SAN FRANCISCO ARGONAUT SAN FRANCISCO When the advertising agency Argonaut decided to move their offices from the Avalon Ballroom (Nob Hill/Van Ness) to 140 New Montgomery, they were trading 30,000 SF of expansive, high ceilinged multi-floored space for 12,000 SF on a single floor in the coveted historic, Miller and Pflueger designed, Pacific Telephone and Telegraph building at 140 New Montgomery. After walking into the building’s restored-to-glory lobby, you arrive at the Argonaut office–immediately greeted with a 35-foot “fireplace”. An incredible part of this floor is the relationship it has to the historic facade—the main entrance’s 3-story leaded glass window crests on the floor fostering a necessity to engage with the original 1920’s architecture. The building’s history inspired our commitment to the history of the architecture, informing the detailing of the brick fireplace surround, lime paint finishes, antique mirrors, board and batten details, even in plan through symmetry, axis, and hierarchy. Given the hybird nature of the office (designed during the COVID pandemic), Argonaut experimented with design ideas that would encourage people to spend more time in the office; the Chief Creative Officer’s prompt was “to create the best hotel lobby that people love to work in”. The office is a place to host and entertain it’s staff and clients alike, with large meeting rooms fit for hybrid meetings, a variety of working surfaces –from laptop tables and lounge chairs, to library tables, the kitchen island with power at every stool, banquettes along the windows, and a computer lab with all the ergonomic bells and whistles. Rivaling the comforts of home and a few focused and intentional amenities, their office is buzzing with life and rebuilding their in-office culture with daily grind and after-hours events and parties. Each time we visit, we are energized by the hum of productivity and shocked by their in-office presence in spite of their continued work-remote flexibility. Back to Projects page Client Argonaut BBA Team Bonnie Bridges Samantha Buckley Vishnu Balunsat Size 12,000 SF Contractor Principal Builders Inc. Collaborators Furniture: MG West Lighting: Pritchard Peck Plants: Add Life Photography Emily Hagopian Studio BBA Back to top

LOS ANGELES TURTLE ROCK HOUSE LOS ANGELES We share a love for the poetry of architecture and its relationship to natural landscapes with the enthusiastic family of four for whom we designed this ground-up, peace-infused southern California residence. Every room in the house enjoys natural light and ventilation, many of which utilize skylights to mitigate the need for artificial light during the day. An expansive great room acts as a central point of connection and interaction for the family, and provides common access to the personal spaces: an acoustically-isolated music room, a home office with framed vista of the park, a studio space, and the bedrooms and bathrooms. The house is oriented to appreciate the site’s bucolic urban and rural views as well as the bordering park, with the massing and form of its main volume embracing the adjacent greenspace. A lush, native front garden contrasts the smooth, modern façade in texture and color, engaging street life while maintaining privacy. Around the back of the house, ample space for outdoor living is connected to the interior through full height walls of glass doors and windows, framed by the warmth of consistent wood and stucco planes. Back to Projects page Client Confidential BBA Team Bonnie Bridges Size 3,000 SF Contractor Mike Mckay Construction Collaborators Structural: Wickstrom Structural Engineering Geotechnical: Mission Geoscience, Inc Soils: Bagahi Engineering Inc. Civil: Incledon Consulting Group Photography Bruce Damonte Studio BBA Back to top

UTAH CUB UTAH The clients purchased this beautiful and secluded parcel of land in the red rock country of Southern Utah 14 years ago when they fell in love with the area. After acquiring one of only a few water permits in 2008, the clients turned to Studio BBA to design a C.U.B., a "Camp Utah Base," that maximizes the natural experience while providing a simple and comfortable place to call home-away-from-home. The design task was to create a base camp from which to venture out - returning at night to a place that provides the same feeling of expansiveness as the red rock valley. Through our process, we discovered new ways to create a luxurious home without the distracting and artificial elements that appear all too often in homes surrounded by nature. Studio BBA achieved simple luxury through subtle design moves and strategic plans for passive cooling and natural light. The new home provides ample room for the clients and a few guests to enjoy the calming interiors, connecting the valley through wind, view, and sounds. The multiple decks allow for outdoor living in every season. Conceptually, the two wings, one public and one private, are connected by what we call the "knuckle" - a shed-shaped entry space that connects the gable geometries of the two wings. We preserved the natural pinion pine and juniper in the landscape and integrated various sustainable design elements (PV array to provide 90% of power, site orientation to maximize passive cooling and natural light, and efficient framing with TJI's) to ensure this home is effectively and consciously situated in its natural environment. Back to Projects page Client Confidential BBA Team Bonnie Bridges Size 1,650 SF Contractor Paul Brown & Sons Construction Collaborators Structural: Shen Engineering Cabinets: Nathan Morrell Cabinets Photography Studio BBA Back to top

