Mock/Wallace has just completed the Design Development Phase of the renovation of the UA Homes SRO in Berkeley.  We prepared this animation walk-through to help our clients visualize how the design will appear.  Although "rough" it gives a remarkable sense of being in the building. 

This San Francisco Victorian dates from the 1880's and has been restored  with Victorian detailing in the formal spaces and with contemporary fixtures and detailing in the bathrooms and kitchens.  Where original details were missing, authentic pieces were recreated. 

Click here to see more photos of the interiors and garden.

The bridge over Kearny Street leading from the Portsmouth Square Plaza in Chinatown  to the Chinese Cultural Center in the Hilton Hotel on the east side of street was an attempt to encourage pedestrian traffic and tie the two points together.   The bridge never succeeded and this feasibility study was an attempt by the Chinese Cultural Center to obtain funding to do something to enliven the bridge and encourage traffic.

On January 26, 2012, the Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board approved our plans for the renovation of 1040 University Avenue in Berkeley.  The 73 unit 1920's era building is owned by Resources for Community Development, non-profit housing developers located in Berkeley.

Long neglected and fallen into disrepair with boarded up storefronts, porn theathers, and desparate homeless souls, mid-Market Street is starting to look up.  Mock/Wallace has been working with clients who had faith is this part of town and have invested in the improvement of the mid-Market area. 

This Mock/Wallace project is actually two buildings that have merged into one with a re-configured facade. The building houses the International Art Museum of America. A grand opening is scheduled this month. Click here for a map of the mid-Market area.

These are the steps to a new rooftop deck on Russian Hill with a panoramic view of San Francisco Bay.  It features a complete outdoor kitchen and lounging area.  Click here for more photos. 

I'm always driving or walking down Dore Alley as I come and go from the Mock/Wallace Office on Bryant Street.  Over the year's I've noticed this large grey building with an apartment on the roof.  I always thought the building itself, although simple, was nicely detailed with more finesse than what you would expect from other industrial buildings.  Sometimes when the large sliding doors are open you can see into the workspace and see that it is a scultpure studio.  The sculptor  Flectcher Benton has been at this location for as long as our office has been on Bryant Street.  Every once in a while, I'll catch them loading a new sculpture onto a flatbed truck to be sent off.

 This studio reminds me of the large sculpture studio Mock/Wallace designed for another metal scuptor, Robert Ellison near Penngrove, CA. 

The Robert Ellison studio was also a live-work space and was a pre-fabricated metal building. 
It's located on the top of a mountain with views overlooking the valley below.  Some of his large steel structures dot the expansive grounds. LM

If you went to Lowell High School in 1950’s, you may fondly remember going to sock hops in the old gymnasium and being a classmate of Stephen Breyer  (Class of 1955) who is now a Justice of the US Supreme Court.  Lowell High School was later moved to a new location in 1962 and the school buildings became part of the City College of San Francisco system and is now called the John Adams Campus.

Linda Squires Grohe is Dean of the School of Health and Physical Education at John Adams and was particularly interested in reclaiming the gymnasium back to its former use as a physical education facility.  She also needed more classrooms for her programs.  The building needed structural work to meet current earthquake standards.  To strengthen the building, we worked with our structural consultant Tennebaum Manheim Engineers to incorporate shear walls in existing window openings.

Because we knew that this building was important to many San Franciscans, we didn’t want the new shear walls to look awkward with the old building.  We looked at a number of cosmetic solutions, including such things a reinstalling the old metal windows with translucent glass in front of the concrete wall, creating some kind of design in the concrete and simply covering the concrete with stucco.  After these early investigations, we came up with a tile design that we think actually looks like it could have been there originally.  Let us know what you think.

Click here to see a description and photos of the rest of the project.

I am very interested in fences.  They provide security, privacy and when designed properly, add value to a property.  I took this photo of a fence on Richland Avenue in San Francisco.  The fence does not match the adjacent garage or house beyond it, but it stands alone as a nice modern feature. 

The small gate uses galvanized steel and mahogany with a fiberglass side panel.  The  larger gate is also steel and mahogany.  It would appear that a designer was involved in its creation.  Notice the simple vertical nail patterns.  I will probably store these ideas in my memory bank and apply them to a future project.  RW

This fence was designed by Larry Mock several years ago.  It was built by notching 2x4's and attaching them to each other to create a lattice affect.

The design was influenced by the old notched Lincoln Log toys, where you created buildings from notched "logs".  This looks more permanent than most fences, as it is more substantial.