730 I Street, Sacramento
In 2018 DBRDS received Planning Commission approval for alterations & additions to a historically sensitive building in downtown Sacramento. The brief as to activate the building through a series of alternations to entice commercial tenants. While the construction did not move forward for a variety of reasons, the approval was praised by several local preservation advocates, including Gretchen Steinberg, President of SacMod.org, as follows:
“This is exactly the kind of adaptive re‐use that Sacramento needs — to embrace a great example of mid‐century modern design and adapt it to present day. I look forward to the day we celebrate the building’s re‐use and continued presence in our cityscape well into the next century.”
Design Narrative:
Designed in the late 1950’s by prominent Californian firm Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons Architects, the 730 I Street building was developed as the main office for the Bank of America Corporation in Downtown Sacramento.
As described in The Sacramento Bee ‘Business and Development’ section on March 27, 1960, the new “Modern Bank of America Building”, the structure was designed to be a monument to the Sacramento area, an Architectural Milestone, and a state of the art banking facility.
Clad in a combination of black & grey granite slabs, glass mosaics & large-pane windows, the building presents a modernism expression set back from the street. An integral part of the original design, and a celebration of the Bay Areas Bohemian art-scene is a piece by Mosaic Master Alfornso Pardiñas, which is proposed to be cleaned and maintained in the proposed project.
The prominence of the original Architect, the in-tact master-mosaic art piece and the evolution of uses from its opening in 1960 as the Bank of America main office, to the use as City Hall of Sacramento during the 1990’s, the existing three-story structure located at 730 I Street is without question an important building within the region of Sacramento.
Understanding this importance, the Site Plan & Design Review development proposal aims to introduce minimal and impactful additions to the existing 730 I Street structure. A new minimalist glass-box addition will introduce an identifiable entrance and will create a dynamic transition between public realm and internal spaces. Keeping within the proportions of the existing two-bay entry space, the structure in designed to touch the existing structure lightly, creating a distinct new pedestrian scale form along the street. This new addition will define the prominent east-end lobby entrance, creating a new defined urban space at the intersection of I Street & 8th Street.
A second, lower-key entry lobby is proposed at the west-end of the existing structure. Maintaining the proportion of a ‘two-bay' entrance, the west-end lobby entry will provide access to the newly proposed roof-top F&B space (TI to be submitted in a future submittal) as well as creating a pedestrian level activation at the west end of the street. As a banking institution, the intentful solid based language provided the building a sense of security & at street level. The proposed new lobby at the western end allows for the existing solid street presence to be maintained centrally to the street-frontage, while activating the eastern & western ends with the two proposed lobby spaces.
Existing roof structures will be kept in place, with an extension of the southern mechanical penthouse to create this new ‘pavilion’ structure. To service the roof top F&B pavilion, new mechanical equipment is proposed to be roof-mounted, enclosed with a 5’ mechanical screening. The proposed horizontal white roof expression is intended to cap the building in with a new modernist roof line, creating a definitive understanding of existing vs proposed.
