Jennings Ackerley is a full service firm with broad experience in healthcare, commercial, cultural, retail, and residential projects.

Established in 1992 in San Francisco, California, Jennings Ackerley employs senior architects who have extensive experience in the technical development of building systems and construction documents, and who are highly qualified in the management of complex projects.

Our experience ranges dramatically between types of projects. Though different in classification, each assignment in our portfolio presents a unique and interesting solution that was dissected and addressed most effectively in its specific context.

Jennings Ackerley doesn’t fit in a box. We’re a new kind of architectural firm, one that is devoted and dedicated to the return of The Architect as Master Builder. Our clients have a burning desire for fresh, creative ideas. But they also know that creative strategies, exceptional service and cost-effective solutions are just as important.

Reconciling the technical expertise necessary with the practical understanding and sensitivity to how human beings operate and interact is Jennings Ackerley’s strength. Our team is committed to pursuing an architecture that can advance the thinking of those who engage it and create intrigue and interest to those who use it. We are creating environments for people who are changing the world. This defines our purpose.

Our Philosophy

We believe that great ideas come from inspiration, original thought, life experience, an open mind, serendipity, and simple hard work.

Jennings Ackerley employs a number of senior architects who have extensive experience in the technical development of building systems and construction documents, and who are highly qualified in the management of complex projects.

Every project undertaken byJennings Ackerley is designed personally and directly by Charles Ackerley. All of the resources of the firm and the extensive experience of the firm’s Project Managers are available to assist in the design effort and to carry this effort forward through technical development and construction administration.

Jennings Ackerley projects reflect the firm’s experience designing many building types including cultural facilities, city office buildings, courthouses, educational buildings, hospital and medical buildings, retail and private residences.

 

Master Plans

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Pacific Asia Museum
Pasadena, California

Jennings Ackerley completed a master plan for the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena to bring the facility up to code and address various space and circulation concerns. The master plan provided an analysis of existing deficiencies and issues, highlighted infrastructure concerns, provided a work plan to tackle the overall project in feasible portions, and developed long-term goals.

The master plan found the following conclusions:

• Upgrade fire and life safety systems
• Upgrade H/C accessibility compliance
• Waterproof lower level, handle water damage and water intrusion
• Address structural integrity of the building
• Upgrade systems infrastructure
• Landscape street and sidewalk
• Renovate and remodel galleries and administrative areas

 

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Sonoma Valley Hospital
Sonoma, California

In October 2006, the Options Committee of the Sonoma Valley Health Care Coalition formed the “In Town Committee” and charged it by selecting and working with an architect to undertake an independent study of the feasibility of locating a replacement hospital in the vicinity of the existing hospital on Andrieux Street in Sonoma.

The subsequent “In Town Option” is designed to provide a continuum of care on one integrated campus. A new state-of-the-art hospital would be constructed and existing buildings would be converted to out-patient functions. The plan provides for the conversion of the existing West Wing to a future Wellness Center which could include the Integrative Medicine Program, a Women’s Center, Youth Center, and Aging Center, as well as other out-patient and health education services.

The resulting campus is conceived as the core “Sonoma facility” for the distributed valley-wide system of health care. The plan has received strong support in recent community meetings, and has been adopted as a required integral “wrap around’ for all health care coalition options.

 

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Center for the Performing Arts
Bakersfield, California

The Bakersfield Symphony has embarked on a long-range plan to relocate into a new home. Jennings Ackerley provided a Site Selection Study and Master Plan.

Throughout its more than eighty-year history, the symphony has performed in multi-purpose auditoriums where the building design emphasis was not primarily on symphonic music. The desire is to construct a world-class symphony hall as a permanent home for the Bakersfield Symphony and its internationally recognized director, Mr. John Farrer.

In order for the plan to be financially feasible, it was determined that the new Symphony Hall needed to be designed as a full Performing Arts Center, which would include a world class Symphony Hall. As a result of this dual purpose, a substantial site is required for the project.

