscape. The built form of the project is defined by three primary elements: the Market Hall, Blocks, and Gateway Building.

Each building is tailored to its precise function and position within the overall composition of the project.

The project is conceived as a new icon in San Francisco, characterized not only by the bold architectural geometries of its buildings, but also by the lush native gardens crowning the structures, thereby extending the identity of the Flower Mart out to the city at large.

Lifting Up The project has been designed to allow the city to flow into the site effortlessly. It creates a profusion of human scaled urban environments at grade. The roofscapes will be a natural and densely planted environment in which to seek respite.

A Diversity of Experiences Different building configurations (bar building, interconnected blocks, towers, and plazascapes) will provide for a variety of environments for daily users. This quality will allow the project to fuse into the cityscape and promote the vitality of the project in the long-term.

Growing The Flower Mart The improved wholesale Flower Mart forms the core of the project, operating in an efficient and modernized new space.

Connected to the Flower Mart, a new Market Hall supports the public interface of the market through curated retail floral spaces. In addition to the floral program, the Market Hall will house smaller neighborhood-servicing retail spaces. Local artisanal food and beverage spaces will sit next to smaller retail spaces.

Right Eye-level view through ‘oculus’ breezeway from Brannan Street, the oculus separates the Market Hall building to allow more porosity into the site’s public areas

SF FLOWER MART PROJECT POPOS

SPECIAL EVENT OVERVIEW

Below Project site plan showing market alley and public plazas activated by a public farmers’ market

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New Wholesale Flower Market Gateway Office Building Market Hall Food Hall Brannan Plaza Market Alley Retail Shops Oculus Breezeway 5th Street Plaza Community Dog Park Office Mid-Rise Lobby

A Creative Destination in The SOMA District The buildings are all tightly integrated through landscape elements—native rooftop gardens, public plazas, and people-centered markets—in order to set the new standard of responsible, sustainable urban development in San Francisco. By sensitively incorporating the multiple uses that define the SOMA district into a synchronized whole, the Flower Mart will build on the legacy of the area and set the stage for the continued development of the city.

Above View of the district from corner of 5th Street and Brannan Street, showing primary entry and signage Top Right Views of Market Hall along Brannan Street showing entry to public Brannan Plaza Right Aerial view down the Market Alley, the district’s prominent public thoroughfare

Urban Assemb

blage The Exchange defines public space for San Francisco’s Mission Bay through a series of active urban spaces located three dimensionally throughout the project.

The Exchange on 16th Location San Francisco, CA Services Provided Master Planning Architecture Landscape Architecture Environmental Graphics

Size 750,000 sq. ft.

3.2 acres Program Creative Office

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Office Building Office Tower Terrace

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Exchanging Ideas Breaking the scale into four interconnected structures allows each building to posses a specific character and enables the lower floors to feature contiguous spaces as large as 90,000 sq. ft. Each structure takes cues from the surrounding environment to define massing set backs at the connections between buildings to allow more viewpoints to the natural site features and to the city, bay, and hills beyond.

Above Primary view of project from corner of 16th and Owens Top Left Aerial view of project showing unique massing and articulation among the volumes Center Left View of project along Owens Bottom Left Site plan showing gardens, amenity decks, and plazas tucked within the massing

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An Exemplary Citizen The Exchange is located in Mission Bay, formerly a ship-building district that is now a vibrant neighborhood rapidly emerging as one of the most coveted areas in San Francisco.

The area is admired for its interesting mix of residential and retail amenities. This 750,000 square-foot office development is designed around a series of public spaces and is expressed as four adjacent structures filling the whole urban block—two, 6-story buildings and two, 12-story towers.

The Exchange’s distinct location makes it one of the first major buildings that drivers on Interstate 280 see as they arrive in San Francisco, making it a symbol for the entire city.

Top Left Access points for various modes of arrival Above Mission Bay’s history as a ship building district Top Right View of the articulated facade of the primary entrance to the development Bottom Right View of project from west, showing the presence of the development as viewed from I-280

Building footprint and maximum envelope

Lower adjoining buildings create amenity decks

Add connective blocks and insert microplazas

Extend micro plazas create differentiated zones

Integrated Throughout At the street level The Exchange creates a fluid outdoor village with deep courtyards, bike plazas, and gardens activated by 15,000 square feet of retail and amenities. This project has been designed to bring active urban spaces to the Mission Bay neighborhood. By articulating the building mass to be responsive to the site adjacencies and synchronizing the resulting spaces to the creation of public destinations, this development prioritizes public space as well as user experience with pocket parks and plazas that cater to the building’s tenants as well as passers-by.

