Historic Building Rejuvenated for Brixton Capital

As we look back on summer, we’re thinking of some of our Coastal Clients and Brixton Capital comes to mind. With its space-ship-shape and rich history, the Brixton Headquarters building is iconic in San Diego’s coastal north county. The building’s location afforded the opportunity to capture breathtaking views of the only cove in Solana Beach, and yet it was starting to show it’s age.

On a mission to bring this beauty back to life, Brixton retained ID Studios to consult on its design transformation, both inside and out. As we researched the building’s history, we quickly discovered that the story of this uniquely shaped building is as interesting as its unique shape.

The History

The building currently located at 120 South Sierra Avenue, started as the Solana Theater in the 1930s with its main entry, and address, on South Acacia Ave. It was built by Smith Construction which was run by Dorthea Smith and her husband Milton Smith who built several landmarks during their tenure in Solana Beach, including the simple, rectangular theater.

[note: The best pictures we’ve found of the original theater are by photographer Eleanor Antin in her “King of Solana Beach” series. Due to copyright issues, we can’t post them in this article, but they’re out there if you do an image search.]

The earliest reference to the theater we found was in the book Seabiscuit, An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand. In the book, she recalls a famous 1938 horse race, Seabiscuit vs Ligaroti, which was reportedly replayed at the theater after being run on the nearby Del Mar Racetrack. The theater stayed in business for decades and holds a fond place in many people’s memories and is often recalled in the Facebook Group, “You Might Be From Solana Beach If…”

In the late 1970s business at the theater waned after the more modern Flower Hill Mall Theater opened just two miles away in Del Mar. When the Solana Beach theater closed, a family took advantage of a then-current trend and opened “Organ Power Pizza Parlor.” They purchased and moved a historic organ built by famed organ builder Robert Morton onto the theater’s stage.

Unfortunately, the pizza restaurant didn’t last long, and the building started its next life when it was converted to office space. In the ’80s, big changes were in store for the building. Following a leveraged buyout of The Chart House, the executives turned its sights to Solana Beach and the historic theater for their new headquarters building. They hired Architect Joe Lancor, who added the curved roof and nautilus shell shape which is now prominently featured as the entrance.

When Chart House decided to move its headquarters to Chicago in 1997, the building continued its corporate identity, by housing various companies. When Brixton purchased the property in 2016 they did so with the intent to modernize it for their Corporate Headquarters.

The Rejuvenation

According to CEO, Travis King, Brixton wanted their offices to reflect the “hardworking, get it done East Coast/New York mentality combined with the laid-back vibe of San Diego.” ID Studios brought those ideas together, with a design based on an open concept, maximizing the coastal views of Fletcher Cove and to bring those elements to the interior of the building.

When Brixton approached us, we knew the almost windowless wall that previously housed the large movie screen, hid a stunning view of Fletcher Cove. The design team went to work relocating restrooms and other core services to maximize the potential held in this solid wall. Piercing this wall with a line of windows also created access to fresh air for its occupants along with the coastal views.

The renovation also features a new monument stair which took into account the circular theme inherent in the nautilus shaped entrance. With office space on the two upper floors, the basement was converted into a fitness area, complete with a jiu-jitsu studio, showers, and surfboard storage. Separate access to the fitness studios is directly accessible to the community park and beach access which has the added benefit of minimizing the intrusion of beach sand into the main office. The result is a refreshing interpretation of Coastal Modern, bringing an infusion of natural light, fresh sea breezes, and an active vibe to the entire building.

ID Studios is proud to have been a design team partner to this beautiful, coastal restoration and to join the mission bringing this historic building back to life.

Please Welcome our Newest Team Member

We’re happy to announce the latest addition to our design team, Ashlynn Meyer. Ashlynn grew up in San Diego, and graduated from California State University, Long Beach in 2018 with a BFA in Interior Design and a Minor in Business Marketing. She returned to San Diego to work at an architectural firm specializing in Hospitality and Multi-Family Residential Projects until she joined ID Studios in September.

We love her bubbly spirit, and in fact, Ashlynn was a cheerleader all through college! She enjoys traveling and her favorite vacation was a tour through London. The beach is always on her summer “to-do” list, and she also enjoys snowboarding in the winter.

We’re excited to get to know her and integrate her creative talent into our team!

ID Studios Supports Tables for Tots 2019

This year’s Tables for Tots, organized by GMBI, raised a record amount of over $103,000 to benefit the local Ronald McDonald House Charity that provides a “’home-away-from-home’ for families with children being treated for serious, often life-threatening conditions at local hospitals.” Prior to the event, “Each Architectural and Design firm is given an unfinished child’s table and two chairs to design an ‘adventure’ for children.” ID Studios supported the fundraising efforts by providing a custom-designed piece that was auctioned off for the event.

