Our Story & Community Impact | Signum Architecture

architecture

About

2011–2025

portfolio 2011–2021

We believe in the transformative power of architecture to elevate everyday life.

Our History

10 years of pushing boundaries in  architecture

November
2005

Juancarlos & Jarrod meet at Lail Design Group

June
2010

Jarrod becomes a Certified Passive House Consultant, one of only a handful in the U.S.

April
2010

Hall Wines and CADE Estate become the first and second LEED Gold certified wineries in California.

November
2010

CADE Estate is featured in the SFMOMA Exhibition: “How Wine Became Modern”

May
2011

Juancarlos & Jarrod establish Signum Architecture

January
2012

The O’Neill residence in Sonoma becomes the 1st Certified Passive House Retrofit in the U.S.

July
2015

Signum’s 1st hotel project - Calistoga Motor Lodge

September
2016

Signum wins 3 AIA Design Awards in a single year

December
2016

Odette Estate Winery becomes LEED Certified, the second for clients Plumpjack Group

April
2019

Melka Estates is named Best Winery Design by CA Home + Design magazine

August
2019

Signum has 4 projects featured in the book The New Architecture of Wine.

June
2020

Signum is one of just two U.S. architecture firms featured in The World Winery Collection.

September
2021

Signum has two projects featured in the book At Home in the Wine Country.

November
2023

Signum moves to its new location in downtown Napa.

November 2005

Juancarlos & Jarrod meet at Lail Design Group

Our Relationships

our relationships

clients

A practice built on trust

At Signum, the foundation of our practice is relationships—with each other as partners, with our talented and dedicated staff, with our clients and with our community.

Our Community

our community

people

We are mindful of our responsibilities as architects. Through our work with local schools, on boards and with communities in need, we give back to our community in ways that are intentional and meaningful.

Signum Architecture

American Institute of Architects Redwood Empire

Jarrod served as a board member for the Redwood Empire chapter of the AIA.

Redwood Adventist Academy

Signum provided pro bono pre-design services to the Academy assessing the highest and best uses for the property as part of its redesign

Leadership Napa Valley

Kirsten was a member of the 28th class of this nationally recognized program, which provides leadership development for community-minded individuals who want to make the Napa Valley a better place to live and work. She subsequently served on the organization’s Board of Directors.

Active 20-30

As a member of the Redwood Empire Chapter of Active 20-30, Alicia volunteered to serve underprivileged and at risk youth in Sonoma county; she served a term as president in 2017.

Napa Community College Board

Jarrod served as an advisor for the distribution of bond funds, which were used to underwrite campus improvements that included a performing arts center and physical education building.

Napa Valley Community Housing Board

As a member of the Community Housing board, Juancarlos provided input on affordable housing needs and opportunities throughout the valley, bringing to his role both his cultural and architectural knowledge.

Yountville Zoning & Design Review Board

Jarrod served two multi-year terms on the board, as well as serving on the advisory committee for the town’s general plan.

Campus Architect - Pacific Union College

Signum has played an ongoing role in the renovations of various elements of this private college campus, including the dining facilities, student union and campus library.

Pacific Union College Elementary School Board

Jarrod served on the board for two years, reviewing hiring, budgets, policy, marketing, school trips, and leading the safety inspections of school facilities.

Hall Wines Annual Cabernet Cookoff

Signum is a long-time contributor to this annual event, which raises awareness and funds for Napa Valley Charities. In 2019, the event raised $106,000 for local charities.

Festival Napa Valley

Signum donated architectural services as part of a large auction package at the festival’s annual auction. Proceeds support public school arts education programs in Napa County, and scholarships for emerging musicians.

St. Helena Cooperative Nursery School

Signum donated services to raise funds for scholarships to provide preschool education opportunities to low-income families.

Sustainability

We are proud to have designed Hall Wines and CADE Estates, the first and second LEED Gold wineries in California. While these standards provide valuable guidelines, we believe there is more to sustainable design. Creating responsible architecture requires a deep understanding of the site and the community, as well as the specific conditions of each site and project.

Elevating everyday life

Intentional design

Creating buildings that endure

Elevating everyday life

As architects, we are deeply inspired by our connection to our environment.

Our approach to sustainability is naturally derived, as we strive to create environments that elevate our clients health and well-being, working with them to bring their vision to life. We have the knowledge and skills to positively impact our clients’ lives in a holistic way. We strive to reduce primary energy needs while simultaneously elevating our clients’ experience of their environment.

Intentional design

Ours is a “yes, and” philosophy. We believe that form and function are equal players in the same story, and that creativity and sustainability go hand in hand.

Passive Houses standards enable us to create homes that are healthy and sustainable, with guidelines that draw upon on super-insulated and passive solar ideas from North America and "low energy" European building standards to increase buildings’ efficiency and improve internal air quality. Our buildings are meant to work with the natural landscape always striving to create a light footprint on the land and to distill the design to an elegantly simple solution. Jarrod Denton, a certified Passivehaus consultant since 2010, is a pioneering expert in the use of Passive House technology in the U.S.

Creating buildings that endure

The most sustainable and enjoyable design solutions are those that employ elegantly simple design principles to create buildings that endure.

Our design process is iterative, as we layer program requirements into the design. From the initial concept, we test the performance of our design concepts and refine for simplicity, bringing to the process our knowledge of local weather and topographic data gleaned through decades of regional practice, as well as principles gleaned from past cultures. Every product that goes into our projects is reviewed on the merits of long term performance, durability and contribution to indoor air quality.