AAJ Bay Area Newsletter V5 8
- 1. AAJ JUSTICE NEWS ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE FOR JUSTICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY Volume 5 Issue 8 December 2009 From the Chairs San Quentin Prison Tour, November Program Report It has been a trying year for all of us. The On November 11, a group of about 35 tiate for hostages; luckily the warning economic turmoil has affected us in big people joined our tour at the San was not needed. Along the way, we and small ways. As the year-end is Quentin State Prison and the Central were fortunate to hear the history and approaching, it is the perfect time to reflect Health Services Building. It began background stories from the prisons upon our goals and plan ahead for a better with a few procedural items: no blue former Warden and former Director of 2010! In our profession, creativity is our jeans, no cell phones, no cigarettes CDCR , Jeanne Woodford, who joined livelihood. Lets use our creative minds to (cigarettes are used as currency in us for the duration. We started at the turn challenges into opportunities. Looking the prison). Then a quick history les- inmate dining hall where the six 100 beyond the horizon and thinking into the son. long by 12 high murals were fa- future will get us far and wide. Especially mously painted by artist inmate Al- now that we live in a world connected by technology, distance is no longer a barrier The prison was built to house outlaws fredo Santos in the 1950s. Then, we that keeps us part. When we join forces to during the Gold Rush. The first prison- stopped by the north block housing work towards our common interests and ers were held in ships docked at Point unit briefly, looking into the rows of goals, we will enjoy a much brighter San Quentin. When the Point could cells stacked four tiers high. tomorrow. not hold any more ships, the State of California had the inmates build a The Central Health Services Building Moving forward doesnt mean that we have housing facility on shore: the dun- is the first increment of the States to forget the past. In fact, we should geon, which is the oldest state build-plan to significantly improve correc- always remember and honor yesterdays ing. tional healthcare services, commis- great achievements. Our recent tour of the sioned by the California Prison Receiv- San Quentin State Prison was a perfect Our walk began with an overview of ership. It is a design-build project by reminder of the significance in preserving the prison led by Sgt. Krisha. He ex- history. The marvelous hand-painted wall murals in the inmate dining hall were one plained that the prison does not nego- Tour, continued on page 2 fine example. The gracious fa巽ade of the old hospital, the mysterious dungeon and the elegant timber trusses were AAJ National Conference Report: Changes at National thoughtfully integrated into the design of AIA and the Evolving Social Media Solution the newly constructed Central Health Services Building. In last months newsletter, I wrote a drastically reduced staff support for brief article about the AIA Academy of our activities. The good news is that Our AAJ Bay Area committee is always Architecture for Justices tentative we will have greater freedom from AIA looking for ideas to bring interesting consideration of social media. In just National. Some of the key the programs and helpful resources to all of one months time, tentativeness has changes that will affect us include: you. We are in the process of developing shifted to urgency. So what hap- our member profile so we can tailor our pened? Annual AAJ Conference: The confer- activities to your backgrounds and interests. Please join us at the year-end ence will still be held, but there will no mixer on December 9th at AIA-SF and tell AIA National has recently announced longer be staff support from AIA Na- us what we can do for you. We will also be a number of cutbacks necessitated by tional for conference/event plan- sending out a member survey shortly to the economic downturn. Due to a ning. For our 2010 conference, AAJ collect your feedback and opinions for the 20% drop in revenue, AIA National will need to either be planned with profile. Lets work together to bring has been making significant changes volunteer efforts or through an agree- excellence to AAJ! that affect the AAJ programs. These ment with a local component, e.g. AIA are primarily due to the elimination of Boston. Regards, 33 staff positions, including 10 that Catherine Chan Beverly Prior have supported knowledge communi- Quarterly E-Mail Newsletter: After Chair Co-Chair ties like AAJ. According to Larry Hart- January 1, there will be no quarterly man, AIA, the current Advisory Group newsletters. Communication from AIA chair, This dramatic turn of events is National will need to posted on the creating opportunities and challenges AIA.org website. as the Advisory Group plans for 2010. The bad news is that we will have Changes, continued on page 2
