Masonry Magazine March 1973 Page. 27
Memering Plaza Office Building
Sacramento, California
Architect Lee A. Watters (left) receives the Masonry Design Recognition award from John Jackson of the Masonry Joint Industry Board of Sacramento. Watters was cited for "outstanding architectural design and use of unit masonry" in creating the Memering Plaza office building in Sacramento. Feature of the structure is a masonry solar screen which surrounds the first floor of the plaza. John Jackson (MCAA) was also mason contractor for the project.
A masonry screen wall is the focal point of the new Memering Plaza office building, the most recent recipient of the "Masonry Design Recognition for Excellence in the Use of Unit Masonry" by the Masonry Institute of Northern California. Sharing the honors in the award for the professional building are: architect Lee A. Watters, A.I.A.; mason contractor John Jackson (MCAA); builder John F. Otto, Inc., and owners Robert H. Memering, John D. Stumbos, Jr., Louis A. DeMers and Nick Giordano. Memering Plaza, at 609 Ninth St. in Sacramento, Calif., consists of 14,624 square feet with the first floor of the two-story building occupied by law offices. Sixteen attorneys with the law firm all have their individual offices located around a center core of secretaries and a section for court reporters.
A tiled entry walk extends from the curb to the carved mahogany main entrance door. The first floor is surrounded by a free-standing decorative masonry screen wall formed by bond beam concrete block units laid on their sides. A pleasing array of green plants fills the garden area between the inside of the masonry wall and the main building.
Architect Watters points out that the masonry solar screen, comprised of 3,000 bond beam units (6"x8"x16"), is not only aesthetic but utilitarian since it controls the sunlight. This results in major savings in the cost of summertime air-conditioning. Hokanson Building Block Co. sup-
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masonry
March, 1973
27