We’ve just learned that the San Francisco Better Streets Plan has received a California APA Award for Best Practices. This is in addition to the Charter Award the project was awarded earlier this year by the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), one of only nine award winners selected this year. The plan is a unified set of standards, guidelines, and implementation strategies to govern how the City designs, builds, and maintains its pedestrian environment.

Haiti Partner’s Children’s Academy – Aerial Perspective
image credit: BAR Architects

Since our inception, Sherwood has looked at disaster relief areas as an opportunity to provide pro bono engineering services, working with groups like Engineers Without Borders. We are currently volunteering our services as part of an international design team led by San Francisco’s BAR Architects to provide design and consulting services to construct a school in Haiti.

BAR is developing the master plan and detailed architecture, overseeing construction and securing primary fundraising sources for construction (which will ultimately be carried out by a local construction manager and team in Haiti with their support and oversight) while Sherwood is providing the plans for stormwater management, water systems, grading and earthwork. The team’s design goals include comprehensive daylighting for the buildings, extensive capture and reuse of rain and stormwater on site, and the use of sustainable components/materials that tie to the location and available resources native to Haiti.

Construction is slated to start in September of this year, with the goal of opening the school in early 2012. There are some great blogs dedicated to following the progress of the project, including Architecture for Humanity, Open Architecture Network, Haiti Partners and BAR’s project Tumblr.

image credit: Flickr user kara brugman

The Yerba Buena Community Benefit District (YBCBD) is developing a master plan for Yerba Buena. The project’s focus is to improve the streets and public spaces of the 12 square blocks that make up Yerba Buena through innovative and creative urban design. The plan is being developed by the YBCBD in partnership with CMG Landscape Architecture, Sherwood Design Engineers and NelsonNygaard. This exhibition will highlight the public process and feature design concepts from the recently completed Yerba Buena Community Design Initiative. The exhibition is designed by CMG Landscape Architects and curated by SPUR’s Ben Grant.

Join us on Tuesday, August 2, 2011 and hear from CMG Landscape Architecture and YBCBD staff about the community design initiative at 6 pm, followed by the exhibition opening party at 7 pm. The event is free and open to the public.