For Immediate Release: February 21, 2007
Thistlethwaite Architectural Group and HGA Architects and Engineers Merge
San Francisco, CA - San Francisco-based Thistlethwaite Architectural Group (TAG), an award-winning firm specializing in healthcare design, has merged with HGA Architects and Engineers (HGA), a national full-service architecture, engineering and planning firm. The merger, effective January 31, 2007, enables both HGA and TAG to further expand their reach into Northern California's healthcare market.
David R. Thistlethwaite, AIA, ACHA, founding principal of TAG, is responsible for leading the San Francisco healthcare practice. Board certified in the specialty of healthcare architecture by the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA), Thistlethwaite is a member of the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) Academy of Architecture for Health, and was a founding chairperson of the AIA California Council's Health Facilities Committee.
TAG will now operate under the HGA name; however, until a larger space can be found to accommodate the staff of both TAG and HGA offices, HGA will maintain its existing downtown San Francisco office as well as the office that currently houses TAG's operations.
"This merger better positions us to serve the expanding and complex planning and design needs of the local healthcare community. HGA's depth of resources and more than 50 years of healthcare design experience, combined with TAG's strong local ties, will greatly benefit the area's healthcare community" said Thistlethwaite. "I am looking forward to leading HGA's new healthcare practice in San Francisco."
"TAG's exceptional knowledge of the Bay Area, along with its more than 20 years of healthcare design expertise, will enable HGA to add a strong San Francisco presence to its already burgeoning California healthcare design practice," said Daniel Avchen, FAIA, chairman of the board and CEO of HGA. "We are pleased to welcome David and his team to HGA."
Having entered the San Francisco market in early 1990's, HGA is best known in the area for its design of higher education facilities; however, HGA is not new to California's healthcare industry. In fact, the firm's Sacramento and Los Angeles offices have been involved in the design and planning of healthcare facilities since their founding. Some of HGA's current healthcare clients include: Sutter Health, Kaiser Permanente, Catholic Healthcare West, Stanford University and the University of California, Davis.
Over the years, HGA's California operation has been involved in the completion of numerous significant healthcare projects, including the $41-million seismic retrofit of San Francisco's Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center campus; the design of University of California, Davis Medical Center's $48-million, 100,000-square-foot M.I.N.D. Institute; the design and engineering for Sutter Roseville Medical Center's new patient care tower; the design of Catholic Healthcare West's Methodist Hospital trauma and surgery expansion in Sacramento; the design of Carson Tahoe Regional Healthcare Foundation's 34,000-square-foot Carson Tahoe Cancer Center in Carson City, Nev.; and several projects for Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa.
Since 1984, TAG has built up an impressive presence in the Bay Area designing facilities and master planning campuses for some of the region's most prominent healthcare systems, including John Muir Health, Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente. Projects completed by the firm include: the design of San Mateo Medical Center's Keller Women's and Children's Services; the birth center at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, Calif.; an expansion at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital; and a remodel of a 48-bed skilled nursing facility in Portola Valley for Northern California Presbyterian Homes and Services, to name a few.
HGA Contact: Julie Luers (612) 758-4000 e-mail JLuers@hga.com
Media Contact: Alyson Pitarre, The Hoyt Organization (310) 373-0103 e-mail apitarre@hoyt.com