Object Projects

Led by partners Sarah Hirschman1 and Ann Worth,2 Object Projects is a California-based architecture studio focused on strengthening social infrastructure3 through design. 

About

Brooks Theater

Oceanside, CA

more     A 1930s-era movie house turned live performance venue, the Brooks sits at the heart of Oceanside’s Cultural District. Using the alibi of deferred maintenance, strategic improvements ensure the theater’s long-term sustainability. Phase one reorganizes interior spaces to encourage lingering in a redesigned front lobby and a new connection to an updated studio theater. Phase two wraps the building in an acoustic facade that folds down to create an outdoor stage, activating the surrounding urban context.  



Furry Playhouse

Boulder Creek, CA

more   When rebuilding their home after a devastating wildfire in the Santa Cruz mountains, our clients’ first priority was space to throw (very) big parties. We envision a series of choreographed moments for performance—transportation of 40’-wide steel frames of the pre-engineered building through steep mountain roads, the procession through the residence when unveiling a new fursuit, tracing the path that friends coming to a rave will travel (acid safe!), the theatrical regrowth of the surrounding forest.  



Current Objects

Online

more Current Objects is an imprint of Object Projects, an initiative that grew out of our desire to collaborate with distant colleagues during COVID. It is a publication of small things; a digital (and sometimes physical) store; a forum for experimentation and production. We see object-making as an extension of architectural practice insofar as every architect we know makes things. We collect them and offer them to the world as an expression of respect and appreciation.  



The O

Oceanside, CA

more    The “O” is an urban- scaled metal and light installation suspended above the intersection at Pier View Way and Tremont Street, the heart of Oceanside’s iconic weekly Sunset Market. A collection of elliptical discs are suspended from a network of steel cables, activating a central public space below one large “O”, a metaphor for the many people, narratives, and events that have formed Oceanside.   



Woodland Hotel

Toledo, WA

more The Woodland Hotel project takes advantage of a loophole in Washington State zoning regulations that allow agricultural operations to maintain a small number of guest accommodations on site. Working closely with the owners and carefully mapping the existing trees on their heavily wooded property, we proposed a small campus of private but connected cottages. A winding pathway promotes accessibility of the woods surrounding the proposed network of structures.      



Nature Center

Buena Vista Lagoon, CA

more The Nature Center holds an exquisite collection of taxidermy, bones, eggs, insects, and fossils from the nearby Buena Vista Lagoon, yet it sits marooned on an asphalt island, lacking connection to the landscape. The project proposes incremental improvements to reposition the Center as a front door to the lagoon. The first phase is modest, removing defunct infrastructure, reorganizing existing exhibitions, and swapping paint colors. Later phases open specimen cases and reorient visitors towards the landscape.  



Creative Growth

Oakland, CA

more Since 1974 Creative Growth’s mission has been to provide a professional studio environment for artists with intellectual or developmental disabilities, whose work is collected by collectors and museums, including SFMoMA. Creative Growth engaged Object Projects to lead a facility assessment and vision development process through the end of 2023 to help articulate a vision and imagine possibilities for growth and synergies within the organization and the architecture that supports it.   



Olympia

Oakland, CA

more Olympia is a project of careful urban surgery, lifting up an existing Craftsman cottage in Oakland to insert a new two-bedroom unit below, and constructing a standalone two-bedroom house in the rear yard. The project carefully considered access and privacy, separating the entry ways for the three units and ensuring that each had ample outdoor space and sunlight.