- 2. Tour, continued AIA AAJ San Francisco Leadership Team Hensel Phelps with HOK. The new facility was constructed on the same foot print of the old hospital. As part of the Chair: Catherine Chan, HOK project requirement, the historic fa巽ade of the 1886 hospi- catherine.chan@hok.com tal was preserved and the 1852 dungeon was seismically Co-Chair: Beverly Prior, Beverly Prior Architects upgraded. bprior@bparch.com Secretary: Larry Fournier, Rutherford & Chekene The first floor serves as the Receiving and Release Center lfournier@ruthchek.com for the northern California prison system and includes den- AAJ Chair Lorenzo Martin Lopez, Nacht & Lewis tal clinics for the prison. The second floor includes mental health clinics, medical records, and offices. On the third Emeritus: llopez@nlarch.com floor, there is separate entrance to the library, trauma treatment area, medical ambulatory clinics, and one of the Bovis Lend Lease is a proud supporter of the AIA Justice most secure spaces - the Pharmacy. We then walked up to Newsletter. Level 4 to see the 54-bed CTC inpatient rooms. Most of us took a quick stop into a padded cell to see how it felt to For more information about the Justice Committee, visit: punch a wall. Our last stop was up on the fifth level which www.aiasf.org/About/About_AIASF/Committees.htm is office and administration space. The views from many offices are pretty spectacular. UPCOMING EVENTS The tour ended with refreshments in the centrally located training room, with the historic timber trusses designed as part of the ceiling system above, and views of the San December Event: End-of-Year Mixer Francisco Bay and Mount Tamalpais above the prison. Wednesday, December 9th, 5:00--6:30PM Submitted by David Crotty AIA SF Office, 130 Sutter St., Suite 600, San Francisco Changes, continued Year-end gathering to discuss common interests and brain- storm for future program ideas. Past speakers and other Justice Facilities Review: The AIA Honor Awards programs AIA Knowledge Communities will be invited to join us. Save will continue. As initiated last year, the JFR submittals will the date! Event refreshments will be provided by Bovis be made electronically. The AAJ could take over the JFR as Lend Lease. an independent activity with our own rules and funding. As these issues sort themselves out, the Advisory Group January Program: Update on the realizes that our ability to connect with each other and our Receivers Health Care Facility Program expanded network of planners, architects, builders, and owners is all the more critical. Social media LinkedIn, Wednesday, January 13th, 5:00--6:30PM Facebook, etc. are existing systems many of us are al- AIA SF Office, 130 Sutter St., Suite 600, San Francisco ready engaged in that can support these connections. On November 28th, the AAJ started a national LinkedIn Group: Bill Proctor, Director of the URS/Bovis Lend Lease Joint AIA Academy of Architecture for Justice. In an effort to Venture team responsible for managing the California foster our AAJ relationships online, please take a look and Prison Health Care Receivership program, will present an add your thoughts. We can even post our AAJ Bay Area update on the program since the decision by the Receiver newsletter there under a AAJ Bay Area subgroup (or maybe to collaborate with CDCR. The decision will bring the new our develop our own group). We can discuss it at our De- health care facilities program together with the existing cember mixer! program, along with CDCR's Infill and Re-Entry programs under a single collaborative management umbrella. Submitted by Beverly Prior LinkedIn Group Website: February Program: TBD http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2534343&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr Wednesday, February 10th, 5:00--6:30PM AIA SF Office, 130 Sutter St., Suite 600, San Francisco油 Monthly Programs 油 Please save the date. Program details to be announced in Reminder: If you are interested in sponsoring an AAJ our next newsletter. 油 Meeting (to cover food and drink), please notify Larry, Catherine or Lorenzo. Sponsors will be recognized both in the newsletter and at the event.