Tour: Portola Valley Town Center

Winner of the AIA East Bay’s 2009 Design Awards, The Portola Valley Town Center was designed by Siegel & Strain Architects and Goring + Straja Architects. Join Larry Strain, FAIA and Susi Marzuola, AIA of Siegel & Strain Architects and Jim Goring, AIA from Goring + Straja Architects for this fascinating tour.

The Portola Valley Town Center, expected to achieve LEED Platinum, includes a Library, Town Hall and Community Hall arranged around a Town Plaza and green, restored native habitat, and a daylighted portion of creek, playing fields and maintenance facilities. This new Center weaves through civic buildings and spaces, oak woodlands and playing fields, into a civic center that meets the Town’s paramount goal: compliment the natural beauty of the landscape in the greenest way possible.

The seismically unsafe old Town Center was deconstructed. Salvaged materials were reused as beams, paneling, countertops, and structural fill. Exterior siding and louvers are salvaged wood; wood flooring is local eucalyptus; concrete is a high slag mix. These and other measures reduced construction carbon emissions by 32%.

The old town center in Portola Valley inhabited a 1950s school that was built directly on top of the San Andreas Fault. The new center occupies the same 11 acre site but locates the buildings in the northwest corner, out of the fault zone. The new town Center resolves the seismic, access, capacity, and infrastructure issues of the old town center creates a unified whole that supports the civic, community, and cultural life of the town, and expresses the character and values of Portola Valley.

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Tour: Portola Valley Town Center

Led by Larry Strain, FAIA and Susi Marzuola, AIA of Siegel & Strain Architects and Jim Goring, AIA of Goring & Straja Architects.

Time: 11:00am - 12:30pm

Location: Portola Valley Town Center, 765 Portola Road, Portola Valley, 94028

Contact: 510/464-3600

Cost: $5 for AIA East Bay Members; $10 for non-members. Registration is required. Click here to register.

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For more information: 510/464-3600