MBH Architects

Infobox_Company
company_name = MBH Architects
company_
company_type = Architectural Firm
company_slogan = "We're nice guys...we'll get work," and "it's our people who make great places."
foundation = flagicon|USA Alameda, California, USA (1989)
location = flagicon|USA Alameda, California,USA
key_people = Dennis Heath and John McNulty
num_employees = 179

MBH Architects is an award-winning architectural and interior design firm founded in October of 1989 by architects John McNulty and Dennis Heath [MBH Architects. MBH Profile. Alameda, CA: MBH, 2006] . MBH is headquartered in Alameda, CA, with an office in Newport Beach, CA. They have done projects throughout the U.S. and in Canada, Puerto Rico, Malaysia, China, and several Middle Eastern locations [MBH Architects. U.S. Registration. Alameda, CA: MBH, 2007] . On April 10th, 2008, The San Francisco Business Times ranked MBH on their “100 Best Places to Work in the Bay Area” list for the fourth consecutive year [Galiano, Pamela, MBH Architects HR Director. "Re: SFBT Best Places to Work in the Bay Area." E-mail to the author. 10 April 2008.] VM&SD Magazines listed MBH as one of the top ten U.S. retail architectural firms [Hall, Matthew. “11th Annual VM+SD Survey Reflects Bullish Outlook.” VMSD Magazine. 11 April 2005. Date Accessed: 24 March 2008. http://www.visualstore.com/index.php/channel/43/id/8608] . MBH’s slogan is “it’s our people who make great places.”

Studio setup

MBH completes hundreds of projects each year throughout the U.S. Their past decade of work has included collaborations and solo efforts on the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, Target Stores, Yard House Restaurants, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Limited Brands, Apple, and Adidas. MBH is organized into studios that collaborate on a diversity of projects including: Restaurant, Housing, Retail (Includes Specialty Retail Design), Hospitality, Design, Mixed-Use, and Master Planning [MBH Architects. Studio Structure. Alameda, CA: MBH, 2007.] .

Restaurants

MBH has worked on many well known restaurants located in San Francisco, Calfornia. Most recently MBH collaborated with EDG, [http://www.google.com/search?q=Pat+Kuleto&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1| Pat Kuleto] and JMA Ventures on two significant waterfront restaurants, [http://www.epicroasthousesf.com/| Epic Roasthouse] and [http://www.waterbarsf.com/| Waterbar] , located near the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Other San Francisco restaurants include Momo’s, 301 and Elroy’s.

MBH has received wide acclaim for its design of numerous P.F. Chang's China Bistros, a restaurant chain founded in 1993 offering American and Chinese cuisine. MBH has received several awards for their design of the P.F. Chang’s in Seattle, Las Vegas, NV, and Walnut Creek, Rancho Mirage, Palo Alto and Long Beach, CA.

Housing

MBH’s housing projects have ranged from new development to renovations. A common objective for many of MBH’s historical building renovations for housing development is to change as little as possible from the original design and focus on the interior. One of MBH’s housing projects was the Hathaway Warehouse in San Francisco.

Built in 1857, the Hathaway Warehouse is the 6th oldest building in San Francisco and is a National Historic Landmark. MBH kept most of the building’s brick exterior, masonry, heavy timber framing and granite foundations while juxtaposing them against modern material. MBH received a Gold Nugget Award for Award of Merit, Adaptive Reuse in 1997 for the conversion of the historic Hathaway building.

For the Coffin Reddington Building, MBH received another Gold Nugget Award for converting the old pharmaceutical building in San Francisco into a 53 luxury loft edifice [San Francisco Planning Department. “Area Plan: Rincon Hill.” SF Gov. 21 April 2006. Date Accessed: 20 March 2008. http://www.sfgov.org/site/planning_index.asp?id=24894] .

In 2004, MBH won the Residential Architect Award and the 2003 Gold Nugget Award for the North Beach Malt House, an early 20th century industrial concrete and steel malt building. MBH converted the inner structure to residential spaces but retained the outside, including the most prominent feature of this complex: steel silos. One silo is now used for a lobby/courtyard entry point and both for historical artifacts of the brewing process and preserving the building’s history [MBH Architects Official Website. “Portfolio.” MBH Architects. Wetherwax, Lieske. 2006. Date Accessed: 20 March 2008. http://www.mbharch.com/portfolio/portfolio.htm] .

MBH has also recently completed [http://www.thevillagesf.com/| The Village at Petrini Place] in San Francisco, California.

Housing projects in development

1. Candlestick Cove in San Francisco, CA
   * Description: Mixed-use, Multi-family housing
2. Domain in Mountain View, CA
   * Description: Mixed-use, Multi-family housing
3. Vista Montana Rowhouses in San Jose, CA
   * Description: Mixed-use, Multi-family housing
4. Vista Montana Apartments in San Jose, CA
5. Bay Meadows in San Mateo, CA
   * Description: Multi-family housing
6. The Terraces at Willow Glen Place in San Jose, CA
   * Description: Three stories of condominium flats
7. Sonoma Mountain Village in Rhonert Park, CA
   * Description: Sustainable Single and multi-family housing units with retail, office, theater and civic uses.