SAN FRANCISCO THE PLANT CAFÉ ORGANIC - MONTGOMERY SAN FRANCISCO Focused on serving local, organic, seasonal creations to a high-traffic, hungry FiDi crowd, this large café is the result of combining two adjacent restaurant spaces. The build-out required a focus on creating an efficient customer experience and well-organized staff work areas, to support their busy breakfast and lunch hours of operation. Studio BBA interjected our value for materiality into the airy white shell, adding texture, mood and human scale. To bring warmth we clad the existing 18’ ceiling in douglas fir wood, and designed a maple window counter and custom maple and steel casework. Subtle decorative elements include dimensional Heath tiles and Kreme wallpaper, designed and made in California, and a concrete floor appliqué. Custom planter boxes and wire trellis at the windows will support climbing vines to green the space. Devising the menu display became our team’s favorite detail on the project. We created a custom steel framework operated by electric winch. The apparatus sends the menu high up for visibility when posted, and easily facilitates bringing the whole assembly down for menu changes. Back to Projects page Client The Plant Café Organic BBA Team Seth Boor Bonnie Bridges Megan McGuinn Size 3,300 SF Contractor Northern Sun Associates, Inc. Collaborators MEP: MHC Engineers Food Service Consultant: Robert Yick Company Photography Nicholas V. Ruiz Back to top

SOMA, SAN FRANCISCO SIGHTGLASS COFFEE SOMA, SAN FRANCISCO Highly anticipated at the time of opening, Sightglass Coffee’s flagship café with production roaster occupies a 7,500 sq. ft. building in San Francisco's SOMA district—the first of our many projects with Sightglass. The owners’ vision was twofold—to create transparency and openness between the café and roaster functions, and to establish a neighborhood cornerstone that could help ground the area as it evolves. We designed the airy industrial interior with purity of spatial experience in mind; as an homage to coffee culture and collaborative artistry. Highly crafted, the new infrastructure and architectural elements are intentionally minimalist and subtle in their response to the original shell—to emphasize materiality and meticulous detail. The seamless indoor/outdoor flow fosters connection between the interior and street life, and the open, intertwined service and roaster areas enable guests to be in the midst of the entire coffee-making sequence—with the gorgeous Probat at its hub. In a truly collective construction process with the contractor and talented craftsmen—all longtime collaborators on Studio BBA projects—we were able to realize some distinctive, one-of-a-kind features. Each contributed their creativity and expertise—from recreating the Japanese art of Shou-sugi-ban for a decorative burnt wood siding treatment, to piecing together over 38 reclaimed steel joist hangers for a custom light fixture. Back to Projects page Client Sightglass Coffee BBA Team Bonnie Bridges Seth Boor Size 7,500 SF Contractor Kevin Smith Collaborators MEP: MHC Engineers Structural: Semco Engineering Photography Bruce Damonte Studio BBA Back to top

SAN FRANCISCO FLORA GRUBB GARDENS SF SAN FRANCISCO A garden mecca for design-savvy plant lovers, our design for Flora Grubb Gardens created over 12,000 sq. ft. of park-like nursery. To complement the outdoor garden displays, seating areas and “Potting Bench”—where customers create their own plant projects—the elegant galvanized-steel structure houses 6,000 sq. ft. of indoor commercial retail and a Ritual Roasters café. We supported the client from the inception of this project, helping her transition and grow her business into a destination retail experience from its more modest former iteration as a boutique neighborhood nursery in the Mission District. Sustainable design is integral to the architecture, including a PV solar array that provides 100% of the garden’s power and radiant heat and sends the extra back into San Francisco’s power grid. Other environmentally friendly materials and approaches include 25% fly ash concrete, re-purposed barn wood siding, maximal use of day-lighting, and display fixtures made from old chicken feeders. Through our longtime relationship with Flora Grubb, we continue to collaborate frequently with the Gardens’ landscape services on other Studio BBA projects. Back to Projects page Client Flora Grubb Gardens BBA Team Bonnie Bridges Seth Boor Size 5,200 SF Contractor Bali Construction Matarozzi Pelsinger Collaborators MEP: MHC Engineers Photography Sharon Risedorph Marion Brenner Studio BBA Back to top

