Celebrating A Legend: CSHQA Architects Marks 120 Years of Smart Design
From humble beginnings as a one-man, one-room architect�s office established in 1889, Boise�s CSHQA has grown to become a 100-person architecture and engineering firm with additional studios in Sacramento, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City and Roseburg, Ore.
The studios are designed to address specific market sectors, including aviation; corporate/office; education, sports and recreation; government/civic; health care; housing and mixed-use projects; and retail, restaurant and hospitality in a “soup-to-nuts” approach, says Jeff Shneider, CSHQA’s president and the firm’s visionary leader since 1985.
As the economy has ebbed and flowed over the past 120 years, this diversification has proven key to the firm’s continued success.
John Maulin, the firm’s vice president of operations, says that unlike smaller firms that may focus primarily on one type of work, CSHQA’s diversity gives it an edge in the marketplace, no matter the economic conditions.
“There isn’t any safe harbor anymore; we have to keep reinventing ourselves,” Shneider says, noting that no market has been unaffected by the recession. “Everybody has their track shoes on—we’re just thankful we are as versatile as we are.”
Several name changes took place over the years to reflect the firm’s additional partners, and by 1979, the firm was known as Cline Smull Hamill Quintieri Associates, eventually shortened to CSHQA. In 1989, 100 years after it was established, CSHQA added engineers and created a one-stop shop to provide architectural, engineering and planning services.
“We were one of the first design firms to add in-house engineers,” says Allen Quintieri, one of the firm’s retired principals and the ‘Q’ in CSHQA. Since then, interior designers and landscape architects have also joined the team, enabling CSHQA to meet the needs of practically any client, Quintieri says.
Building RelationshipsShneider says another significant transition took place in the 1980s when CSHQA strategically shifted its focus from the art of architecture to the business of architecture.
“We moved from marketing projects to building relationships—and this really put us on the growth curve,” Shneider says. He adds that much of the firm’s business has come from repeat clients, both at home in Boise and nationwide.
CSHQA has designed numerous projects for national clients such as Albertsons, Safeway and Whole Foods Markets, and it maintains ongoing relationships with the Boise Airport, the city and state, Ada County and several Idaho school districts closer to home.
“You live and die by the local economy,” although the firm’s work in the health care and aviation industries has also created a presence for CSHQA from coast to coast, says Larry Kalousek, CSHQA treasurer.
Mike Kramer, senior director of construction for the Whole Foods Rocky Mountain Regional Support Office, has worked with the design firm on various Whole Foods store remodel projects, as well as new store development and special projects throughout the region. Kramer says that CSHQA�s insight and expertise, particularly in the area of 3-D modeling, has revolutionized the way Whole Foods does business.
“The Q” has a “great way of balancing sound design with the cost,” says Kramer, using the nickname his team has given the firm. “And their team has a great ability to keep up with changes,” he adds.
Kramer says that Whole Foods and CSHQA are working together on six to eight projects at any given time, including a complex expansion to the Boulder, Colo., flagship store that will be completed in 2011.
Shades of GreenThe new Whole Foods store in Centennial, Colo., designed by CSHQA and opened in June 2009, recently received Green Globe certification from the Green Building Initiative for its sustainable design and energy efficiency.
“The concept of LEED shows up in all of our designs,” Kalousek says.
He says CSHQA encourages its staff to become LEED certified, and sustainable concepts are embedded into every studio.
CSHQA has been a leader in energy efficiency since the 1970s. However, when asked about the firm’s LEED division, Shneider deadpans that the firm doesn’t have one because at CSHQA, “it’s simply called good design.”
Kalousek adds: “Even if the client isn’t looking for a sustainable building, we’re poised to look for this by default. Most, if not all, of our projects qualify for this in some way.”
In 1985, before the terms sustainable design and LEED became buzzwords, the firm received international acclaim for building the energy-efficient Liberty Elementary School in Boise.
Retired partner Neil Smull, the ‘S’ in CSHQA, says the Liberty project introduced energy-saving concepts such as solar energy and controllable electronics that took advantage of daylighting. The revolutionary design also entailed berming the earth up to the windowsills to conserve energy needed for heating and cooling the building.
A few years earlier, Smull received recognition for Boise’s Amity Elementary School, which appeared on a 1979 cover of Time for its forward-thinking design. This earth-covered school is situated above ground but covered by 2 ft of earth with lawn and shrubs growing on top. Solar panels and other energy-efficient elements were also included in the design.
“We’re not jumping on the green bandwagon,” says Kent Hanway, CSHQA’s executive vice president. “It has been integrated into our practice for years, as a [normal] course of business.”
CSHQA’s newly completed Mulvaney Medical Office building in Boise is currently pending LEED Gold certification, and the Ada County Civic Plaza tenant improvement project in Boise recently received LEED Gold.
Design That Speaks“We stress that we are people who listen; design that speaks,” Kalousek says. “It’s the client’s project, not a monument to us, so we work hard to accomplish the client’s vision.”
Kevin Meikle, planning and engineering manager for the Fresno Yosemite International Airport, adds, “It’s really about their people.”
Meikle, who is also an architect and has been working in the design industry for more than 30 years, says that during the airport’s six-year relationship with CSHQA, the design firm assembled a team of professionals who were “exactly the right fit for our project.”
The $15-million project included doubling the capacity of the baggage-claim facility, creating a new security checkpoint and rebuilding the ticketing wing from scratch while keeping the facility fully operational.
Meikle says the 1960s-designed terminal complex has been reborn with a 20- to 30-year life—a “phenomenal accomplishment in this day and age.”
CSHQA’s client-oriented approach was also key to the $120-million renovation and restoration of the Idaho State Capitol, a project that began in 1994 and will wrap up by the end of this year. CSHQA developed in-house experts for many crucial aspects of the project, assigning a different project manager to each major element of the design, says Jan Frew, deputy administrator for the division of public works and executive project manager for the Capitol restoration.
Frew says the process has worked extremely well, with a different expert focused on the marble detailing, one working on the hardware issues, another assigned to deal with change orders and so forth.
CSHQA stripped the building’s interior skin, replaced the electrical and mechanical systems and added a fire protection system, two new five-story stair towers and two new elevators. CSHQA also handled the tenant improvements for the two new adjacent subgrade office buildings, 20,000 sq ft on each side of the building.
The Band Plays On“The dance continues,” says Shneider, adding that the firm has built layers into its leadership structure so that long-time team members are able to retire without the firm missing a beat.
| Landmark Projects 19th Century • Idaho Statesman Building, Boise • Mary McCarthy Building, Boise 20th Century • University of Idaho Kibbie Dome, Moscow • Boise State University Pavilion, Boise 21st Century • Idaho State Capitol Renovation, Boise • Tamarack Resort Discovery Center, Donnelly • Boise Airport Terminal Expansion, Boise |
This succession tool was created by Glen Clein, the ‘C’ in CSHQA, in the late 1960s and has served the firm well, enabling it to change and grow while holding fast to the qualities that have made it so successful.
Kalousek, Maulin, Hanway and Craig Slocum, CSHQA secretary, represent the next echelon established to move the firm into the future. These four principals graduated from the University of Idaho within a year of each other and joined the firm between 1985 and 1988.