8. 2000 Larkspur Landing in Larkspur, CA
   * Description: Combination of flats, and townhouses

9. 29th and Telegraph in Oakland, CA
   * Description: Mixed-use low-rise apartments over retail [MBH Architects. MBH in 2008. Alameda, CA: MBH, March 2008.]

Retail

One of MBH’s first significant projects was an 100,000+ square foot Target store, built in 1995, Fullerton, CA. It was labeled the EPA Energy Star Showcase and Target's first "green" building for its use of skylights that cut the original energy consumption by 24% with a 5 year payback [Dobrovolny, Peter. Sustainability: High Performance Buildings Deliver Increased Retail Sales.” Seattle.gov. Date Accessed: 17 March 2008. http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/light/conserve/sustainability/studies/cv5_ss.htm] . It was awarded the "Green Lights Partner/Ally of the Year Award" [Brookter, Carolyn. "TARGET RECEIVES NATIONAL ENERGY-EFFICIENCY AWARD; EPA Partnerships Signify Commitment to Environment and Communities." Business Wire. 4 June 1996. Date Accessed: 16 April 2008. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_June_4/ai_18355343] .

The Sony Playstation store is one of the most popular attraction at the Sony Metreon Entertainment Complex in San Francisco, CA. The store was conceived and designed as both a retail outlet for the Playstation consoles and games and as an arcade with video kiosks and a circular bar of monitors open for all customers to play. The store design won MBH and its collaborator, New York design firm, thinc, outstanding recognition and several awards in 1999 and 2000 (See List of Awards).

Retail and mixed-use projects in development

MBH is involved with many Life Style projects: alternatives to the edifice shopping centers that were created during the 1950s and peaked in popularity during the 1980s. The town center style emulates the piazza, an open air town square with significant public landmarks. The style has recently been displacing the older, indoor shopping areas.

* Levis Commons near Toledo, Ohio
** Description:Master-planned community and mixed-use lifestyle center (retail)

* El Centro de Huntington Park in Huntington Park, California
** Description: A six-block retail project in the busy shopping district along Pacific Boulevard.

* Village at Granite Park in Fresno, CA
** Description: 22.66 acres of open-air retail, restaurants, medical use, daycare, and public parks

Hospitality

MBH was an executive architect for Hilton and Marriott properties at the Paris Casino/Hotel in Las Vegas, The Bay Club in Waikonoloa, Hawaii, the Newport Coast Villas in Newport Beach, California, The Shadowridge Villas in Palm Desert, California.

Hospitality projects in development

* Hilton Grand Vacations Club in Las Vegas, NV

Commercial

MBH has designed The San Francisco Fire Credit Union (SFFCU) and Serramonte Corporate Center now home to Kaiser Permanente. MBH also designed P.F. Chang's China Bistro, The Good Tidings Foundation, Metro/Risk, Sitzman – Morris – Lavis and Motorola Companies.

Master planning

Some of the largest MBH projects have revolved around community, city and public transit planning. These include a master planned community near Toledo, resort communities in Mont-Tremblant, Canada, and the Tustin Legacy Town Center in California. MBH designed transit-oriented developments in Fullerton, Dublin, and Solano, California, and the downtown and neighborhood revitalizations for Yucca Valley, CA. These urban/city planning projects are in development and more are expected in the near future for the company.

List of Awards

Selected list of clients

24 Hour Fitness, Adidas, Alberta Group, Albertson’s, Ann Taylor, Any Mountain, Apple, Axis Personal Trainer, Barbeques Galore, Bath and Body Works, The Blackstone Group, Bed Bath and Beyond, Best Buy, Boudin Bakery, BrookField Homes, Bristol Farms, Buckingham, Centex, Chevys, Chico’s, Centex, CIM Group, Codding Enterprises, CompUSA, Crate and Barrel, Dillin Development, Duke Realty Corporation, Eddie Bauer, Emaar, Endangered Species, Estée Lauder, Famous Footwear, The Festival Companies, Forever 21, Gap (clothing retailer), General Growth Properties, Gym Masters, Gymboree, Hilton, Hopkins Reality Group, House of Music, Houston’s, Interra, Jamba Juice, Janie & Jack, JC Penney, J. Crew, KB Home, Kmart, Le Sport Sac, Lennar Corporation, Levi’s, Limited Brands, Lucky Stores, Macy’s, Macerich Makarr, Marriott, McDonald’s, Men's Wearhouse, Mervyns, Mikimoto’s, Noah’s Bagels, Old Navy, OS Holdings, Papyrus, Party City, Pei Wei Asian Diner, P. F. Chang's China Bistro, Polo Square Partners, Pottery Barn, RED Development, Rite Aid, Ross Valley Brewing Company, Safeway, Savon Drugs, Schulman Theaters, Shadow Hills Ventures, Shea Properties, Signature Properties, Simon Properties Group, Sony, Sport Chalet, SRS Walnut Creek LP, Starbucks, Target, Trader Joe’s, Toll Brothers, Tully's Coffee, Ultra Star Theaters, Urban Outfitters, Vestar, Walgreens, WET Studios, Williams-Sonoma, Xtreme Cinemas, Yard House Restaurants, Zany Brainy, Zov’s [MBH Architects. MBH History of Clients. Alameda, CA: MBH, December 2007.]

Work cited

External links

* [http://www.mbharch.com| MBH Architects]

ee also