Oak Grove School--Grand Opening

October 9, 2009 was the Grand Opening of the new kindergarten wings, renovated playgrounds and entry improvements to Oak Grove School. Hundreds of happy children and parents were there celebrating (with ice cream) the occasion of the fun and whimsical new space for the kids. Take a look at the photos linked to the title... The Oak Grove District worked with junk-art sculptor, Patrick Amiot, to create the 'Mr. Fred' sculptor out front, and the 'Kitty' drinking fountain. Quadriga prepared the Master Plan for the school, and developed construction drawings for this first phase of improvements.

Water-wise Irrigation Practice

It's almost fall and a couple folks in our office are gearing up, with the cooler weather, by taking a landscape irrigation auditing class hosted by Ewing Irrigation. Once they pass the exam-(which I have every confidence they will), they will be Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditors. With the pending update of Assembly Bill 1881--we are tuning up our skills to help our clients use less water more efficiently. What better way to end the summer than by getting wet? And they can pass this knowledge along to the rest of us Quadrigans. Have fun Marq and John!

Diverse Projects--Interesting Browsing

While updating project lists, I've reflected on some interesting and diverse projects that we have worked on over the years. The list below has direct links to more information about these, and where they are today. Have fun browsing...

GREEN MUSIC CENTER - take the video tour!
HERITAGE HIGH SCHOOL - Best of 2006 - (go to page 6)
METRO SQUARE - 2001 Ahwahnee Award-Principals for Resource Efficient Communities
SSU COPELAND CREEK MASTER PLAN - provides direction to the University in preserving this beautiful creek that traverses the campus
SACRAMENTO CITY HALL - urban space across from Chavez Plaza
NAPA VALLEY COLLEGE PROJECTS - benefiting the Napa Valley communities: and more at NVC!
FAIR OAKS HORTICULTURAL WATER-WISE DEMONSTRATION GARDEN - open to the public: check out their workshop schedules
YOCHA DE HE ACADEMY - an educational facility for the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians
NAPA VALLEY LODGE - wine country get-away
CESAR CHAVEZ PLAZA - with Farmer's Markets and Summer Concerts
UPPER COLGAN CREEK RESTORATION - for the City of Santa Rosa-click on Appendix J

Bill Mastick-thanks!

Bill Mastick has been working night and day at Quadriga this past year, and we wanted to acknowledge him. THANKS BILL! Bill was the ‘catalyst’ that originally brought together the Quadriga partners: Marq Truscott, Philip Frankl, Jane Marx, and Bill. Bill knew, or worked with each one of us, prior to Quadriga’s formation, and the rest is history! When Bill isn’t working-out with his intense exercise regimen, or wrapping his ankles for support for long distance running, he’s at Quadriga managing the Sutter Hospital project, Green Music Center, North Village project, and the SSU University Center. Once in awhile he gets away to practice the highland bagpipes or a game of golf: Favorite local golf course: Mare Island Favorite national course: Chambers Bay Favorite Scottish course: North Berwick
Bill, hope you get that BMW motorcycle, and a day off soon….

Cosumnes River Elementary School - a story about water

Construction has begun for this 19-acre school site located along the Cosumnes River in Sloughhouse, Ca. Connecting to local water utilities was not an option in this rural area and in order to handle water needs, the school was designed to include a large well, 750,000 gallon water storage tank and a wastewater treatment facility. In this unique case, the secondary-treated wastewater was used to irrigate 3 surrounding acres of foraging habitat for Swainson's hawk mitigation. The plant species selection was a crucial part of the design of this habitat, which would receive a high volume of water during the school year and almost none during the summer months (summer dormancy). In order to serve as a habitat for the endangered Swainson's hawk, the plant species needed to be low-growing to allow ground foraging and include abundant trees for nesting. Native oaks and redbuds were included, along with a blend of California native grasses including Festuca rubra, Nassella pulchra and Bromus carinatus that were selected to not only provide habitat, but to also filter out wastewater pollutants before entering the Cosumnes River Watershed. Also unique to the project is the successful relocation of a 36" dia. heritage Valley Oak from the original location high on a hill, to the new location over 40' lower in elevation. Design team members include John Suesens and Marq Truscott.

Peninsula Station

This is a very exciting project in San Mateo with the Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition. This group has an outstanding record of providing safe, livable affordable housing. Check out their mission statement, and projects. We have enjoyed working with the staff at Mid-Peninsula, and the project design team led by Jon Worden Architects.

This project will have some very interesting outdoor rooms for the residents--with 3 stories over underground parking. We worked with the City of San Mateo and the 'Build It Green' guidelines, which was particularly challenging given that all of the landscape is on podium. Landscape features are reminiscent of Hundertwasser, the Austrian artist.

Redwood Credit Union in Santa Rosa

The new headquarters for RCU is a LEED certified project, with a beautiful water-conserving landscape. Quadriga's team of Tim Skinner and Bill Mastick worked with the Credit Union group to create this architecturally inspired design. Located on Cleveland Avenue, north of Steele Lane.

UC Davis Native American Memorial

Construction of the 'Reflective Area' was completed last month on the UC Davis campus. This installation is the first of 11 on- campus memorials planned to honor the Patwin Tribe and other Native Americans. Our Quadriga design team: Erica Drew, Shannon Sobeck and Jane Marx are extremely pleased to see this project come to life. We were honored to work with the Patwin Tribe, the University, and Far Western Archeological to create a meaningful remembrance to the people who originally inhabited the campus.

The Reflective Area is accessible, located along the Arboretum Waterway, across the path from King Hall. There is a nice view of it from the Mrak Hall Drive bridge.