Comstock's magazine 1117 - November 2017 | Page 72

n DESIGN
W
hen Sacramento's Community Center Theater
opened in 1976, it was considered state-of-the
art for its size and location, and critics glowed
about its amenities. Since then, the building has
remained largely untouched. Ditto for the Con-
vention Center and the Memorial Auditorium, which were
last updated in the mid-1990s.
Faced with a number of aging cultural facilities in dire
need of renovation, the City of Sacramento is spearheading
the Transformation Project, which includes planned facelifts
for all three facilities as part of revitalizing the urban core.
With some heavy design work needed to bring these land-
marks into the modern era, what role are Sacramento-based
architecture firms playing in updating these longstanding
institutions and winning other significant, local projects? In
many cases, very little.
Notable regional projects such as the Manetti Shrem
Museum of Art at UC Davis, The Barn in West Sacramento
and new mid-rise developments in Midtown, like the L Street
Lofts and the Press building, were all designed by New York,
San Francisco and Portland firms.
Sacramento is coming into its own as a destination and
a metropolitan area. Tying the built environment to the re-
gional identity — including an agricultural backdrop and
focus on sustainability — is important to local designers
and architects. In an ideal world, hiring local experts who
understand the dynamics of the region, including its cul-
ture, climate and politics, would also be the prudent path
for developers and clients. But that’s not happening as often
as Sacramento design professionals would like, and regional
firms are finding ways to be included in the conversation.
Arch Nexus — founded in Salt Lake City in 2003 and ex-
panded to Sacramento in 2011 — is becoming part of this
conversation by cultivating relationships with groups in-
volved in reshaping the capital city, including the City of
Sacramento.
Arch Nexus snagged some of the project management
services for the Community Center Theater, and landed the
lead architect role on the Memorial Auditorium renovation.
Populous out of Kansas City, Mo., is the lead architect on the
Convention Center project, while New York architect West-
lake Reed Leskosky (which joined DLR Group in 2016) is the
lead on the Community Center Theater.
“Part of our ability to get in on these projects was based
on our experience in doing similar types of cultural projects
in other cities, so the City saw us as qualified,” says Arch Nex-
us principal Jeff Davis, whose firm won a significant cultural
arts center in Boise, Idaho that will include 150,000-square-
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comstocksmag.com | November 2017