By Joe Gose | Western Multifamily & Affordable Housing Business
"In addition to influencing investor demand, the Covid-19 pandemic is also affecting the design of apartments as well as functionality and amenity packages. Most changes are subtle, architects say, and in some cases, the virus and lockdowns simply opened the door to ideas that had been discussed for years. AO Multifamily Studio Managing Partner Ed Cadavona comments on some of these design trends implemented in recent projects."
BD+C Staff
Gensler, Perkins and Will, HKS, and Perkins Eastman top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
AO Release
Richard Yen & Associates (RY+A), a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) is pleased to announce that they have entered into a strategic partnership with AO, a leading full-service architecture firm with design expertise spanning the full commercial real estate spectrum, to form RY+AO.
East Bay Times
With more than 20 years of architecture experience, Nickolos joins the Oakland AO studio to lead in multifamily, and affordable housing, with a focus on prefabricated construction methods. Read more
AO Release
Mountain View Village, a new mixed-use open-air lifestyle development in Riverton, UT is celebrating the completion of its second phase of development with a four-day community party culminating on the 4th of July.
Commercial Construction & Renovation
Architecture firm AO has completed the design of Anton Aspire and Ascend, a 583-unit mixed-use property in Milpitas, CA. Adjacent to the new BART/VTA station, the two buildings feature 5,400 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a 2.1-acre public park with custom art installations.
Mann Report
Construction has commenced at Warner Red Hill, one of the largest mixed-use developments underway in Orange County. Scheduled for completion in 2024, this community is poised to become a new gateway to the city of Santa Ana, bringing 80,000 square feet of retail space accessible from the central public plaza, along with a neighborhood of 1,100 rental apartments.
AO Press Release
From more than 600 entries, the judges recognized AO’s top projects with four Grand Awards and 12 Merit Awards in 11 categories including mixed-use, multifamily, recreation, and affordable housing. AO’s Grand-winning projects for the best in multifamily design are; Iowa Apartments in Riverside, CA for Best On-the Boards Mixed-Use; Warner Red Hill in Santa Ana, CA for Best On-the Boards Site Plan; and Confluence Park in Valencia, CA for Best Community Amenity and Best Design for Energy.
Building Design + Construction
In Southern California, the developer Merlone Geier Partners is redeveloping what had been a shopping mall on 67.8 acres into the Village at Laguna Hills, a 2.94-million-sf mixed-use community. Ioanna Magiati places this project within the larger urbanization trend. In that context, mixed-use residential and retail "need to create a story" that buttresses the revitalization of the surrounding community, she says.
AO and IMG Construction Management | The Mann Report
Many shopping center owners and operators are looking to breathe new life into their properties by repositioning through the introduction of new uses. AO Managing Partners Rob Budetti and RC Alley, Principal Doug Pearl along with Brett Isaacman from IMG Construction Management discuss trends, property options, strategies and more in this article by The Mann Report.
By Michael Heinrich, AO for Mann Report
California's housing crisis has affected every city across the state. As municipalities explore new development strategies to grow housing stock, they often seek to leverage existing infrastructure to re-imagine 21st century communities. This raises several new challenges for architects and planners, who are tasked with designing more intense, instant urban villages that still deliver an authentic sense of place and vibrant community life. As buildings become larger and neighborhoods denser, the importance of the public realm — the space between buildings — cannot be overstated.
By Steven Sharpe | Urbanize L.A.
After nearly one year of construction, wood framing is starting to wrap above-grade parking at Esperanza at Duarte Station, the new multifamily residential complex now taking shape next to the Metro L Line in Duarte. Completion of the project is expected in mid-2023.
GlobeNewswire
Firm-wide promotions bolster leadership, support the firm’s expansion into new markets and facilitates growth of diverse project portfolio.
By Rob Budetti, Managing Partner, AO and Savio Clemente for Authority Magazine
COVID-19 has created opportunities for innovation and a focus on health and wellness that have led to design innovations. Managing partner Rob Budetti is interviewed by Savio Clemente for his series about developments in the travel industry over the next five years.
Los Angeles Business Journal
In this LABJ article AO Principal, Ioanna Magiati, was interviewed about the time and cost advantages of modular construction. She has worked on modular projects for the past five years, participating in about 50 such projects in LA and Northern California.
By Dan MacDavid, Principal, AO | Western Real Estate Business
Mixed-use industrial has become a significant economic driver in the Inland Empire. Cities are benefiting from business synergies, additional tax revenue, high-quality design and civic engagement that builds community. Dan MacDavid discusses these subjects and more with Western Real Estate Business.
Orange County Business Journal
AO was recently nominated for the Orange County Business Journal's 2021 Companies That Care Awards! The awards recognize local businesses that have gone above and beyond to tackle a variety of challenging and pressing community issues.
By Ioanna Magiati and Paolo Leon, AO for Mann Report
The pandemic launched a new remote work paradigm, where people are no longer constrained by the physical location of their job. Sprouting Zoom Towns offer remote workers a permanent retreat from the city center, whereas Semi-Urban Zoom Towns are a more desirable and practical option for telecommuters who may primarily work remotely but still maintain an office presence. Ioanna Magiati, Senior Associate and Paolo Leon, Associate at AO discuss how we're responding to this new trend.
By Bruce Greenfield, Henry Wong, and Tom Bergerson for Hotel Executive
These days it seems that change is not only constant in the hospitality industry but happening at such a rapid rate that by the time we design and construct a new hotel we are immediately reconsidering the program, implementing new technology, or reacting to new schools of thought.
By Christopher Trela
Restaurants are another growing element of the AO business. Restaurant studio leaders Ruba Younan, Design Principal, and Jeff Rabbitt, Partner, discuss projects, innovations, challenges and solutions with the Orange County Business Journal.