Title:
Chairman of the board, Tucker Sadler Noble Castro Architects
Education:
Bachelor of science degree, Arizona State University, 1952; Bachelor’s degree in architecture, USC, 1955
Birthplace:
Phoenix
Residence:
Point Loma
Hobbies:
Golf, bird hunting, fly fishing
From a Hillcrest Grocery Store to The Planned Downtown Library, Hal Sadler’s Impact on San Diego’s Landscape Is Unmistakable
Forty-five years after completing his first design for a real building , a Safeway store that still handles customers as a Vons in Hillcrest , architect Hal Sadler finds himself toiling with change requests to his firm’s conceptual layout for the new $135 million central library in Downtown.
“They changed the meeting schedule three times in the last couple days,” Sadler says with slight irritation during a recent interview. But the smile he wore while imparting his qualm betrayed any sense of gnashing disgust with the pace of the project to build the 400,000-square-foot San Diego main library, which is scheduled to open in 2005.
After creating large-scale building designs that have defined much of the Downtown skyline, Sadler and his associates in the firm of Tucker Sadler Noble Castro Architects are well-versed in the often arduous, give-and-take diplomacy that goes into gaining approval for designs of major construction projects in San Diego.
“Hal is very good at working through a negotiation or problem without any hidden emotion coming out,” firm co-founder Tom Tucker said, adding with a chuckle: “It usually turns out OK with a change here and there, but sometimes it’s OK with a question mark behind it.”
The most prominent Downtown structures designed by the firm that Sadler and Tucker help start in 1956 are the high-rise California First Bank, Security Pacific Bank and Bank of America buildings.
The firm has designed a long list of other large structural projects, such as the San Diego Hilton Beach and Tennis Resort, and numerous renovations, including the recently completed remodel of the U.S. Grant Hotel.
Co-founder Ed Bennett, a structural engineer, amicably severed his ties with the firm in 1978. Tucker, now 77, is semi-retired, although he comes into the firm’s modest office building on Second Avenue in San Diego every weekday to monitor business functions and preparation of design documents.
No Slowing Down
But even at 70, Sadler remains firmly enmeshed in helping direct the firm’s activities as chairman of the board. His work days are packed with challenges, considering the firm’s current design projects include producing renderings for the $200 million expansion of the San Diego Convention Center, the Del Mar Fairgrounds master plan, additions to the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, renovation of the San Diego Museum of Art, plus creation of the new San Diego central library. The library design effort is a joint venture with Rob Quigley FAIA Architects of San Diego.
“I have never thought about retirement,” Sadler says. “But I’m getting to a point in life where I want to spend more time working in design and our community-related activities, and I don’t want to spend a lot of time in the management and administration end of the operation.
“I really don’t want to have to deal that much with the day-to-day business functions.”
Sadler’s desire for a shift of focus spurred a reorganization of the firm, which went into effect this month. Robert Noble was brought in as chief executive officer and principal of design, and Arturo Castro became president of the firm, which changed its name to reflect the reorganization.
Noble previously was the principal partner for Long Beach-based Gridcore Systems International, an environmental technology company he founded six years ago. Castro was promoted after joining then-named Tucker Sadler & Associates Inc. in 1977 and became the firm’s manager for several major design projects.
Castro will concentrate on the firm’s business administration, while Noble will join Sadler in leading its design effort. Sadler says the timing of the leadership reorganization was right to put the firm in a position for better prosperity during a boom period he expects for major-project construction Downtown.
Changing Scenery
San Diego’s skyline, he says, will change dramatically in the near future after the city had lagged behind other metropolitan areas of similar size in developing its urban core with larger, more modern buildings.
“There are cranes everywhere now,” Sadler says with zeal, noting that following behind other cities’ urban overhaul efforts provides an advantage of hindsight.
“We learned what not to do. We learned to protect our (ocean) water views and develop the core by paying attention to both business and residential needs. San Diego’s lucky in the way the freeway system was developed. It leaves a walkable city in a concentration of 1,200 blocks of land.”
Sadler especially looks forward to the completion of major developments near the Embarcadero, where the expanded Convention Center will be joined by the Downtown ballpark in 2003, followed by the city’s central library two years later.
On the flip side, Sadler, who was selected for the distinguished fellow designation by the American Institute of Architects, rankles with some frustration at what he perceives as San Diegans’ traditional reluctance toward proposals for large projects in the city.
“My biggest disappointment is our citizens have prevented San Diego from taking advantage of opportunities as timely as other cities around the country have.
“There is difficulty building in San Diego. New projects that come up usually get delayed about nine out of 10 times. The library project started in 1996 and here we are in 2001 barely getting into the design work.”
Sadler says the change in scrutiny of major building projects occurred about 20 years ago.
“In the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, you worked to meet your clients’ requirements and needs. Since the 1980s, projects are mitigated,” he says, referring to mandatory trade-offs agencies now require to approve projects. “(Citizen) groups are much more active in monitoring projects from the start then they were before. As a designer, it makes things more difficult, but what comes out usually is more environmentally sound and community-oriented.”
And community orientation has been a major part of Sadler’s life ever since he arrived in San Diego 46 years ago with a new bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Southern California.
Serving San Diego
He has served on the boards , often as chairman , of more than a dozen civic and charitable nonprofit organizations. They include Children’s Hospital and Health Center, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Foundation, the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, the San Diego Parks and Recreation Board, the San Diego Facilities Committee, the San Diego Housing and Appeals Board and San Diegans Inc.
He also is the newest member of the board of directors for the Centre City Development Corp., a nonprofit organization appointed by the San Diego Redevelopment Agency to assess new proposals for larger buildings.
“We have the ability to be really critical of new projects coming in,” Sadler says, referring to his role on the seven-member board. “We really have a strong say in how different projects fit in with the urban context of Downtown.”
CCDC President Peter Hall says Sadler’s appointment was a boon to the organization’s board.
“There is a small fraternity of architects who helped define the city of San Diego, and Hal is one of them. He brings a wealth of experience, both in professional design and public service to the job.”
Sadler says his firm never landed a contract through his work with various nonprofit organizations. Instead, it has forced the firm to back away from pursuing some projects, he says, because of a potential appearance of conflict of interest.
“Architects notoriously don’t do anything along the lines of community service, but when I came down here as a young guy out of USC, I knew if I was going to be successful, I was going to have to become a part of the community,” the longtime Point Loma resident recalls. Sadler has indeed succeeded, says Trish Butler, executive president of BDR Consulting, a company that has prepared numerous environmental impact reports for large projects in San Diego.
“There is genuine concern about environmental issues in Hal because he has been involved so much in the community for so long,” Butler says. “I have always found Hal and his staff very amenable when dealing with issues of environmental sensibilities.”
Although Sadler looks forward with excitement to the esthetic allure of several future projects , such as a new suspension bridge that will be built from the Convention Center over Harbor Drive to the Gaslamp District , he also receives reminders that some of the structures he drew plans for have met the wrecking ball in the name of progress.
“One sign of age is when people call you and apologize because they have to tear down a building you designed,” he says with a grin.
Brooks is a San Diego-based free-lance writer.
