The building design essentially commenced 20 years ago. The architectural design firm had an opportunity to lease a second floor studio space in the 1920’s industrial building located on the site at that time, thus they began crafting a story, creating an urban entrance into downtown Palo Alto. In the early 90’s, the real estate sector of the city deemed western downtown the “dead end of town.” This is ironic since the western edge contains the Caltrain station, bus depot, connects to Stanford University, and leads into University Avenue; bringing vehicles, bikes, and pedestrians through the vibrant downtown district.

The opportunity in transitioning this transit-oriented location into a vibrant entrance to Palo Alto has been a storybook collaboration between public and private sectors. Beginning with a thought and continuing with sketches and frequent “what if” conversations with city officials, the designs developed for these buildings unfolded. The concept began with a new City owned parking structure and public plaza, which was completed in 2004. Next, two smaller adjacent buildings were removed to make way for two multistory buildings separated by large private/ public plazas- one of which was completed in 2007. The trilogy of buildings and plazas will conclude in 2009 with the addition of the building presented in this submittal. With an increase of density, integrated mixed-use buildings, public open plazas including public art, and circulation through and to transit stations, the overall site planning has been recognized as a model example in urban planning.

The project is located at the University Avenue Circle, Palo Alto, California. The design includes a mix of uses including retail and offices. The new building addition includes mostly transparent facades with exposed structural systems. Solar Mitigation is obtained through overhangs, roof deck planting, and a detailed building louver system. A photovoltaic array will be placed over the upper exterior corridor. A new plaza connects University Circle to the existing High Street Plaza and Lot R Parking Structure. Upon completion of this new building, construction will begin next door with an additional mixed use building to include residential units. See 102 University Circle for more information.

A modern single-family house designed with an innovative, modular structural system and sustainable design principles.

It’s a single story house that comprises the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen plus three bedrooms and three bathrooms revolving around the central lap pool.

This residential building not only performs its basic tasks in terms of functional performance, physical comfort and aesthetic values but also acts as a mental mediation between space and our mind.

The perception of the space created is not a sum of visual, tactile and audible but in unique way speaks to all your senses at once, creating experience of completeness. A complete resonance takes place between this space and the experiencing person.

The house conveys a sense of openness and vitality through its engagement with its surroundings. Floor height sliding doors, windows and skylights blur the line between indoors and outdoors promoting natural light, ventilation and views.

The modular steel structure is fully expressed and acts as an organizing device throughout. It’s a proprietary structural system that conforms to the applicable building codes.

The completed project surrounds a courtyard, merging the old and new sections of the house. The new pavilion contains a library and artists’ studio. It uses a palette of materials that change at different times of day, depending on the color of the light: wood, various types of glass, and concrete.

The historically protected streetfront of the house was restored; we also completely restructured the roof to include a rooftop garden. Throughout the design there was a blending of traditional and modern methodologies. Solar water heating is deployed on the roof. Groves of shade trees and wood trellises provide passive solar shading, and the green roof provides thermal insulation. The goal of the house was to maximize available natural light, and to create a sense of seamlessness between indoors and outdoors.

For the Kipling House, Bellomo Architects acted as owner, architect, and builder. As a result, the design was a uniquely coherent expression from concept to finished product. We wanted the project to be meaningful at the scale of the city and at the scale of the hand.

Landscape courtyards form a set piece of open and structured space around the house. The house was designed to preserve a huge old oak on the site, while its floor to ceiling glazing creates a sense of dwelling in the tree canopy itself.

Our intention was to create a house with a small footprint (to preserve existing landscape), and to use almost exclusively passive energy strategies. Oak trees and trellises shade the house, the concrete structure adds thermal mass, and large operable wall panels allow for continuous airflow. A photovoltaic system feeds power back into the grid, and a therapy pool to the front of the house assists in cooling, in addition to wellness.

Influenced by the complementary relationship between interior and exterior often seen in Japanese garden design, the award-winning remodel and addition to this 1960s Eichler home presents a new architectural language for this building type. Located in a single-family Palo Alto, California residential district dominated by Eichlers, Alester Addition follows the principles of the style’s 1950s post and beam construction methodology. Through a new material palette of redwood, aluminum panels, steel, polycarbonate and high performance glass and cohesive color palette, the house engages with its surroundings and creates a sustainable and inventive design vernacular.

Represents a new model for compact living. Born from a modular system of bent steel tubes, the House Arc was created as an environmentally sensitive and affordable method of housing people in a beautiful, functional, and adaptive way.

The Everett Avenue residence is a modern, modular split-level home designed with an emphasis on construction methodology and sustainability. Radiant heating and cooling efficiently controls the temperature throughout the levels and p.v. panels are placed for optimal solar gain. Highly efficient glazing provides natural light and ventilation, while slatted screens assist with privacy and shading.

As a growing number of people are commuting to downtown Palo Alto on bikes, this proposal shows a new type of bike storage- one that minimizes the space required for safe bike storage. Since the bike arc is built with a series of steel “ribs”, it is flexible to store bikes in a variety of ways and a multitude of spaces. It can be open, semi-enclosed, or fully covered and secured. We are prepared to engage the city, community, and business owners with this idea and are proposing to develop the idea with a prototype as part of the University Circle developments.

Imagine a city working collaboratively while exploring options for their state’s high-speed rail system. This design speaks to that ideal.

