The Award Winning Universal Technical Institute

Williams + Paddon Architects is pleased to be a part of the award winning Universal Technical Institute (UTI) team that recently won the Sacramento Business Journal Best New Industrial Real Estate Project for 2007.

UTI, a national provider of technical education for automotive, diesel and collision repair technicians wanted creative architecture for their first Northern California location. The modern warehouse building was designed to reflect the cutting edge technology and education that UTI provides its students.

In addition to this award, Williams + Paddon was honored at the Business Journal Real Estate Projects of the Year Awards as the Architects for the Benvenuti Performing Arts Center, Best Community Impact Project and for Conceptual Architectural Design for the Park Plaza, Best New Retail Project.

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BENVENUTI WINS BIG...

We are excited to announce that the Benvenuti Performing Arts Center received a Leroy F. Greene Award of Honor from the Coalition for Adequate School Housing (CASH). This statewide award program recognizes public education projects that are profoundly making an impact on their campuses.

It was also honored as the ‘Best Community Impact’ project at the Sacramento Business Journal Real Estate Projects of the Year Awards for its importance to not only the school, but the city and the arts community.

This technologically advanced theatre for the performing arts magnet program at Natomas Charter School is a signature facility that allows students to train in a wide variety of theatrical, music and dance programs. The project contains all of the features of a professional stage including a full fly tower. It is being hailed as the “most sophisticated theater in Greater Sacramento.” (February 29, 2008 – Supplement to the Sacramento Business Journal)

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“Do You Know Who Pr.Int.S is?... Good.”

Per the request of our very own Leah Polcyn (Interior Design Intern & Secretary for Pr.Int.S) four W+P Go-Getters volunteered their time to participate in a panel discussion at Sacramento State University. The discussion was staged by the Sacramento chapter of Pr.Int.S (Professional Interior Design blah blah blah). The evening was a hit and the students definitely got more than their fair share of input from our W+P professionals Andrea Jaggers, Intermediate Interior Designer; Brett Billingsley, Senior Interior Designer; Amber Seevers, Junior Interior Designer & odd man out Brian Lefholz, Architect Intern. A few of the topics addressed included job satisfaction, creative freedon, and most popular, life after college. It was obvious that “the real world” is a concept that they struggle with so they were eager to submerge their minds in any information that illuminated what they are in store for. The evening was capped off with a visit to R15 where the panel discussed the highlights of the event over an ice cold lager and a game of pool… girls vs. boys… Amber and Leah triumphed, TWICE!! Way to go Higher Education.

- Amber Seevers

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WP Snowshoeing Excursion

While it seems the latest focus on everyone’s mind is getting physically fit and healthy, it came as no surprise that yet another challenge to get those bodies moving presented itself. It was at the suggestion of our very own fitness advocate Andrea Jaggers, to get everybody up to the snow for a fun and challenging day of snowshoeing.

While not everyone on the snowshoeing expedition did so to lose the lbs.; it was also a perfect way to help build up the endurance, while taking in the wintery beauty of the surroundings. Of course for me, the joy of capturing a photo or two for the W+P history books was motivation enough. Needless to say, it was a nice sized group that consisted of W+P employees and a few willing family members. (JTW, Diane, Paul, Claudia, Mark, Robi, Rose, Rich, Trish, her daughter Zara, Andrea, Brian L. and Leah.)

What was quite special about the whole excursion was home base happened to be Jim & Diane’s quaint, cozy little cabin with a beautiful roaring fire in the fireplace and a sampling of their wonderful hospitality of fresh baked scones to start our morning, followed by home cooked chili and chowder (Diane’s specialty), a fresh tossed salad and bagets for lunch. The funny story about the bagets is Rich (my husband) had a hard time keeping them safely tucked into his backpack as we hiked from car to cabin. Every time he would re-position his heavy load, the loaves of bagets would tumble out of his backpack. Finally, after four drops in the snow, we tucked them in a little tighter and they eventually made it to the cabin. The cabin was so warmly decorated & welcoming, and the beautiful view off the back deck was an added bonus. It was a perfect location to capture a few photos.
Prior to our hike, we received a brief little history lesson (which we were quizzed on later) about the area and the cabin itself from JTW. For a moment, it was like attending a great field trip with your favorite history teacher providing all the interesting fun facts of knowledge. After the interesting history lesson, we were on our way.

We had more than a few interesting moments occurred while on the hike…

“The two best moments were Andrea sinking up to her waist and her tackle on Brian.
“My dewatering stop was pretty good at that particular moment (aka – making yellow snow). My back teeth were starting to float.” -Mark Posnick

“Watching Andrea sink up to her waist…twice!” –Robi
Yes, Andrea was at the lead and one miscalculated step landed her waist deep in the snow. It took Jim, Paul and Mark’s assistance to dig her out. On the return trip my husband Rich also miscalculated his footing but ‘Mighty Mouse’ Robi was there to save the day! The challenge to complete the hike to the top with everyone else seemed easy enough, my body communicated differently, so Claudia Walsh and I opted to pair up head back to the cozy confines of the cabin, where Diane waited for everyone to return. So, one might say that there was a great deal of team building and spirited camaraderie that also took place.

