Gates & Associates
Creativity, Versatility and Top Talent Define Landscape Architecture Team's Award-Winning, 30-Year Career
By Tonya Poole
Landscapes, streetscapes and outdoor environments are our public faces, our regional culture's wardrobe and how we craft them is a direct reflection of who we are and what's important to us as denizens of the places we inhabit. From private front yards to expansive civic spaces, we - as a society, a neighborhood, a family - both define and are defined by our surroundings.
Talented landscape architects and urban designers tap the fields of psychology, sociology, architecture, ecology, transportation, art, mathematics and an array of other disciplines to translate outdoor spaces into an environment that speaks to how we live and work.
San Mateo, CA. Gates & Associates developed the master plan for this award-winning "new urban" development. The project includes a 575-unit apartment complex, mixed-use retail development and a linear park as its centerpiece. The project was honored with the 2004 Gold Nugget Award for Best Redevelopment and the 2004 ASLA Northern California Chapter Merit Award and was chosen as one of America's best new developments in Sierra Club's 2005 publication Building Better. (Photo courtesy of Gates + Associates)
Partners David and Linda Gates of Gates & Associates - an award-winning landscape architecture, land planning and urban design firm in San Ramon - have built an enviable reputation in the Bay Area market for finding and developing the best talent, and for the diverse expertise that allows them to span a wide range of both public and private projects.
"We specialize in being diversified," says Linda, who married and later partnered with David after the two met at UC Berkeley in the late '70s. "We try to keep a balance between public and private sector, work with schools, libraries, parks and streetscapes. We do commercial centers, residential communities and are using innovative ways to combine the two in mixed-use environments. We've found that's not only an economically sound way to work in cyclical marketplace, but it also makes for more interesting projects, too."
Pictured (left to right and top to bottom): Todd Larudee, Jessica Romeo, B.J. Williams, Gail Donaldson, Courtney Burmann, Peter Rohan, Dave Marcoullier, Todd Young, David Gates, Linda Gates, Casey Gates, Jeff Bradshaw, Kimmy Chen, Ana Dominguez, Melonie O'Sullivan, Tara Bhuthimethee, Kelley Gates, Gina Chavez, Maryanne Martinez, Annette Brown, Robert Chevalier, Chuck Gardella, Stephen Hackney, Sam Ciofalo and Natalie Bokum. Hard at work with clients and site visits: Cameron Hunt, Eva Lee, Julie Conrad, Lee Eder, Louise Dyken, Meredith Berry, Mike McGrath, Muriel Wilson, Nick Lawrus, Su Tang, Todd Ainsworth and Vanessa Lindores-Farah. (Photo by Bruce Schneider)
Working across the market spectrum also means David and Linda and their team of nearly 40 are able to harness fresh ideas and new viewpoints to bring to each project ensuring that the firm's creative thinking doesn't become pigeonholed. David's degree and expertise in urban design adds a larger dimension to the firm's work, allowing them to approach projects not only from a landscape perspective, but also from a broader land planning angle as well.
"When you're doing land planning, you're looking at more like 2,000 acres, not just the front yard of a church or someone's private back yard," he says. "Getting into a project from day one allows us to create a functional and usable, as well as a thematically unique overall design that addresses connectivity, public spaces and relationships with the surrounding environment. I think we're more versatile with scale than many."
Dublin, CA. Modeled on the traditional "Main Street," Waterford Place is a complete, dynamic, mixed-use neighborhood consisting of a market-drug retail area and high-density housing above retail space. Residential units surround three courtyards, each with its own theme - Tuscan, Asian and Tropical. Aquatic sounds from water features buffer the noise that accompanies high-density living. (Photo courtesy of Gates + Associates)
Versatility and diversity aren't the only tools in the Gates' repertoire - the firm is well-known for the talent and caliber of people it attracts, thanks in part to their progressive approach to staffing and collaboration. Early on, the need to provide a place for the couple's new infant prompted them to seek a larger space with room for a nursery. Soon the firm was housed in a 1930's era barn in Danville. "It's what life presented us with at the time," says Linda. "And we just kept building out and expanding the space as we brought on more staff."