As the California High-Speed Rail Authority proceeds with designs for the States’ transit corridor, architects, engineers, planners, community advocates and leaders are looking at alternatives for sections of the Bay Area’s high-speed electric train rail system. Consequently, we envision an efficient, sustainable, holistic, and community-friendly solution along the Bay Area’s Peninsula corridor where “everyone” is considered “together” for the solution. This elevated high-speed rail system combines a sculptural concrete structure with a system of ribs, acoustic fins, and an integrated photovoltaic system. Therefore, the design will quiet itself and provide power into the energy grid while providing a modern, sustainable transit system. In this design, equal sensitivity is granted to all communities for regional implementation.

This 225 car park with public art and plaza is located in the University Avenue commercial area of Palo Alto. Two public stairs made of metal mesh flank the ends, acting as beacons at night. A landscaped paseo passes along the north side of the structure, bringing people from the trains past the public art on the facade of the building.

The city of Palo Alto established a bike storage facility at the Palo Alto train station, a place for commuters to house their bikes. The brief was to create a functional industrial space that could be expanded to also act as a bike sales facility.

The concept for this five story parking garage, located directly across from the Lot R parking structure on High Street between University and Hamilton Avenues, is to connect the two parking structures with a bridge over High Street to avoid taking up a lot of space with a ramp on the ground floor of the new parking structure. The 14’ high ground floor will allow events to be held there, as well as accommodate the practicality of trucks accessing the space for deliveries and garbage pickup for nearby retailers. The parking structure will also employ photovoltaic panels on the roof level to provide power for the garage and local businesses.

This tenant improvement project presented an exciting 6600 square foot restaurant in Mesa, Arizona. The design includes a full service kitchen with grill, bar, and a new outdoor patio. New openings in the existing building connect the outdoor seating with the restaurant interior and bar.

Bellomo Architects worked closely with Facebook employees to establish the design of a new 6400 square foot corporate cafe and lounge in downtown Palo Alto that includes a state of the art kitchen and unique interior and exterior dining experiences. Interior design and furnishings were custom designed by Bellomo Architects to integrate with the company culture. Completed in May 2008, we worked diligently with SC Builders, the general contractor, and Inside Source, the furnishing vendor, to provide quality and functionality for the Facebook employees in this ideal downtown location.

Located within 102 University, the American Express technology office serves as an innovation headquarters outfitted with a pastiche of materials and textures. Cool concrete walls, an exposed ceiling—a field of acoustical baffles in lieu of a drop ceiling—and angular natural wood built-ins, designed by Bellomo Architects and built by 102 Workshop, create a background for an array of inviting candy-colored furniture and workstations positioned to stimulate the occupants while respecting their transitory nature.

Viewed as a jeweled necklace delicately attached around the existing 4‐story commercial building, the undulating 3form ribbon instantly modernized the 80’s ground level arcade, adding elegance and playfulness at the pedestrian level. Heat‐formed to precise radii and paying homage to the existing arches and meticulous detail by Bellomo Architects, the Koda XT panels present an element of surprise. The appearance is ever changing, influenced by the sunlight, reflections, and evening back‐lighting.

The Emerson Tenant Improvement project is an update to the second floor interior of an existing building. The project focused on improving the video conference suite with the addition of a glass wall, acoustical ceiling, lighting, and monitors. Other improvements implemented throughout the space include updating the lighting, the finishes by Bay Area Interior Designer, Jonathan Taylor, and the audio/visual telecommunications by M Space.

The conceptual structure of the learning center is based on a bird’s nest: it protects, fosters new life and imagination, and sustains the migration of knowledge. The building is sited along the sun’s elliptical path, and the roof forms gather prevailing winds from the northeast to cool the internal spaces below the main roof structure. The outdoor amphitheater celebrates views toward the mountain preserves of Pu’u Makakilo and is protected from the sun by a pergola above.

This a place where the community can come together around a united purpose, a place where the interests, beliefs, health, and history of Hawaiians is represented. The reward is in what the park provides back to the community: a means of cultural, spiritual, and healing sustenance. The Hualalai Park will be created through community dialogue and participation. The goal of the park is to create a space for everyone using local and international support. The buildings, materials, and site planning will be rooted in ancient Hawaiian building practices, yet delivered in a contemporary context. Since the goal of the park is to become a sustainable community center, the three villages designated by the Department of Hawaiian Homelands will provide a variety of modular housing types. These will border the park and activate it. They will also provide types of housing not found in the area: opportunity and workforce housing. Some percentage of these units can be offered at very affordable costs. The modular houses will be net zero energy buildings. Solar, wind and passive forces will provide energy and comfortable spaces to live. A building package of pre-manufactured materials will be delivered to each site and erected by each homeowner’s team.

Bellomo Architects is selected to be part of the Alta Planning team (a bike and pedestrian planning firm) to deliver ideas and concepts for the Highway 101 Pedestrian-Bicycle Overpass-Underpass feasibility study between Embarcadero and San Antonio Road in Palo Alto. Our concepts will work towards engaging the community towards a bike and pedestrian gateway into the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve.

A competition entry for the San Jose State University Museum of Art.
The opportunity in the San Jose State University museum design is to captivate the public into its space; with this notion we engaged in creating a unique space embraced by the art school walls yet bridging beyond the bounds of those walls into the community. The principle idea was to preserve the very strength of the outdoor area and look to this space as an opening, an inspiration in layering spaces omni directionally. An elevated podium to discuss education as art itself. The notion to reach out and beyond our normal boundaries yet considering the palette of constraints and variables within the set program assisted us in the creation of a new spatial potential.