FRITZ ARCHITECTURE-URBANISM
Fritz Architecture-Urbanism is an architecture and urbanism consulting firm located in Sebastopol, California. We are dedicated to helping clients realize their vision in a creative, cost-effective and environmentally conscious manner. We focus our design and consulting work on creating places for people whether it is where you live, work, shop or socialize. We all deserve great places to live, work and play and our architecture and urbanism work focuses on great places for people. We believe in the importance of creating a public realm that supports livable communities with a high quality of life.
We enjoy the collaborative and interactive nature of architecture and design and understand the importance of listening and maintaining close communication with the client as the design process moves toward the final vision. We cater our designs to each client’s unique program and design sensibility. We understand that you are making a big investment and we expect the resulting design to be a reflection of you.
We have a focus on housing projects from accessory dwellings units up to multi-family housing. We have a particular interest in affordable housing, whether that be affordable-by-design or subsidized affordable housing projects. Everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to live and we are committed to doing our part to provide that kind of housing. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing someone who had formerly been homeless or living in substandard housing move into a new safe and affordable home.
Paul Fritz has over 25 years of experience in the design of buildings having worked on numerous projects from single family homes, multi-family apartment complexes, mixed-use projects, commercial buildings and planning projects.
We look forward to working with you to help you realize your vision.
SMALL TOWN URBANISM
I began this blog in 2011 as a way to help me explore urban design issues. I am extremely interested in urban design issues particularly as we examine our built environments and how they will evolve as we look toward the future. I am interested in creating pedestrian-oriented urban environments that allow us to reduce our dependency on the automobile. For too long our built environments have been design around the movement of the automobile. I believe we should be developing vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods in order to preserve open space and reduce our energy consumption and to create stronger communities. I want to educate people on the benefits of creating pedestrian friendly environments, and taking back some of our built environment from the impact of cars.
I live and work in a small northern California town that I plan on using as a case study for many of the issues I address in my blog. The town, Sebastopol, has a population of just under 7,400, according to the 2010 census. Sebastopol has a functioning downtown with great potential that is not being fully realized. The issues surrounding this unrealized potential are what I plan to discuss in this blog. I believe many of the issues faced by Sebastopol are faced by other communities large and small across this country. And lessons learned elsewhere could be very well applied here. My hope is that this blog will contribute to the conversation regarding the future of our cities.