The site selection process analyzed 14 locations. After extensive interviews with all interested potential users, a downtown central location was proposed. Extending two city blocks, the 9.5 acre site included vacated streets and an existing creek redevelopment project. An extraordinary opportunity exists to reshape and redesign the creek into a desirable water feature.

Jennings Ackerley developed a space program for the proposed Center and provided concept massing studies fitting the space program to the selected site. The firm also coordinated visits to comparable Performing Arts Centers and assembled a project team of experts in the field of performing arts center design to provide input on specific technical demands.

 

Architecture

 

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Medical Office Building 5
Kaiser Permanente, Santa Rosa, California

Jennings Ackerley programmed and designed the MOB after completing an extensive master plan. The 95,000 sq. ft., $28M building is a product of a successful design build process and LEAN Project Delivery System.

MOB 5 is featured in the publication City by Design: An Architectural Perspective of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Celebrating the best in Bay Area Architecture, the coffee table book will also feature works from international architects Renzo Piano, Richard Meier & Partners, and Herzog & deMuron.

Completed in 2007, MOB 5 was recognized by the North Bay Business Journal Top Projects Awards.

 

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Sea Ranch House 2719
The Sea Ranch, California

The Sea Ranch, founded in the early 1960s, is a carefully planned community that harmonizes homes with the surrounding coastal environment. The Fountainhead provides a unique design contribution to the existing collection of Sea Ranch homes by mixing small details with overall themes such as flow, proportion and framing of views.

The structure’s shape is designed to follow the contours of both the lot and the natural skyline. Strategically placed skylights and multiple decks provide an expansive view of the sky while windows are sized and placed to frame views of ocean and land.

On the interior, the wood roof-beams are exposed defining the home’s interior spaces. Common rooms, such as the game room, kitchen, dining room, and living room are visually open and connected. The outer placement of the bedrooms and office, however, balances this open flow with privacy. Each room is specifically scaled according to function.

 

World Product Center
Manhattan, New York

The concept and program responds to the need by medical experts to have a permanent, fully supported environment that will allow them not only to operate constantly evolving medical equipment, but also recreate actual situations in which the product will be used. Located in the heart of Manhattan, the building plan provides retail and office space, and includes an auditorium, conference rooms, and an atrium.

Spatial volumes, materials, and technology were considered in developing the design. The design concept focused around the elements of an open, multistory atrium; flexible, clustered conference rooms; organization of upper floors by medical specialty; and a strong relationship to the street for the public components of the program.

This creates a fluid space capable of anticipating the requirements of the medical world tomorrow. Interlocking volumes of space penetrate multiple stories, creating visual links between private and public functions, as interior volumes of space add interest to the building exterior. The combination of function and clarity of form join to meet the needs of a global range of users.

 

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Child Care Center
Washington Hospital, Fremont, California

The Child Care Center is a 23,000 sq ft rooftop addition for Kidango Childcare Centers at Washington Hospital Health System in Fremont California.

Design features such as an open floor plan for staff visibility and ample natural light are used to create both physical and emotional well-being for the children.

The center’s playfully interior multicolored spaces are carefully scaled with circular, square, and clerestory windows throughout. It accommodates up to 40 children (ages 2-5) and 20 infants (ages 0-2).

 

Interior Architecture

 

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1701 Divisidero
UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco, California

A tenant improvement of an existing 5-story building into a medical office building provided expanded outpatient services for UCSF Medical Center. JA worked with eleven separate physician groups in the planning of the clinic spaces.

Design elements such as the extensive use of relites at interior corridors, color and finishes, and thoughtful planning were used throughout the project to reinforce wayfinding, and provide operational efficiencies and comfort to all of the users of the building.

Jennings Ackerley managed all phases of the interior design.

 

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Cafeteria Renovation
Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, California

The 1,400 SF renovation of the existing hospital cafeteria was accomplished with a tight budget and minimal construction schedule. OSHPD field inspections were coordinated, and finish materials and furniture were ordered in advance to allow for construction closure of 2 weeks.