The LEED-Platinum design features vast, light-filled open office space that comes to life through framed views, glimpses of adjacent buildings, and rooftop gardens with remarkable views of San Francisco City and Bay.

Left Lush roof parks and plazas are integrated with architectural elements to extend the workplace into the outdoors Above Formative diagram showing how outdoor space was integrated into the architectural massing

BUILDING AS D

DISTRICT Front Street Tower offers the dual experience of being in a lively downtown metropolitan area with the respite of an elevated garden.

Front Street Tower Location San Diego, CA

Size 830,000 sq. ft.

Services Provided Architecture Landscape Architecture

Program Office Retail Parking

A number of restrictions on the site contribute to the generation of the building form.

Site Planning A 40-foot setback from the adjacent Sofia Hotel, a landmark within the city of San Diego, provides an opportunity for light and air to access the project. It also creates a meaningful mid-block connection from First to Front Street. Additionally, the San Diego Fault line runs through the property, minimizing the buildable footprint for the project. Cantilevering the lower third of the tower is a valuable strategy to recapture buildable area reduced by the presence of the fault line.

At grade, the project prioritizes an energetic urban experience, integrating the retail, office entry, hotel lobby, and porte cochere.

At the upper levels, the variation of plate sizes allows for optimum office and parking needs. This tower configuration is specifically tuned for flexibility and planned for various uses at different phases of the project. Amenity decks are implemented to take advantage of the structural and zoning requirements.

The new creative office workplace is characterized by an adjacency to nature and its ease of access. The tower’s façade is optimized to address sensitive issues, such as the energy code and unwanted visibility into adjacent buildings, while providing as many views to the city as possible.

Above View of project within its urban context Right Site planning and form generation diagrams

The Site

Maximum Envelope

The San Diego Fault

Setback from Sofia Hotel

Recapture Area

Create Vertical Gardens

Office Retail Parking

Optimize Façade

Program Allocation

Office, Alternate Program: Residential

Amenity Deck

Amenity Deck

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Amenity Deck

Parking Garage; Increased FF height for stackers for future office conversion Porte Cochere

Retail

Parking Garage

Above View of amenity decks as social spaces Left Building perspective-section

Social Space A conventional office tower concentrates the building’s social spaces to the ground level, creating large lobbies that are mostly used for circulation and left vacant. Contrary to the conventional approach, this project seeks to rethink this typology by diffusing the social space throughout the building. This reallocation brings nature to the workplace, providing meaningful amenities and promoting overall wellness.

Conventional Office Tower

Diffusing Social Space

A Vertical Community

Outdoor Space The desire for today’s professional workplace is to have an adjacency to nature and flexibility for a variety of uses. The design of the Front Street Tower is fine-tuned to allow for open space planning, while still permitting a typical office configuration if desired. This project departs from the typical office tower by diffusing elevated garden decks throughout the building, providing easy access to outdoor space from the office.

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Entry Plaza Retail Office Lobby Garden Plaza Existing Sofia Hotel

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A Hollywoo Vi

ood ision Columbia Square is a critical part of the revitalization of Hollywood, bringing television media into a dynamic hub for creative office, dining, and modern living.

Columbia Square Location Los Angeles, CA

Size 668,000 sq. ft.

Services Provided Architecture Landscape Architecture Environmental Graphics Urban Design Historic Preservation

Program Creative Offices Residential Parking

Connectivity - Urban Campus

Views - Skyline Markers

Landscape - Cultural Canyon

Building Off Historic - Porches + Porticos

A Public Network Originally the West Coast headquarters of CBS, Columbia Square occupies an entire city block in the center of Hollywood.

The mixed-use development adds three new creative office buildings, a high-rise residential building, and retail establishments.

The development is tied together via a network of public open spaces inspired by the landscape of the canyons above the site.

The result is a unifying pedestrian experience with varied places for gathering, working, and enjoying the spectacular outdoor environment of Southern California.