As if the workout for the day wasn’t enough, with Mark P. and Brian L. at the helm several of us in the group made a great attempt at shoveling all the snow off the back deck of the cabin. JTW supervised (with hot coffee in hand mind you) from confines of his cozy cabin. The heap of snow proved to be a bigger challenge than the hike itself… so we’ll leave it to Mr. Sunshine might complete that task.

I hear talk of a spring wildflower hike coming up. I am certain the beauty of the area changes with every season bringing another feast for the all the senses. Maybe all the fair weathered hikers will come on board for this next one.
- Rose Cottle

Andrea recalls the day...
“the shock of having to snow shoe in to the cabin...
the smell of fresh baked scones when we walked in...
the feel of snow falling softly all around us...
slight panic at being swallowed up by the snowy earth...
a winter storm looming in the background...
looking back, to see how far we've come (in so many ways...)
a last ditch effort at pushing our limits...
laughing so hard I almost pee'd my pants...
returning to the warm cabin for a relaxing glass of wine...
not being able to taste it, because my mouth and lips were on fire from the chili...
falling asleep soundly that night, with a smile on my face.”
- Andrea Jaggers

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USBcell

Did you know that every year we throw away nearly 15 billion Alkaline batteries? In case you weren't aware...that's a lot! The genius of this product is that it gets rid of clunky charging units by simply fliping the top and pluging it into the USB port on your computer for recharging. It’s a standard AA battery which will fit into all your every day uses and is availible for around $18 for the pair. So, next time you need batteries just stop and think...do I really need the 'super value pack' of 100 Alkaline batteries?

http://www.usbcell.com/

-Brian Lefholz

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Do-It-Yourself Architectural Dialogue

One might say, the by-product of repetitive space articulation is further compounded by taking into account the pragmatics of value engineering. Beyond the horizon of the human intellect, the internal use adjacencies and circulation adds overriding three dimensional constraints to the final abortion. Above and beyond plebian comfort objectives, the treatment of the main façade must utilize and be functionally interwoven with the study of true fecundity in the state of the art.

Now you too can speak like an architect, with the “Do-It-Yourself Architectural Dialogue”! With this little jewel, you can easily compose 40,000 impressive sounding sentences. Never again will you feel like you have nothing intelligent to say.

Orals coming up? Simply remember a few select phrases and you can get out of any jam and leave the judges impressed.

With the DIYAD (Do-It-Yourself Architectural Dialogue) cad technicians, accountants, receptionists, and even interior designers are learning to speak like arrogant know-it-alls.


Nervous about a critical client meeting? No problem, create a little cheat sheet of phrases and put your anxiety to rest.

Each possible phrase was strategically engineered to work in nearly any situation, so you always come away sounding like an architectural genius.


Guys you can even use the DIYAD to help you win over the ladies. Just look right into her eyes and say, “Aesthetically speaking the initial stage of conceptual development must utilize and be functionally interwoven with the anticipated degree of human ambiance.” You can thank me later for this little jewel.

If you like the "Do-It-Yourself Architectural Dialogue", you'll love the "Do-It-Yourself Architectural Email" and the "Do-It-Yourself B.S. Generator".
Try the "Do-It-Yourself Architectural Dialogue" today!

-Tyler Brown

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When is Easter?

This year Easter Sunday is on March 23rd, but do you know the “rest of the story”?

The calculations for the date of Easter are somewhat complicated. In the Western Church, Easter has not fallen on the earliest of the 35 possible dates, March 22, since 1818, and will not do so again until 2285. It will, however, fall on March 23 in 2008, but will not do so again until 2160. Easter last fell on the latest possible date, April 25, in 1943 and will next fall on that date in 2038. However, it will fall on April 24, just one day before this latest possible date, in 2011.
The cycle of Easter dates repeats after exactly 5,700,000 years, with April 19 being the most common date, happening 220,400 times, or 3.9% compared to a mean for all dates of 162,857 times, or 2.9%.

-Jim Williams

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Why start a blog in the first place???

The answer is pretty easy when you think about it. As architects and designers, we take ourselves very seriously. This is a good thing. We have immense responsibilities that challenge our sanity on a daily, make that hourly, basis. But that does not mean that we don't know how to have fun. The contrary is true, we love fun, we need fun to maintain some sort of normalcy in between the highly stressful challenges of our chosen profession.

We are also highly creative, every minute of every day. That's what we do and we're good at it. This blog started as a grass roots effort to capture a snap-shot of our creative culture. To showcase the thoughts, talents, and teamwork of the incredibly diverse talent pool we call employees. This blog is our outlet.

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