The theme this year was “Turn Up the Music, a celebration of music through the decades.” Our “table” was a play-space styled like a futuristic, Juke-Box Time Machine. In addition to the money raised by the sale of the “table”, our design team won first place in the Freestyle Table Category!

We are very grateful to our sponsors. Spooners Woodworkers made our design come to life. Scantech provided the beautiful juke-box styled graphics, Sherwin Williams provided the paint, and the local representatives of Designtex and Coalesse provided all of the beautiful accessories!

We are grateful to GMBI for hosting such a fun, and worth-while event that, not only brings the design community together but also reaps such wonderful benefits to families in need. We hope to continue to support this worthy cause!

Welcome Two New Designers to the ID Studios Family

We’d like to welcome Lauren Zinn and Holly Cogan to the ID Studios family!

Lauren graduated from SDSU in 2014 and has worked for the last four years gaining experience in the design industry, including the Hospitality arena. She believes the key to great design is to empathize with the client, so she can better understand how to provide design services tailored to their individual needs. She loves taking her two rescue dogs, Bud and Luna, to Dog Beach to burn off all their extra energy. They will be joining a thriving “dog loving” community at ID Studios!

Holly just graduated from SDSU this past June and completed her internship at ID Studios this year. Her friendly personality, sense of design, and work ethic fit perfectly with the ID Studios team. When she’s not searching out new coffee shops around San Diego, her favorite place to travel is NYC where she was lucky enough to do a summer interior design internship.

Give a warm welcome to our expanded design family!

ID Studios and Workplace Wellness

In the design world, trends come and go, however, one design trend we see sticking around is workplace wellness and health for employees. Over the past two decades the workplace has changed substantially. Prior to the early 2000’s, the typical workplace was an artificially lit cubicle farm surrounded by enclosed private offices that blocked all the natural light. Since then, designers and clients have embraced workplace trends from open planning concepts to game rooms and sliding boards instead of stairs. We think planning for the health and wellness of employees in the workplace is here to stay.

A workplace that promotes health and wellness has positive effects on both the employees and employer. Studies have shown that a healthy lifestyle and environment enable employee productivity, engagement and retention. Given that we spend up to 90% of our day indoors it is important that we are surrounded by an environment that supports our health and well-being.

We’ve found that the WELL Building Standard is a great guide for best practices to achieve a healthier workplace. The WELL Building Standard is the first standard with a focus on health and well-being of the building occupants. WELL is focused on seven concepts: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Fitness, Comfort and Mind. Below are some examples of how you can integrate some of these concepts to your workplace.

Air
Air quality issues cause respiratory problems, diminish work productivity and lead to sick building syndrome, below are few easy tips to improve the quality of air in your workplace:

• Select low VOC paints and finishes
• Have walk-off mats at the entry of your space
• Install operable windows/doors in your workspace for natural ventilation
• Use green cleaning products
• Install carpet tiles

Water
80% of the US is mildly dehydrated which can cause many health issues. It is recommended that men consume 125 oz and women 91 oz of water a day, below are a few ways to encourage healthy hydration:

• Provide safe filtered water within 100’ of regularly occupied areas
• Change and maintain water filters
• Test drinking water

Nourishment
Dietary guidelines for Americans recommend 4 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. In addition to nourishment guidelines the WELL Building Standard has recommendations to prevent food borne illness in the workplace. Below are a few tips to champion proper nourishment in the workplace:

• Provide disposable paper towels at sinks in lieu of hand dryers
• Provide .7cf of refrigerator space for each employee.
• Have an office garden with vegetables, herbs and edible plants.
• Provide plenty of spaces for eating, tables and chairs for 25% of employees
• Make fruit and vegetables available to staff

Light
Access to natural light is important to health and wellbeing, here are a few ways to achieve better lighting in your office
• Maximize natural light
• Control glare
• Select light paint colors for the majority of for walls and ceilings.

Fitness
It is recommended to get 30 minutes of activity per day, a few ways to encourage movements are below:
• Provide access and encourage use of stairs
• Storage for bicycles
• Provide areas for physical activity
• Height adjustable workstations
• Shower

Comfort
Comfortable, distraction free environments lead to happier employees who are more productive, here are several ways to support greater comfort in the workplace:

• Providing adjustable chairs and workstations for proper ergonomics
• Invest in a white noise system
• Provide employees with a choice of areas to work throughout the office
• Limit noise created from building mechanical systems

Mind
Interior environments at are aesthetically pleasing and that incorporate nature can enhance the employees experience, mood and happiness, below are some tips to promote emotional health:

• Bring the outdoors in with plants and patterns that evoke nature
• Provide opportunities for connections to the exterior
• Create collaborative spaces and areas to meditate and relax

At ID Studios, we are passionate above creating spaces that promote health and wellness as well as environmental sustainability. Reach out to see how we can help.