Above Concept building diagrams of district-making Top Right Bird’s-eye view of District from southwest, depicting its relation to the Hollywood hills Bottom Right Eye-level view of the District from Sunset Blvd

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Dynamic Square The campus’ plan, which is interconnected with the surrounding neighborhood, embraces the site’s history while it guides the way forward for this area of Hollywood. The new Columbia Square reuses historic studio spaces as well as storefronts, and creates new bungalow offices, all as part of the broader strategy of supporting a wholly collaborative, creative industry campus.

The scope of work for RIOS as design architect included master planning, architectural design of new office buildings, design of the new 200-unit residential tower, landscape architecture, site furniture, and signage.

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Radio Building Tower Building Studio A El Centro Office Building Residential Tower Selma Office Building Gower Building Studio B/C Business Building

Above Project site plan showing enhanced activated plazas and landscape integration Right Views through the activated plaza corridor

Seamless Transitions Visitors following the path north through the site encounter a smoothly transitioning sequence of buildings, vistas, and landscape elements. Several grade-level changes are deftly mitigated through the landscape design and planning, including the addition of an assembly stair, providing fluid access to the parking podium that also climbs the site.

The two-story former radio building, five-story 1938 Art Deco building, and original studio space—along with a three-story former business building—were renovated for ground-floor retail and restaurant space. These low-rise buildings meet the main boulevard with a pedestrian scale, acting as deep transition to the taller offices beyond.

Top Left View into one of the social transitioning sequences: an assembly stair Bottom Left View from Sunset Blvd featuring an airy palm tree canopy reminiscing the original courtyard drive Below View from the anchoring south end garden facing Sunset Blvd

Refined

Grit ROW DTLA incorporates 100 years of Los Angeles history into an ambitious 21st-century commercial district linking downtown to L.A.’s burgeoning arts district.

ROW DTLA Location Los Angeles, CA

Size 30 acres

Services Provided Architecture Landscape Architecture Interior Design Environmental Graphics Urban Design

Program Creative Office Retail / F&B Parking

A century ago, this site was the terminus of the Southern Pacific Railroad, a hub of a different kind, where goods were unloaded from railroad cars, loaded onto trucks, and delivered across Southern California.

Permanating Industrial Market Row is the district’s high-end shopping street, punctuated by pleasant gardens for relaxing and people-watching.

Dock Street remains open to deliveries in the early morning, but during the rest of the day, its dock-height sidewalks become ROW’s dining terrace. Casual grandstand seating encourages lingering.

The existing 7th Street Produce Market, where L.A.’s bodegas have long sourced their fruits and vegetables, remains largely unchanged in this new urban area, serving as a vivid reminder of the area’s historic origins.

Above Bird’s-eye view of the historical site Top Right View of one of the colorful plazas for relaxing and people-watching Right Variation and a light touch enhances the wayfinding experience

Interventions At the southwest corner of the site, a cascading rooftop park appropriates a more recent addition: a 10-story 4,000-space parking garage. We enveloped its walls with greenery and laminated the ground floor with retail to bring a pedestrian scale to the entire structure. It’s emblematic of our landscape approach to the entire site, which encourages nature to gradually encroach on the old industrial site, hearkening back to an even earlier, pre-industrial era.

Green Connections

Art Intervention

Architecture Intervention

Flexible Program

Right A layered green facade on top of the multi-colored garage exterior enhances it’s environment Below An elegant slatted corner marks the garage entry Bottom Right View of the activated plaza corridor known as “The End”

Top Left The redesigned lobbies are distinguished by wood patterns that evoke wood pallets Center Left A cascading green facade at the parking garage layers with pedestrian experiences to reinforce wayfinding Bottom Left Storefront enhanced by authentic industrial materials and wayfinding graphics Above View into Historical corridor enhanced with landscape serving as a reminder of its historic produce origins

Embracing a Historic Character RIOS’ design reimagines the 30-acre campus by embracing its historic character. Through the use of industrial materials and raw utilitarian details, the design transforms ROW’s long rows of warehouse-style buildings into 1.3 million square feet of creative office space. Over 100 unique retail stores and 30,000 square feet of space for the arts (including dedicated space for street art) enlivens the complex at all hours of the day and night.

The branding at ROW DTLA is carefully integrated to respect the history of the place, using industrial elements, art, and signage to create memorable moments and wayfinding throughout the multi-use development.

Revive, Reinv Refram

vigorate, me Integrating with existing urban patterns and landscapes to rediscover the natural context.

Echo Street West Location Atlanta, GA Services Provided Master Planning Architecture Landscape Architecture Environmental Graphics

Size Site: 16 acres Office & Retail: 262,000 sq. ft.

