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Pipeline to
Design
 AIA
San Mateo County has a long history of commitment to
community service activities as exhibited by participation in over 20
design charrettes since its founding in 1983. The subject
matter of these charrettes has varied widely depending on the
sponsoring community or entity and the specific issues it
faced. Typically, the issues addressed involved urban design
or planning issues, often with uncertain boundaries and/or broad
implications in the life of the community. The list below
details the varied focus of AIA
San Mateo County’s community design charrettes:
Single site:
- Storefront for local nonprofit
– San Mateo, 1992
- Transit Center / Train Station
– San Mateo, 1994
- Bus Depot – Burlingame,
1994
- Main Library – San Mateo,
1996
District:
- “B” Street
Charrette – San Mateo, 1983
- San Mateo Avenue – San
Bruno, 1986
- Main Street – Half Moon
Bay, 1990
- Downtown Charrette –
Redwood City, 1992
- Broadway / Bayshore –
Burlingame, 1994
- Laurel Street – San
Carlos, 1995
- Downtown Charrette –
South San Francisco, 1998
- Community Design Charrette
– East Palo Alto, 1999
- Geneva Avenue Charrette –
Daly City, 1999
- Main Street Charrette –
San Mateo, 2001
- “Gateway to Central
Park” – San Mateo, 2004
- “Imagine a
Downtown” – Menlo Park, 2005
- “SoBA” (Howard
Avenue) – Burlingame, 2006
Regional:
- Regional Urban Design Charrette,
2000
Each of these events has generated great public excitement and has
served as a catalyst for further community action.
To date, AIA San Mateo
County has followed an ad hoc process as to identifying and
developing issues addressed, and as to how communities may access
design services and other resources. Knowledge of AIA San Mateo’s
availability to partner with community organizations has spread through
the grapevine – an informal network created by individual
members’ involvement with local organizations, community
boards, commissions, and civic leadership.
Pipeline to Design will position AIA
San Mateo as a proactive force and resource, accessible to
the communities we serve, by creating an open, transparent, and
sustainable pipeline for future community service events.
Three elements key to the success of Pipeline to Design are:
- Outreach to Community Organizations
- Establish an Advisory Group
- Formalize Proposal and Review
Process
 The
“Destination: SOBA (South of Broadway Avenue) Design
Charrette” held during September 2006,in Burlingame served as
a case study for how the pipeline currently works and how AIA San Mateo County
can improve its process – for instance, by identifying and
reaching out to community stakeholders – community
organizations and clubs; environmental, non-profit, housing, and
planning groups; community planning departments; and city.
AIA San Mateo has collected and reviewed documents from previous
charrettes, and will create new graphics to produce outreach tools and
collateral materials for presentations to stakeholders: Introduction to
the AIASMC
“Community Design Charrette.”
AIA
San Mateo County anticipates review of inquiries by an
Advisory Group composed of a representative of a local, charitable,
non-profit; a member of the County Board of Supervisors; a
representative of the local community college; and a member of the AIA San Mateo
County’s Board of Directors. Working with
the AIA San Mateo County
Board of Directors, the Advisory Group will establish evaluation
criteria (based on alignment with the AIA’s Ten Principles of
Livable Communities) and procedures, and then review all subsequent
proposals.
AIA
San Mateo County initiated discussion with the County of San
Mateo regarding a possible community design charrette for Spring 2008,
in cooperation with San Mateo County Department of Parks (David
Holland, Director) and San Mateo County (Supervisor Jerry Hill), to
address master planning issues at Coyote Point Recreation
Area. Fronting on San Francisco Bay, approximately 5 miles
south of San Francisco International Airport, the 727-acre Coyote Point
Recreation Area currently offers swimming, fishing, picnic facilities,
playgrounds, a firing range, marina, boat launching ramp, environmental
science museum, and an animal center. Future changes under
consideration include the addition of a performing arts center and a
restaurant, and the relocation/removal of the animal center and the
firing range.
In summary, Pipeline to Design will enable the AIA San Mateo County
to: broaden public awareness of design charrettes’ potential
for addressing community issues; establish an equitable process for
evaluating the needs of communities and organizations; and ensure focus
of efforts on issues and concerns identified and articulated by the
group themselves. It will assure relevant charrette topics
for the future, providing AIA
San Mateo County’s gift to the community
– a blueprint for healthy, safe, and livable communities and
a sustainable future.
View
all Blueprint Initiatives |
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