Indelible Design

With new homes planned across from City College and the adjacent light rail station, the City of Sacramento wanted to encourage students and residents to utilize alternative modes of transportation by providing a direct, safe connection for pedestrians and bicyclists across both regional transit and Union Pacific Railroad lines.

Municipalities are frequently in search of creative solutions to breathe new life into their downtowns, often with limited resources and diverse stakeholders. This was the challenge faced by the city of Hayward when it wanted to rejuvenate its nine-block central business district, enhancing its identity and appeal through beautification and pedestrian enhancements.

What could have been an exercise in standard road maintenance and repair became a showcase streetscape project when the City of Campbell recognized an opportunity to reclaim a bleak, over-sized stretch of roadway for stormwater treatment and for a more equitable distribution of right of way that serves all modes of transportation.

The City of Winters undertook a multi-phase restoration and channel re-alignment project to create the Putah Creek Nature Park. The goal was to provide public access to the creek corridor, connecting the downtown and community center park with the surrounding neighborhoods, while protecting and enhancing the streambed and riparian habitat.

Seeking to improve the safety and accessibility of its streets, Watsonville embarked on a study of its downtown core to identify opportunities to implement complete streets strategies. These strategies could then be synthesized into a Complete Streets Plan that addresses the needs of all modes of transportation, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and motorists.

Thanks to a close collaboration between CALA, project architects and engineers, the Downtown Bridges project brings a unique pedestrian experience in the heart of Downtown Roseville.

In the rapidly growing Arrowcreek community south of Reno, there is rising demand for luxury apartment homes. The owners at Arrowcreek were in search of a landscape concept for their new development that would stand out from the typical Reno aesthetic.

The new Blue Harbor residential community responds to the region’s soaring demand for housing by providing over 400 apartments on the shores of the San Francisco Bay. This amenity rich community also provides public shoreline access and connections to nearby open-space and downtown Redwood City.

There is a growing demand for retirement communities where our aging population can maintain an active lifestyle. Planned around connections to open space and with a carefully curated assortment of amenities, Heritage El Dorado Hills seeks to serve this audience of physically and socially active adults.

Faced with a growing but rapidly changing demand for office space in the heart of Silicon Valley, MWest Properties recognized the need to rejuvenate and re-brand their aging office park.

Due to its highly visible location, the new 40 acre, state-of-the-art PG&E Gas Safety Academy faced concerns from the community about the project’s impacts on the City’s rural aesthetic, and on the adjacent Putah Creek Corridor.

Half a century after it was built, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District Headquarters was in need of updates to meet fire and safety codes, to replace outdated and hazardous utilities, and to upgrade site security measures. Complicating efforts, in 2010 the site and buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places as prime […]

Almost fifty years after its addition to the State Parks system, California’s oldest land trust sought an experienced team to plan a new visitors’ entrance to the iconic Castle Rock State Park. Sempervirens Fund envisioned a new gateway as an opportunity to engage visitors with information on the area’s natural and cultural history, to inspire […]

Jutting into the bay and surrounded by tidal estuary, Cooley Landing had a storied past but sat vacant and inaccessible due to its former life as a landfill. The City of East Palo Alto saw this abandoned site as a jewel in the rough with the potential to provide the community with greater access to […]

The Emeryville Greenway describes a chain of urban open space that is part of a vision for a contiguous designated pedestrian and bicycle route stretching from El Cerrito to Treasure Island. The City of Emeryville hoped to take this section of the greenway two steps further, by implementing sustainable design practices to define an informal […]

The City of Sacramento Department of Utilities (DOU) recognized an opportunity to upgrade its facility to educate the public on current sustainability practices. The main desire was to create an outdoor classroom and demonstration garden showcasing natural resource conservation best practices. CALA’s main goal was to elevate the space to an attractive and inspiring garden […]