Architecture Merit Award

The Richard’s Grove Pavilion Honored
AIA San Diego Architecture Merit Award

Asquared Studios’ newest hospitality design was honored at the 2015 AIA-SD Design Awards

On Thursday, October 29, at the AIA San Diego Design Awards, The Richard’s Grove Pavilion received the Merit Award for Architecture, and the impressions were overwhelming – “The jury stated at first glance, this design is really beautiful.”

Richard’s Grove Pavilion in Windsor, California, was completed in January 2015. Envisioned as an 110 seat event and hospitality pavilion by Jackson Family Investments, it can be used either as the focal point of an event, or as the backdrop and secondary element for reception. Of utmost importance is the flexibility of use that the structure has allowed.  Using a simple yet specific material pallet of concrete, structural steel, glass, and redwood, the Pavilion is designed to offer a high level of transparency.

With offices in downtown Santa Rosa, CA, and San Diego, CA,  Asquared Studios was challenged with the task of creating a suitable design for the pavilion and developing a master plan for the entire site that would leave the majestic “grove” open and pristine to it’s natural conditions. At the initial site visit, Asquared Studios found themselves inspired by the masters of the international style of Architecture, a period in which materials such as steel and glass were used in new and unique ways to open up the inside of a structure to the outside landscape, and create a new level of transparency between the built and natural environments.

The Pavilion is precisely elevated and appears to float above the surrounding grade allowing for the natural flooding of the site each year. The building is intentionally symmetrical with the long transparent facades facing the grove and the caboose, and the ends complimented by redwood slatted boxes with punctured openings to create a unique entry point to one side and a juxtaposed (indoor + outdoor) fire feature at the other. The use of custom tilt-up doors facing the grove provide a unique canopy over the stage which hovers above the ground plane, while large bottom rolling sliders open the opposite side of the space to the Santa Fe caboose.  The elevated structure has a strong connection to the restored Santa Fe Caboose serving the pavilion, reminiscent of a train that has pulled into a station.