WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU 

PCC Residential, doing business as Pacific Circle Construction Inc., is an award-winning design, project management and building firm with completed projects all over the San Francisco Bay Area. In 27 years in business, PCC has built 70 new homes from the ground up. Thirty of these new homes were designed in house by PCC  This number ranges in scope from well considered small new homes on standard infill lots, to the complete engineering and design package - including utility hook-ups, roadway, grading, drainage and architectural planning - for a new estate home on 70 acres in the hills above Half Moon Bay.  PCC has also designed and/or built well over 175 remodels, additions and renewals large and small,  In addition, the company has designed and / or built medical clinics, restaurants, office space, warehouses, and warehouse projects through out the bay area.                   

PCC Residential is experienced in many and varied design styles - from turn-of-the-century Victorian cottage and craftsman bungalow, to mid-century modern and cutting-edge environmental contemporary.  The company has completed successful designs in all of these varied styles.  Our expertise includes bathroom remodels, kitchen renovations, whole-house renewals, facade alterations, additions of every sort, and new homes.  PCC Residential is expert at cost-estimating and value engineering. The company can coordinate the many engineers and consultants required to build in the Bay Area today. All drafting is clearly and beautifully presented using AutoCAD 2D and Chief Architect 3D software. Using these programs, clients can see a paper walk-though of the project including room layout, doors, cabinets, wall color and furniture placement before a shovel full of dirt is moved or a single piece of wood is put in place.

Pacific Circle Construction Inc. has won an Honorable Mention award for 2007 from Sustainable San Mateo County, for a “green” whole house renovation.  This award came with Congressional recognition.   The winning project featured a complete suite of energy saving features using  L.E.E.D. (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) guidelines. Some of the features incorporated into this house included a green living roof, photo-voltaic panels, radiant heating, passive solar orientation, targeted insulation, a metal roof for durability, recycled content and recyclabiliy,  F.S.C. (Forest Stewardship Council) certified building materials, low  V.O.C. (volatile organic compounds) paints, and a waste recycling program. Because the project was an addition and remodel it is not eligible for a LEED rating.  If it were, it would be awarded a Gold level award.  With some small changes, it could have easily reached a Platinum level award. Pacific Circle Construction tries to build all of their projects using these methods.  Green building has simply become an ingrained norm for what we do everyday. 

PCC Residential also does landscape design and installation. Services start with the overall concept for the outdoor space. This includes plans for grading, drainage, irrigation and paving, the design of garden structures and open-air rooms.  Outdoor rooms can include such features as trellises, open and covered patios, outdoor kitchens, and pool or hot tub areas. We also provide plant selection, detailing and specification.  PCC Residential is experienced with green or living roof design and installation  Also "green screen" or green facade construction and planting.  This is a new technique where an exterior or interior wall is planted and becomes a living focal point or highlight of a room or building.  We try to emphasize low maintenance, low water use environmentally friendly California native or Mediterranean climate planting.  However,  parts of the landscape should be high impact, lush and luxuriant.  These areas should be compact, easily seen and accessed and close to areas regularly used and enjoyed.  We include colorful and fragrant blooms in all of our landscape designs.  With care these plantings can transition one-to-the-next and provide many months of constantly changing color, texture and scent.  We can build and install, under a fixed price contract, anything that we specify and design.

Finally, we are able to provide site specific fountains and sculpture in glass, stone, concrete and steel.  We also produce work in neon, LED and fiber optic electric lighting. 

If you can imagine it, if you have seen a photo of it, if you just have a feeling... we can produce it... with great care... and exemplary craftsmanship.

To discuss just what PCC Residential and Pacific Circle Construction Inc can do for you,            please call or e-mail Bob Vetter.

                                                                             E-mail:  bob@pccresidential.com

                                                                              Phone (650) 355-0599

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION 

WHAT IS GOOD DESIGN? (2)

Timothy Samara in the book, Design Elements - A Graphic Style Manual, lays out 20 rules for good design.  Because it is a book about graphic design, print advertising  and type face, not all the rules can be applied to architecture, but those that can be are worth noting and can be illuminating.  The rules of good design are universal and can be applied to all forms of expression. be that expression two dimensional, three dimensional, the taste of our food or the music that we produce and enjoy.

 Some of Timothy Samara's rules, slightly modified, are: 

The primary rule is;  Rules can be broken - but never  ignored.

Have a concept:  If a design has no message, no story embodied into it, no common thread running through it, it is not good design.

Communicate - don't decorate: The form of a building carries meaning, no matter how simple or abstract.  A poorly chosen detail can communicate the wrong message and the whole will suffer.

Speak with one visual voice:  All the parts of a design should speak to each other in the same voice and use the same vocabulary.

Use the on-two punch:   Good design will focus the viewer on one important item first and then lead them too and through the rest.

Pick colors on purpose:   Carefully chose the colors you use, know how they will react to each other, and what those color choices may mean to the viewer.

If you can do it with less, then do it:  This is the over arching view from Modernism that "less is more."  This is true, or at least it usually is.

Negative space is magical - create it, don't just fill it up:  Negative space around a design element can be more important that what is within it.  Negative space focus's attention on content, separates design elements  and allows a resting place for the eye.

Be universal - it is not about you:  The fine artist can talk to themselves to themselves, a good designer must speak a well appreciated and understood language.

Squish and separate:  Create rhythmic contrasts in density by compressing some materials while spreading others further apart.  Give the spaces between things a considered pulse.

Be decisive.  Do it on purpose - or don't do it at all:  The ability to distinguish the difference between elements is at the heart of good design.

Measure with your eyes-design is visual:  No matter the actual dimensions it needs to look right to be good design.

Ignore fashion - seriously:  It may look great today but will it tomorrow?  Timeless design is just that.

Look to history, but don't repeat it:  Designs of the past can be inspiring but aesthetics and technology have changed.  Good design needs to be of its time and of its place.

Symmetry is the ultimate evil: Symmetrical arrangements of design elements are usually static and lack visual movement.  It can be very difficult to integrate asymmetrical elements (such as landscape and art work) into a rigid layout.

 contractor