This responsive attitude has continued over the years and has resulted in a flexible, laid back work environment that encourages staff's individual technical and creative talents. It also frequently takes advantage of staff cooking skills in the form of office barbeques and meals celebrating the group's various backgrounds and interests.
Tracy, CA. Redbridge is an award-winning master-planned community with a mosaic of neighborhoods ranging from million-dollar estate homes to cottage-style residences. In developing the master plan, Gates & Associates designed a landscape system that would reflect the desired agrarian, small town image of the community, complete with orchards, a general store and water tower to enhance the sense of "place." (Photo courtesy of Gates + Associates)
Pleasant Hill, CA. This redevelopment project created a vital, successful downtown with retail and high-density housing where there were once strip malls. A public square showcases a large fountain of granite, a favorite material due to its vandal resistance, permanency and ability to be sculpted into interesting forms. Gates & Associates oversaw the entire project from specific planning to construction documents. (Photo courtesy of Gates + Associates)
After two decades in the barn, the firm recently relocated to a more conventional office space, but its unique culture is still hard at work helping the team to attract the best people throughout the Bay Area who appreciate the magic of the mix they've created together. "We have people who are great technically, and we've got people who are great artistically," says Linda. "And we're very good at exploiting those talents and putting them together to complement one another in a team setting."
The firm values community outreach as a way of building support for projects. They use innovative ways, often emphasizing graphic communication, to build consensus among diverse stakeholders. There is also a strong emphasis on creating implementable plans. Having worked on a range of projects from the planning and design phase through construction throughout Northern California, the firm is careful to create plans that address the functional realities of the "real-world."
Palo Alto, CA. With the trend toward higher density housing, outdoor amenities are moving upward. This courtyard and garden is located on a roof deck. (Photo courtesy of Gates + Associates)
South Livermore Valley, CA. Gates & Associates worked closely with the landowners, citizen groups, developers and viticulturists to develop a specific plan and design guidelines that would rejuvenate the South Livermore Valley as a premium wine-producing area. The plan and guidelines ensure the preservation and expansion of rural viticulture uses while accommodating future growth in the Livermore Valley. Within these guidelines they designed key components, including streetscapes, entries and neighborhoods, thus setting the tone for this new rural community. (Photo courtesy of Gates + Associates)
Their approach has earned the firm a wide variety of jobs from small, private landscapes to master-planned streetscapes to corporate complexes to large urban and civic projects - including award-winning Bay Meadows Redevelopment project in San Mateo and the Redbridge Community in Tracy, which won the 2001 Gold Nugget Grand Award for Residential Project of the Year.
Looking forward, the Gates say they're excited about the market shift back into the Bay Area's downtown corridors, with a rise in in-fill and mixed-use projects, they can put their diverse skills to good use alongside project architects. But no matter the project, the team plans to continue doing what they do best - creating spaces, environments and experiences - and often community themes - that mean something to us as residents, neighbors, employees, students and business owners in Northern California.
Walnut Creek, CA. This infill project puts high-density housing back into an existing downtown. Gates & Associates addressed the interests of neighbors and interfacing uses as well as the technical constraints of the site to create a dynamic residential area within an established downtown. (Rendering by Gates + Associates)
"It's really a great time to be a landscape architect," says Linda. "I think society as a whole, when they're looking for housing, has evolved beyond just square-footage. They want to live in a place. When they turn down the street into their neighborhood, they want to feel like they've arrived home before they even get to the front door."
David agrees, and says that developers don't just sell homes anymore, they sell communities and all the things that define it. Crafting that environment as an experience, he says, whether it's residential, commercial or civic, is at the heart of the firm's expertise.
"This is what we love to do," says David. "We like to get in there early enough to help define the brand, the experience and to work with the civil engineer and the architect and make sure we're all in sync. It's that magic at the very beginning of a project, what kind of place is this ... what does it feel like, look like ... that's the fun in it. And I think we bring that together in an extraordinary way."
Gates and Associates is located in San Ramon. Contact them at (925) 736-8176, or visit dgates.com
October 2006 Builder Architect Edition Issue