SAN FRANCISCO CHAPEL HILL COFFEE SAN FRANCISCO This tiny café is tucked in an alley between Chinatown and the Financial District. Inspired by our client’s love of all things Italian, we emulated the classic espresso bar experience—where folks take time out to relax with neighbors and friends. Finding ingenious ways to maximize the limited space and foster community was top priority. We designed a hydraulically operated pivot window to open the storefront, creating a covered sidewalk area that extends the café outside. From inside, a large, counter height wood table on casters rolls partially out the opening to serve guests on both sides. This project is magical to us as we were able to create it by collaborating with people that we love working with, who understood the budget limits and brought their creativity to the project. And the place just has that magical feel, where you can hang out with the owner and chat about life, bikes, art…and coffee, of course! Materials are a mix of new and reused: steel, ceramic tile and salvaged wood, with restored board-formed concrete walls and old-growth douglas fir floors. We re-wired huge vintage stadium light fixtures to hang above the serving counter, to contrast with the small scale of the space. Heating for the snug interior is provided by the espresso equipment. Back to Projects page Client Chapel Hill Coffee BBA Team Bonnie Bridges Jason Campbell Size 460 SF Contractor Muddy Orange Fabrication Collaborators Fabricator: Kyle Minor Design Photography F. Jason Campbell Back to top

OAKLAND DREAMING BIG WITH GROUND OAKLAND We often have clients find us through the myriad of hospitality projects that we have done over the years . . . where people connect the dots of their favorite Bay Area places (and their ability to foster deeper human connections) back to us. It is endearing and humbling and sometimes surprising, as is the case with these speculative projects for Binta Ayofemi and her non-profit, Ground. Over the course of two years, we worked with this artist to create the master plan, the collages and the architectural backbone for her ambitious artistic vision. You can see the results of one such project at Commons in Oakland. The others live on as dreams for a fairer future in which the flow of global capital emerges from the ground where ideas are born. Back to Projects page Client Binta Ayofemi, Ground BBA Team Bonnie Bridges Anand Sheth Vishnu Balunsat Size Varies Contractor Unbuilt Collaborators Binta Ayofemi Photography None Back to top

LARKSPUR EQUATOR LARKSPUR LARKSPUR This Equator location is simple in intent—we designed a café that characterizes the balance of laid back and active lifestyles in Larkspur’s community. Modeled after a functional bike shop, the interior features industrial fixtures, practical storage shelves and a pegboard wall to hold tools of the trade. The café sits amidst Magnolia Avenue’s recently upgraded plazas, and is a major draw that has contributed to the area’s resurgence of activity. Magnolia is a charming and historic retail environment—walkable to downtown and accessible to the myriad outdoor activities for which the North Bay is known, including Marin County’s expansive web of bike trails. A huge, custom-made wood map of Marin—10’ high by 20’ long—includes topography and bike paths to help customers orient themselves and discover new adventure routes. Back to Projects page Client Equator Coffees BBA Team Bonnie Bridges Sarah Fucinaro Size 625 SF Contractor ACI Collaborators MEP: MHC Engineers Structural: Barringer Design Topo Sign: R.B. Morris III Photography Nicholas V. Ruiz Back to top

SAN FRANCISCO TARTINE INNER SUNSET SAN FRANCISCO Tartine Inner Sunset was instantly inspired by The Park, we have occupied the gardens ourselves for many years in many ways. This restaurant serves as the perfect post-park picnic – a hospitable extension of the constructed natural resource that anchors the neighborhood. The entry sequence is purely romantic – like entering Golden Gate Park, it’s the way “in” that sets the tone for your journey. Patrons enter through an existing roll-up door (relic) into an open-air walled garden with an aperture through the ceiling (surprise). Indoor vs. outdoor is a construct we don’t need – so we use every visual and tactile clue to blur the boundary: high ceilings and various skylights add loftiness to the greenhouse and are grounded by exterior tongue-and-groove siding and polished concrete floors. Studio BBA was engaged to design Tartine’s fourth Bay Area restaurant while we were constructing The Manufactory LA , allowing for the emergent process of design to shape this new space (a former roofing warehouse with a rich history ). We are continuing to iterate these ideas within their next location in Berkeley, in construction now. There is nothing to “roll out” and no mandates on continuity, only the desire to approach our circumstances with strategy and authenticity. New custom elements relate via a play on white, with accenting materials pulled from The Sunset District. White factory-sash storefronts, sliding doors and the one-off pastry case evoke a greenhouse’s utility, and subtly nod to the custom details we developed for the Manufactory LA. Black & white terrazzo is ubiquitous in the neighborhood, used on stoops and window sills all over, and now used in the restaurant as counters and custom furniture. The back of house is as important; the intricately dialed-in details are flooded with natural light. Vibrant poppy-colored tile is installed to reference terracotta planters filled with California’s flora. Back to Projects page Client Tartine Bakery BBA Team Bonnie Bridges Megan McGuinn Size 2,958 SF Contractor Echo Summit Construction Collaborators MEP: Acies Engineering Structural: Degenkolb KEC: Myers Rest. Supply, Inc. Photography Eric Rorer Photography Back to top