Program Creative Office Retail Residential Public Plaza

Transformation as Evolution The natural landscape on the project site and surroundings has been disturbed and re-forested, constantly reinventing itself and rebuilding on top of its previous conditions—a process which in ecological terms is called succession. The urban fabric has morphed from residential to industrial uses before being largely abandoned, allowing for the opportunity to identify and capitalize upon the local character.

Design for the different disciplines has been focused on the recognition of artifact as an asset and artifice as an object introduced into the local setting to slowly integrate and ultimately become an artifact, as well. A sense of place on those terms is predicated on the attitude to revive the local conditions of the place, using as much of the natural and built resources and artifacts to be re-placed, rather than replaced.

Above Main aerial view of the project Right Concept diagrams showing the urbanistic succession of the site

Agricultural / Rural

Industrial

Urban

Left Multi-family residential program above retail, overlooking the Beltline extension Below View of the office building from ‘The Woodlands’

Atlanta Regional Map

Project site and adjacent neighborhoods

Site Beltline Trail

Flexible Creative Office The main office building picks up cues from the evolving pre-urban gestures of past streets, railways, and structures, and proceeds to extrapolate those into a typology that has traditionally been used to mitigate topographical challenges.

Beltline Spur Interstate MARTA

The open floor plan allows for multiple ways of populating the office space, giving flexibility to the tenants to grow or adapt the space according to their specific needs.

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Elevated Porches Trustle Structure Art Tunnel Smokestacks Gable Roof

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Beltline Extension Retail Corridor Multi-Family Over Ground Floor Retail Plaza Woodlands Creative Office

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Commercial / Office Central Courtyard Activation Zone / Future Phase Pedestrian Bridge

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Above The central courtyard is activated by building tenants and the general public coming together to support the local retail or to gather for special events Left Project district site plan

Public Spaces The project is located along a spur trail of the Atlanta Beltline path, a reclaimed urban infrastructure development. A close study of Atlanta-specific southern porches is deployed in the forms of raised restaurant decks and social seating steps at anchor retail areas.

The structures are organized within and around outdoor spaces at a variety of contexts, ranging from the street-facing and public plazas to more visually protected outdoor amenities geared toward leasing tenants. The central courtyard over the parking deck in the commercial office parcel, while dedicated to casual working and socializing uses for tenants, is accessible to the general public. Built and planted elements work together to frame different scales of assembly and guide the experience around and even through the buildings.

Embracin Cha

ng aracter Embracing the character of the historic One NoMa Station in D.C. through responsive massing and sensitive materiality.

Bristol NoMa Location Washington, D.C.

Size 1,180,000 sq. ft.

Services Provided Master Planning Architecture Landscape Architecture

Program Retail Office Residential

Above Aerial view from southwest showing the office terracing, with the water tower and Metro in the background Left One of multiple lush plazas Top Right Site diagram showing program organization and main site connections around Bristol NoMa Center Right Aerial view showing relationship to U.S. Capitol Bottom Right Massing generative diagrams for the office and residential buildings

Site Diagram Site Design Principles M

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1ST STREET

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M ST NE

Bus Stop Metro Station Property Line Bike Lane Bus Route Metro Branch Trail

ONE NOMA

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L ST NE

L ST NE

UNION STATION

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Bristol NoMa Station 04/24/19

(In) Filling a Need Understanding the shortage of residential and retail to serve the many offices in the area, RIOS maximized development on the site both in area and in diversity of program.

The massing of the buildings was driven by the goal of seamForm Form Generation Generation OffOff iceneighborhood ice lessly integrating with the context­­—ground floor corners were carved away for public spaces, terracing and bridges in the office were composed to maintain views of the Water Tower and Capitol Building.

