IRVINE, CA – MVE & Partners, Inc., a leading architecture, planning and design firm, was recognized at the 51st Annual Gold Nugget Awards, which honors architectural design and planning excellence. At the June 26 ceremony, MVE’s Crescent Village earned two Grand Awards for Best Community Site Plan and Best Multifamily Housing Project (30-60 du/acre), and was also awarded a Grand Award for Best On–The-Boards Site Plan for its Playa Vista Phase 2 Master Plan. The company also received multiple Awards of Merit for categories including Mixed-Use Project, On-The-Boards Mixed-Use Project and Residential Project of the Year. The Gold Nugget Awards draw entries from throughout the United States and internationally, and MVE has won nearly 300 Merit and/or Grand Awards over the course of its 40-year history.
“We’ve worked diligently to bring creative design and thoughtful planning to the communities in which we work, and we are honored to receive these prestigious Gold Nuggets,” said Rick Emsiek, president and chief operating officer at MVE & Partners. “As we celebrate our 40th anniversary this year, being recognized by our peers is one of the highest and most coveted compliments we could receive.”
Located in San Jose, Calif., and developed by The Irvine Company Apartment Communities, MVE’s Crescent Village project is a 1,750-unit GreenPoint Rated residential community with five architecturally distinct neighborhoods centered around a 5-acre park. Designed around San Jose Community Development’s goal of evolving North San Jose into a mixed-use, high-density model near local mass transit, Crescent Village replaces surfaced parking, suburban-style office development with walkable, strategically located residential communities. The community also promotes Smart Growth with its adjacency to the local VTA light rail station, pedestrian connections to adjacent streets and neighborhoods, as well as on-site resident services.
Gold Nugget judges remarked that Crescent Village “embraces dense living and New Urbanist principles” and has “the right amount of diverse architecture, an inviting public face, pedestrian and open space serving the internal needs of the community while adding to the public’s access for needed improvement.”
Playa Vista is a high-density mixed-use master plan under development near Los Angeles. MVE was retained by Playa Capital Company LLC and Brookfield Residential to master plan Playa Vista Phase 2, which consists of 2,800 residential units in an array of products and typologies, an approximate 200,000 square foot mixed-use village center with a grocery store, movie theaters, shops, restaurants and offices, a resident-serving clubhouse and recreation center, and more than twelve acres of parks, greenbelts and paseos. Throughout the planning process, MVE has prepared conceptual site analysis and development plans for a number of the proposed neighborhoods, created marketing materials for presentations to potential builders, and collaborated with additional team architects.
Gold Nugget judges recognized that the Playa Vista Phase 2 Master plan’s land strategy “responds to the emerging economy by transforming current residential unit allocations into upscale rental neighborhoods.”
“Gold Nugget Award winners reflect our industry’s best, brightest and most innovative architects, planners and builder/developers,” said judging chairman and Gold Nugget ceremonies administrator Lisa Parrish. “We applaud them all.”
The Gold Nugget Awards honor design and planning achievements in community and home design, green-built housing, site planning, commercial, retail, mixed-use development and specialty housing categories. Winners were chosen from 600 entries from around the world, and were announced on June 26 as a feature highlight of PCBC®, the nation’s largest regional conference and trade show for the real estate development field, during an awards reception at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. MVE hosted a reception following the awards ceremony at the W Hotel to celebrate the recognition, as well as the company’s 40th anniversary.
About MVE & Partners
Founded in 1974, the MVE Group of companies include MVE & Partners and MVE International, offering architecture, planning, interiors and graphic design to clients in the United States, South America, Australia and Asia. Led by Partners Carl McLarand, AIA and Rick Emsiek, AIA, and Principals Richard Castillo, AIA, NCARB, Jeff Larsen, AIA, Ken Nilmeier, Marios Savopoulos, AIA, and Darin Schoolmeester, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, MVE & Partners’ design and delivery services include the creation of residential, commercial, mixed-use, hospitality, retail, transit, interior and planning solutions. For more information, please visit www.mve-architects.com