In May 2010 I took the Facilities and Operations Coordinator position with Second Harvest Food Bank in San Jose, CA. Little did I know that all my education, experience and expertise in Construction and Interior Design would be put to the test. And what a test it was! In April 2011 Second Harvest was donated a 75,350 square foot office building in the corporate district of San Jose off of North First Street. The original idea for this new building was to add more space for our food distribution and convert the offices into open warehouse with plenty of pallet racks. Upon inspections however, the plans changed about 5 times and the final decision was to convert the building into a new and improved volunteer sort center and produce distribution warehouse. The planning began in May 2011, Construction began in September and the building was fully completed with operations beginning on April 23rd, 2012.
Below is a chronological list with pictures of this project.
Press Release: Donated Building Celebration and Ribbon Cutting
April 2011, Met with Directors, Marketing and the Volunteer Group to gather a list of needs/amenities for the new facility according to the new plan. I then met with our Architect “Tolbert Designs” and created the floor plan, specified finishes, and set specific design details accordingly.
Below are pictures of the inside and outside BEFORE any construction began:
The building itself needed paint. As it was donated, the building came with beige walls and brown wood trim – it was outdated. Corporate buildings in the area surrounding the building were modern and I decided on two tones of Grey for the walls and trim. Also, the front entrance of the building came covered with overbearing tree’s, foliage and a bench. I had the space opened up by removing the tree’s, bench and updated the landscaping as well. Before and After pictures are below.
The sketch below is my proposal for the Food Bank, it shows paint color and the idea of logo representation on the front of the building. The logo is a plate with a fork and knife on the sides, I thought it would be a good idea to add some “fun” and give the building some logo representation/landmarking.
At the Front Lobby Reception, the client wanted a modern update with simple features. As a food bank they did not want to look too ritzy but they did not want to look plain. They wanted a secure reception area and a left entrance to the volunteer side of the building and a right entrance to the office/executive side of the building. They also wanted to add a small conference room for vendor briefings and a phone room for clients. The original layout is shown below along with my sketches, demolition during construction and the after photos.
This building used to be all office space, cubicles, conference rooms, small “clean rooms” where they made computer parts and a very small warehouse. The new plan for the building included creating safe, fun and strategically designed “Volunteer Sort” space, offices, warehousing and cold storage. The entire building was gutted and remodeled.
These are the before pictures of the building interior:::
The “Volunteer Sort Center” is where people within the community go to provide help to those in need, or, to work for the food they receive as assistance. The plan for this facility included creating a safe, fun environment for the volunteers where donated food could be sorted in one room, packed into delivery bags in another while received and stored in a completely separate area. The Food Bank wanted a big, welcoming Reception area for their guests as many high profile companies come to support by packing food too.
These are my sketches for the re-design, pictures during construction and the AFTER photos of the Volunteer Side of the building::::
DEMOLITION:
And here are the AFTER photo’s of the remodeled interior:::
The following images are for the Custom Lights I had made by Cj Flores of Metal Curves in Santa Cruz, CA. (Custom Lighting Vendor call 831-345-7362)
These lights are a decorative touch to the front lobby, for both entrances 1. The Volunteer Side and 2. The Office Pavilion Side.
And Finally, the Truck Dock area behind the building was also remodeled. As it was before there was a basketball court, a lot of tree’s and other islands therefore making any deliveries very difficult. Here are the before and after pictures of the work I had done to rectify the trucking needs.
Pictures just dont do justice for the Second Harvest Project I completed here. If you would like a tour of the facility or if you have any questions, please just let me know.
Thank you, it has been my pleasure to share this with you.
-Victoria
WOW!!!! What amazing job!!!!! HGTV better watch out!!!!