Rejuvenation of Richmond, CA's Historic Ford Assembly Building - Home to the Craneway...

Rejuvenation of Richmond, CA's Historic Ford Assembly Building - Home to the
Craneway Pavilion Arts & Entertainment Venue - Wins 2009 Design Award From AIA
East Bay

Spearheaded by Orton Development and Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects, the
Restoration of the Albert Kahn-designed Landmark was also Honored by the
National Trust for Historic Preservation

RICHMOND, Calif., April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The renovation of the historic Ford
Assembly Building in Richmond, CA, has just been honored with a 2009 Design
Award by AIA East Bay, a Bay Area local chapter of the American Institute of
Architects that serves architects and the public in the northern California
counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa and Solano. The Citation for
Architecture award recognizes the comprehensive restoration and upgrade of the
525,000-foot, quarter-mile long waterfront facility, carried out under the
auspices of a project team led by Emeryville, CA-based Orton Development - who
has owned the building since 2004 - and the award-winning, Berkeley, CA-based
firm Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects. The design team also includes
preservation architectMark Hulbert and structural engineers The Crosby Group.

Today home to the state-of-the-art event, concert and production facility
Craneway Pavilion as well as six "green" businesses, the Ford Assembly
Building was originally designed by legendary 20th century industrial
architect Albert Kahn. Boasting spectacular views of San Francisco, it opened
in 1932 as Ford Motor's Model 'A' production plant, and in the 1940s, became a
hub of WWIIhome front efforts when it was retooled to produce tanks and jeeps.
The facility sits adjacent to the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front
National Historical Park.

Although the Ford Assembly Building made the National Register of Historic
Places in 1988, it was vacant and unused by then, and suffered subsequent
structural damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Orton Development
strategized with leaders in the City of Richmond to save this architecturally
and historically important structure from demolition. Now an innovative model
of 21st century sustainability, the reborn Ford Assembly Building is a
cornerstone of the overall revitalization of Richmond. Via the Craneway
Pavilion, it is also a key destination for arts and culture events for the
entire San Francisco Bay Area.

The scope of work led by Marcy Wong Donn Logan for the adaptive use of this
massive edifice encompassed the salvage, restoration, reinforcement and
renovation of features inherent to the building's architectural spirit,
including highly repetitive fenestration (over 40,000 window panes) and vast
skylight modules. The building's classic saw-tooth roof configuration, with
massive north-facing skylights, created the luxuriously "day-lit" factory
space for which Kahn was famous. Today, a rooftop solar voltaic power plant
adds progressive function to the structure's timeless form, and the building's
occupants reap the rewards of this sun-drenched, light-filled, and
sustainably-adapted built environment.

In addition to AIA East Bay's 2009 Citation for Architecture Award, the Ford
Assembly Building received a National Preservation Honor Award from the
National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) in 2008. NTHP's President
Richard Moe stated, "This is a building that California can be proud of - and
that architects, developers, politicians and business owners across the
country should study as a model of innovative, environmentally responsible
reuse."

Craneway Pavilion is a world-class and sustainably designed event, concert and
production facility centrally located in one of the planet's most iconic
destinations. Located on 25 waterfront acres, Craneway Pavilion delivers
awe-inducing views of the San Francisco skyline and surrounding environs -
matched only by the inventive programming and infrastructure options available
inside.

As state-of-the-art as it is historic, Craneway Pavilion offers an expansive
45,000 square feet facility in an architecturally significant building dating
back to 1932. It also features an adjoining, 10,000 square-foot open-air wharf
patio, seamlessly blending indoor and outdoor environments for the best of
both worlds. Craneway's unparalleled atmosphere and amenities set the stage
for special occasions, meetings and cultural highlights - of every size and
every stripe - that are as unforgettable as San Francisco itself.

SOURCE The Craneway Pavilion

Michael Jensen, or Meghan Helsel, meghan@jensencom.com, both for The Craneway
Pavilion, +1-626-585-9575