Form Generation Office

Massing Massing based based on Allowable on Allowable Heights Heights / Setbacks / Setbacks

Carve Carve out Courtyard out Courtyard / Adjust / Adjust for Off forice OffDepths ice Depths

Form Generation Residential

Massing based on Allowable Heights / Setbacks

Carve out Courtyard / Adjust for Office Depths

Carve Out Courtyard

Create Create “Meaningful “Meaningful Connection” Connection”

Create “Meaningful Connection”

Slope/Step Slope/Step Rooftops Rooftops to Relate to Relate to Context to Context

10 Bristol 10 Bristol NoMa NoMa Station Station 04/24/19 04/24/19

Massing based on Allowable Heights / Setbacks

Form Generation Residential

Create “Meaningful Connection”

Step Rooftops to Relate to Context

Carve out Courtyard / Adjust for Residential Depths

Slope/Step Rooftops to Relate to Context

10 Bristol NoMa Station 04/24/19

Massing based on Allowable Heights / Setbacks

Carve out Building Entry / Create Public Space

Carve out Courtyard / Adjust for Residential Depths

Carve Out Courtyard

Modulate Building Facade / Daylight Interior Corridor

Tune Height to One NoMa

Tune Height to One NoMa

Carve out Building Entry / Create Public Space

Carve Out Public Space at Entry

12 Bristol NoMa Station 04/24/19

Modulate Building Facade / Daylight Interior Corridor

Modulate Facade

Tune Height to One N

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Being A Good Neighbor Instead of walling off the site as its own self-sustaining district, the project embraces the natural pedestrian thoroughfare created by the future Park and existing Metro Station on either side. The Elevated Birch Walk welcomes transit riders to a moment of respite in the middle of all the urban stimulation.

The Community Commons and Neighborhood Plaza invite the community programming such as farmer’s markets, movie nights, and live performances.

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One NoMa Community Commons Residential Residential Amenity Space Outdoor Dining Neighborhood Plaza Office Co-working Space Elevated Birch Forest Walk

Above Project site plan showing activated ‘in-between’ spaces that are treated as main thoroughfares and destinations Top Right View of Neighborhood Plaza welcoming the community Far Right One of multiple activated plazas Right Site diagram showing the permeability of the massing that invite visitors into the site

A Vibrant Transfo

ormation Downtown Commons (DOCO) creates a new focal point at the center of downtown Sacramento.

Sacramento Downtown Commons Location Sacramento, CA

Size 590,000 sq. ft.

Services Provided Architecture Landscape Architecture Experiential Graphic Design

Program Retail Event Space Office Hotel Residential

Urban Stitching Our master plan knits together a new mixed-use tower, 1 Golden Center—the new arena for the Sacramento Kings’ basketball team—and an urban plaza that connects the new development to the former shopping mall, which is also transformed as part of the plan.

Above Aerial view over Golden 1 Arena showing the backdrop of Downtown Sacramento Bottom Left Generative massing diagrams Top Right Diagram showing the project creating porosity and stitching into its urban context

Midblock Podium Split

Separate Massing

Orientation & Difference

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Arena Public Plaza Retail / Commercial Existing Retail

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Residential

Private Activated by Views

Hotel

Office

Retail Event

Public Activated by Events

Vertical Districting The tower features first and second floor retail and restaurants, hotel amenities on floors two and three, office space for the Kings on the fourth floor, 250 hotel rooms on floors 5-11, and residential units on floors 12-16.

To be contextual with the surrounding cityscape, each program within the tower is given a distinct look. Horizontal breaks between the program elements combined with offsets in the massing help break down the scale and create rooftop terraces.

Within the tower, a glass-enclosed lobby level separates the residential units on the top floors from the hotel in the middle.

Another deck on the fifth floor distinguishes the hotel from the tier of office space below it.

Above Interior view of hotel lobby showing the concept of layering even in the interior design Top & Bottom Left Diagram and building section showing vertical organization of the program Left View from pedestrian bridge from the southeast, showing how program influenced the expression of each element

Connective Ground Texture A breezeway along the ground floor allows pedestrians to walk straight through the building from J Street to the central plaza via a soaring grand lobby. A porte-cochere graciously welcomes automobile traffic. The upper level terraces, pool deck, and gardens are the ideal perch for pre-game events and overlooking programming on the plaza.

Above View of the main plaza activating the space between DOCO and the Arena Top Right View from hotel upper levels onto lower terraces and the main plaza Bottom Right View of the ground floor breezeway that cuts through the project and invites visitors from J Street into the main plaza

Los Angeles 3101 West Exposition Place Los Angeles, CA 90018 Austin 1711 E. Cesar Chavez St, Suite B Austin, TX 78702 Portland 2505 SE 11th Avenue, Suite 310 Portland, OR 97202 Boulder 1980 8th Street Boulder, CO 80302 London 68-80 Hanbury Street London E1 5JL, UK Singapore 1 Keong Saik Road The Working Capitol Singapore 089109 323. 785. 1800 RIOS.com