Design Review Consulting
Design review consulting supports city planning departments and commissions guide local development, improve project design, and implement plans and regulations such as design guidelines, zoning regulations/objective design standards, specific plans and similar policy documents as well as make sure projects get built in adherence to approved plans. Review and design consulting support can also be provided to private sector and corporate clients to shape and improve their plans and projects.
This service has been the mainstay of Arnold Mammarella’s architectural and consulting practice for close to 30 years and has included review and design consulting on over 4,000 single-family homes, dozens of multifamily or large urban mixed-use developments, large retail centers and downtown “main street” development, and similar development projects. Services include:
• Design review of single-family homes, including in hillside environments.
• Design/peer review of small and large urban infill housing and mixed-used projects.
• Design/peer review of district and residential neighborhood site plans and architectural design.
• Historic review of residential structures using the Secretary of the Interior Standards.
• Consultation to planning commissions and ad-hoc committees on major projects and area plans.
• Graphic support for troubled projects such as massing or elevation improvement studies.
• Meeting facilitation with property owners and neighbors for conflict resolution.
• Design review program advisory services.
Coordinating closely with staff, Arnold Mammarella often acts as the point person for a city in discussing projects and negotiating with applicants and project architects, educating them on community goals and regulations, offering ideas and remedies to address city concerns, and collaborating on changes.
This type of activity requires a broad knowledge of architectural design, including historic preservation, urban design and urban planning along with well-honed design and communication skills. It also requires the ability to quickly conceptualize alternative solutions or adjustments to an applicant’s proposal that will meet city needs, while being workable from the applicant’s point of view. Review analysis and ideas are conveyed in written, graphic, and verbal form as appropriate for the situation. Site visits and pre-application meetings are commonly used in the review process along with more formal measures such as reports and findings. Reports may be written for staff level reviews as well as for attaching to staff reports for projects going to boards or commissions. Attendance to planning commission meetings to present or respond to commission questions is also a common service as well as working with ad-hoc committees of commissioners or council members on major projects.
Listening and rapport building with property owners and designers are key skills to successful design review. With some project sponsors only hard negotiation and compromise are possible, but with many others a “joining in” process and collaboration are possible. This particularly true with repeat architects and developers, who come to understand both the city’s regulations, motives and approach to design review and the consultant’s consistent, nonbiased application of the rules. Under these circumstances trust and mutual respect are possible. With many architects or developers there is a learning curve to overcome assumptions based on previous experiences in other communities. Being an experienced licensed architect helps bridge this gap given the kinship factor, but equally important is their experience that the design review consultant is not attempting to redesign the project to his preferences, but rather to facilitate a solution that meets city regulations or to resolve conflicts between a property owner/developer and neighbors/community members.
Current and past clients include the cities of Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Concord, Emeryville and Oakland. Additionally of note, previous to establishing a private practice, Arnold Mammarella was the City of Oakland’s planning supervisor for the Oakland Hills Fire Area developing and implementing zoning and design policies and a design review program to rebuild after the 1991 firestorm.