Within this short time the space received new flooring, paint, wall cladding, re-finished casework, new furniture and art work.

 

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Technology Showcase
Clear Channel Media, San Francisco International Airport

The SFO Technology Showcase transformed an obsolete 750-sq. ft. smoking lounge into a hands-on display area for high-tech products.

The space, owned by San Francisco International Airport and leased by Clear Channel, will be subleased to high-tech companies wanting to peak people’s interest by giving them a chance to view as well as try newly released products.

A ceiling-to-floor glass system on the showcase’s sides with an open front help increase visibility. Light-colored hardwood flooring, along with beech wood paneling on the back wall, anchors the space. Because the showcase will be frequently subleased to various high-tech companies.

The design remains flexible allowing each company to add finishes and fixtures to communicate their own image.

 

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Medical Office Tenant Improvement
Kaiser Permanente, Rohnert Park, California

Kaiser Permanente Rohnert Park was built as a satellite Medical Office Building to the Santa Rosa Medical Center. As part of a health-region master plan, this satellite alleviated an increased demand for outpatient care resulting from a growing population. To meet community needs, the project combined an accelerated schedule with a two-phase design.

Phase One prioritized completion of an Acute Primary Care Clinic for 19 providers and Outpatient Pharmacy within 6 months.

Phase Two included ancillary functions, Optometry & Optical Sales, Clinical Lab, Radiology and Medical Records.

The design embraces rigorous Kaiser standards and places an emphasis on circulation and work-space efficiency. Lighting and finishes contribute to way-finding and enhance the user’s experience.

 

Publications

City by Design: An Architectural Perspective of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area
Publisher: Panache Partners

Project Mentioned: Medical Office Building 5

For more information, or to order, click here.

 

Small Firms, Great Projects 2008/2009
Publisher: AIA San Francisco

Projects Mentioned: The Sea Ranch House, Medical Office Building 5

For more information, or to order, click here.

 

San Francisco Business Times 2009 Bay Area Book of Lists
Publisher: San Francisco Business Times

Project Mentioned: Medical Office Building 5

• Largest Construction Project, North Bay
• 4th Largest Hospital Construction Project, Bay Area
• 16th Largest Construction Project, Bay Area

For more information, or to order, click here.

 

Press

Top Projects in the North Bay: Kaiser Permanente Medical Office Building 5

91,000-square-foot Kaiser facility to offer centralized outpatient services; includes unique outdoor labyrinth and exceptional landscaping. Read more

 

Kaiser expansion OK'd: $140 million project adds 82 beds, makes hospital 2nd-largest in county Santa Rosa

A five-story addition to Kaiser Permanente's hospital, a project almost doubling bed capacity, is on track following approval by Santa Rosa planning commissioners. "It puts us on the road," said Susan Janvrin, Kaiser's patient services administrator. "We are meeting the members needs and meeting the community's needs for more beds." Read more

 

In-town hospital doable, architect says

As a whole, the Sonoma Valley Hospital on Andrieux Street doesn’t meet current state standards for earthquake safety.

But there’s nothing wrong with the east wing, a single-story building constructed in 1984, which houses the hospital’s 27-bed skilled nursing facility, or nursing home, according to Charles Ackerley, of the San Francisco-based architecture and design firm Jennings – Ackerley.Read more

 

Medical office tenant improvement

Kaiser Permanente's Santa Rosa Medical Center has leased office space in Rohnert Park to convert into medical offices.  Jennings Ackerley has already completed much of the design work for the new space and is on a fast-track schedule, according to Kaiser. Read more

 

Jennings Ackerley is located at:

576 Sacramento Street, Fifth Floor
San Francisco, California  94111

Find us on Google maps!

phone: (415) 538-1777
fax: (415) 538-1770

 

Careers

We are unfortunately not hiring at this time.