Bassline Table Charity Auction

This Spring, bkm OfficeWorks hosted a design contest and Charity Auction to benefit David’s Harp Foundation. The goal was to design a one-of-a-kind table top for the Bassline Table Legs made by Steelcase. This line is specifically designed to host a customized table-top for anything you can dream up.

David’s Harp Foundation uses the power of media creation as a platform to inspire, educate and empower “at-risk” and homeless youth to achieve academic success through music/media education, sound engineering and multimedia production.

Using music as an inspiration, we took lyrics to the next level by incorporating them into a beautiful graphic design. The result was a “Judges Choice” award winning tab table that also inspired a bidding spree at the silent auction.

Through the organizational efforts of bkm, over $5,000 was raised to support David’s Harp Foundation including table sales, event donations and a generous in-kind match by bkm’s owner, Bill Kuhnert. Thank you to everyone involved with organizing a fun, event that also provided another way for our designers at ID Studios to “give back” to the community.

Project Feature: Mission Federal Credit Union Headquarters

In 2018, we had the opportunity to work with Mission Federal Credit Union to help them transition from an office they had occupied for the previous 30 years, by designing a future focused home and headquarters that will ensure flexibility to live and grow for the next 30 years.

The design process started with an interactive Visioning session to help focus the extended team on the long-term strategic goals. Lisa Chappell, Vice President of Corporate Facilities for Mission Federal said, “The process was collaborative, fun and exciting, which is exactly what the final design achieved.”

The team then sought insight into their employee’s day-to-day work lives by obtaining feedback to validate data about their daily work requirements. With those results, the team created a design that fulfilled their need for greater collaboration and openness, natural light, flexibility, wellness-focused design, and a fun, inspirational environment.

The interest in openness and collaboration drove the need for private, quiet spaces that provided an environment for employees to focus and achieve heads-down work and open spaces that provided energy and collaboration. ID Studios was able to design a wide variety of spaces to fit all of these requirements. Utilizing architectural and finish elements to convey a message of strength and reliability was equally as important to Mission Fed as creating an environment that was welcoming and approachable.

Our Mission Fed Moment can be summed up by Associate and Senior Designer, Jill Russell when she said, “It was inspiring and a true pleasure to partner with Mission Federal Credit Union, Level 10 Construction, and Jones Lang LaSalle on Mission Federal Credit Union’s new headquarters.” We are very proud of what our whole team was able to achieve for such a forward-thinking company!

Happy Holidays from ID Studios

A Holiday Video Greeting From ID Studios

We hope Santa’s Elves deliver a NICE report to the Big Man this Holiday Season.

One of the greatest joys of this season is the opportunity to say thank you to those who have made our success possible. We wish you a wonderful Holiday Season and a peaceful, prosperous New Year.

Stephen Scirrotto Joins ID Studios

ID Studios is growing again! Please welcome our newest Project Manager, Stephen Scirrotto.

Stephen joined ID Studios with over 13 years of experience of Architecture, Design and Project Management, he is taking on a role as Project Manager at ID Studios where he will oversee all phases of the design process. Prior to joining, Stephen was an Associate, Architect and Design Manager with Gensler San Diego for over 7 years where he was the Design Resilience Leader for the Workplace Studio, as well as lead the Technology and Financial Services Firm Workplace Practice Areas. Stephen started his career in the Boston area where he worked with Okun and Associates in which his focus was on higher educational projects for Harvard University.  Stephen is a licensed architect and holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and a Master of Architecture Degree from Roger Williams University.  Stephen focuses on understanding client’s needs, which allows him to deliver effective design solutions. He believes that the biggest challenges bring out the best in an architect, as constraints drive creativity. Ultimately, building lasting relationships with clients that come back time and again is deeply satisfying to him.

Stephen, along with his wife and two children enjoy spending time together outdoors in nature, at the beach, mountains and desert.

Introducing our Hospitality Studio

YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE KNOWN __ ID Studios has a team of extremely talented hospitality designers within our multi-faceted studio. Project experience includes multi-family housing, restaurants, country clubs, event spaces, boutique hotels and even cruise ships! We are especially excited about the inroads ID Studios is making in the hospitality and senior living arenas. As we take on more senior living projects, our designers are integrating the resort and hospitality experiences into these projects that appeal to our retiring population. Hospitality design elements are also showing up in our corporate and creative office space. The common denominator in all of these design solutions is blending work, life, wellness and play. These unique spaces fit to our client’s needs, individual experiences and truly define a new genre of ‘place’.

Our industry partners know us as a trusted advisor in the corporate and higher education realm and we hope to inspire more introductions and connections in the hospitality and senior living world as our portfolio expands. We intend to provide the hospitality and senior living industry the same high standards, knowledge base and creativity that we have been providing since our beginning 14 years ago.

Stay tuned for more new and exciting hospitality and senior living projects from ID Studios. In the meantime, take a look at some of our latest projects in the works.

Please contact us  for more information.