Projects

Our Promise

Kaiser Cancer Treatment Center, Santa Clara

The story of Kaiser Permanente is a history of exellence, a legacy of each generation's contribution to understanding health and meeting the needs of members. By focusing on member's needs, the people of Kaiser Permanente built the first nonprofit healthcare organization in American history.

Kaiser Permanente is an organization that continually works to elevate the state of health care wtih progressive products, services and advancements. Our vision of the future remains focused on improving the health of their members and the communities they serve.

A labyrinth is a single path or universal tool for personal, psychological and spiritual transformation. Labyrinths are thought to enhance the right side of brain activity. Orsee Design Associates integrated a labyrinth into the therapeutic landscape at the Santa Clara Cancer Treatment Center.

Over the past ten years, labyrinths have undergone a dramatic revival as a meditation, relaxation and spititual tool. Begining in churches in the United States, this renewal now encompasses religious communities of all types, hospitals & health care facilities, spas & retreat centers, schools & universities, public parks, memorials & healing gardens, prisons and even progressive businesses. Labyrinths have appeared in such varied settings as Central Park in New York City, Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore and a downtown square in Zurich, Switzerland.

San Jose Police Department Substation

A 2006 AIA design award winner, this building finds itself reasserting the "public" in public safety, this facility anchors an emerging community in Silicon Valley's county seat. A metephoric ribbon, the jury says, the substation's ties are "of staff to staff, of police to community, of building to context, of materials to experience, and process to innovation."

"Within the sweep of a simple gesture, the design is rich, layered, permeable and inclusive." - RossDrulisCusenberry Architecture, Inc.

A Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certified building, it will follow standards defined as a "green building" by establishing a common standard of measurement. This included water efficiency and materials and recources.

Orsee Design has embraced and supported eco-efficient, low maintenance designs and environments for many years. A sustainable landscape is a healthy and resilient landscape that will endure over the long term without the need for high input of scarce or expensive resources such as water or man-power. The natural functions and processes of the landscape are able to maintain themselves into the future. Environment, it's use and plant materials that work in harmony with internal system has always been a conservation philosophy behind out award-winning designs.

Japanese American Museum of San Jose

The Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) preserves and disseminates the culture and history of Japenese Americansm with special focus on the Santa Clara Valley.

Established in November of 1987, SAMsj grew out of a 1984-95 research project on Japanese American farmers in the Santa Clara Valley. The farming project collected family histories, historical photographs, private memoirs and other unpublished documents and led to the development of a curriculum package on the Japanese American History, which was adopted for the use of the San Jose Unified and Eastside Union High School Districts. SAMsj workshop on developing family histories provided documentary materials and photos included in the award-winning book Japanese Legacy, Farming and Community Life in Calfornia's Santa Clara Valley (1985) co- authored by Timothy J. Lukes and Gary Y. Okihiro Ph.D.

With the help and support of the Japanese American Citizens league, San Jose Chapter, the museum started an upstairs room of the historic Issei Memorial Building, formerly the Kuwara Hospital. In 2002, the name changed for the Japanese Resource Center/Museum (JARC/M) to the Japanese American Museum of San Jose to better reflect the museums archival focus. JAMsl now occupies the former residence of Tokio Ishikawa, M.D. two doors south on North First Street.

Orsee Design Associates uses ornamental trees and planting material indigenous to Japan. The persimmon tree is a handsome ornamental with drooping leaves and branches that give it a languid, rather tropical appearance. The cherry tree is iconic to Japan and is it's national flower. The coming of spring is symbolized by the emerging cherry blossoms. These profuse, fragrant flowers can be single or double, white or pink. The Japanese maple has a radiant, deep color to it's leaves and is distinctive to Japanese gardens. The use of these elements, harmonize and reflect the color and culture of Japan.