Tom Guilfoy Memorial Craftsmanship Award
Created in 2004, this annual award was in memory of Tom Guilfoy, owner of 100 year old Guilfoy Cornice Works in San Francisco. This award is for any project where attention to detail and expertise was critical to the project and exemplifies teamwork between sheet metal workers and the contractor and the contractor and owner.
This award is presented annually for any type of work in the HVAC, Specialty, Industrial, Kitchen or Architectural fields. Projects entered will be judged on the skill and expertise exhibited to complete the project, regardless of how big or small. There are two main categories – mechanical and architectural, along with a creative concepts category to recognize exceptional projects falling outside of the mechanical and architectural categories.
2024 Guilfoy Award Submissions for Projects Completed in 2023
2024 Winner – Architectural Category
The 2024 Tom Guilfoy Craftsmanship Award in the Architectural category was awarded to VNSM for the Regional Connector Transportation Corridor project located in Los Angeles, California.
The winning project was selected for the fantastic workmanship, collaboration, and the complexity of the project.
In the realm of architectural sheet metal work, escalator cladding stands as a pinnacle of complexity, demanding unparalleled precision in coordination, fabrication, and installation. Each escalator panel presents a unique set of angles and slopes that must be meticulously crafted. The success of the installation and the structural integrity hinge on the coordination between various trades and pinpoint accuracy in field measurements. Additionally, the integration of utilities and the necessity to navigate through structural interferences amplify the complexity, making installation an intricate task exacerbated by substantial access limitations.
The panels of this project are an intricate three-component composite. The exterior facade comprises a polished stainless steel face panel, crafted to a depth of one inch with seamlessly welded corners and a sophisticated #4 finish. At the heart of the panel is an aluminum honeycomb core, a testament to innovative engineering, meticulously set within robust epoxy adhesive on each side for unmatched structural integrity. The last component is a stainless steel back-panel that imparts exceptional rigidity to the entire assembly.
The beveled openings guide visitors towards the station entry and escalator access points and are a triangular panel geometry. The complexity of the design is further accentuated by the over-broken edges of the panels, which provide a sharp, crisp profile to the overall façade. Incorporating a rollup security door into this geometric matrix was a challenge but was achieved without compromising the design’s integrity.
The fare gates and ticket vending machine installations required a strategic approach to fastener placement that would not interfere with the equipment’s operation while ensuring ease of maintenance access. The design consideration was an aesthetically pleasing and highly functional architectural solution.
Number of Man Hours Spent: 40,900
2024 Winner – Mechanical Category
The 2024 Tom Guilfoy Craftsmanship award in the Mechanical category was awarded to Control Air Enterprises for the UCSF Zuckerberg General Pride Hall project in San Francisco, CA.
This winner was chosen due to the project’s complexity, collaboration, and craftsmanship.
This was a design-build project. The design phase required constant collaboration with project stakeholders. The BSL3 laboratory added additional complexities to the design.
BIM coordination included 10,000+ sheet metal detailing hours over 18 months coordinating and detailing 335,000 pounds of duct and equipment. Tight ceiling conditions and requirements for laboratory air valves and equipment to be placed in adjacent corridors instead of the laboratories’ ceilings meant extreme overhead congestion throughout the building. In many cases, overhead utilities were coordinated within less than 1” of each other due to this congestion.
In lieu of multiple custom-build AHU’s, a 2,300 square foot built-up AHU in the roof penthouse was installed. This required meticulous planning with the factories providing the components like the 12’ tall, 14,000 lb. fan-wall arrays and (2) 6,600 lb. coils to ensure they were detailed and coordinated correctly within the space. Following installation of these components, custom-fabricated sheet metal ceiling panels and wall panels lining the entire built-up AHU were required to be measured in the field, fabricated, and then installed.
The building was highlighted by the stakeholder’s desire for Vivarium and BSL3 laboratory spaces to facilitate the physician-scientists and clinicians with their research and medical advancements. These spaces required specific HVAC needs to ensure the research team could safely perform work with the deadly pathogens and prevent the spread of the same.
This challenge was compounded by the requirement for all equipment associated with these lab spaces to be in the corridor in lieu of above-ceiling in the labs. These tight ceiling conditions meant utilities were coordinated and installed with less than 1” clearance.
Number of Man Hours Spent: 36,000
Past recipients of this award include:
2023 Architectural – California Sheet Metal – The Grand LA, Los Angeles, CA
Mechanical – ACCO Engineered Systems – The Grand LA, Los Angeles, CA
Creative Concept – G.E.S. Sheet Metal – MLK Child and Family Wellbeing Center, Los Angeles, CA
2022 Architectural – VNSM – Disney Avengers Campus, Anaheim, CA
Mechanical – Southland Industries, Inc. – Bayside Campus, Mountain View, CA
Creative Concept – CMF, Inc. – Ruby’s Diner, Brea, CA
2021 Architectural – California Sheet Metal – Seritage at UTC, San Diego, CA
Creative Concepts– Therma – Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 104 Livermore Hall, Livermore, CA
2020 Architectural – California Sheet Metal – UTC Residential Tower, San Diego, CA
Mechanical – Southland Industries, Inc. – Gilead NB324, Foster City, CA
2019 Architectural –CMF, Inc.– Cal Poly Pomona Student Services Building, Pomona, CA
Mechanical – Southland Industries, Inc.– Sutter Health CPMC Van Ness Campus Hospital, San Francisco, CA
2018 Architectural –CMF, Inc.– Apple Park, Cupertino, CA
Mechanical – ACCO Engineered Systems– USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Architectural –California Sheet Metal– Eli Lilly at Campus Pointe, San Diego, CA
Mechanical – University Mechanical & Engineering Contractors– UC San Diego, Jacobs Medical Center, La Jolla, CA
2016 Architectural –G.E.S. Sheet Metal– IAC Building, West Hollywood, CA
Mechanical – Control Air North, Inc.– Samsung American Headquarters, San Jose, CA
2015 ACCO Engineered Systems– Levi Stadium Home of the San Francisco 49ers, Santa Clara, CA
2014 Architectural –California Sheet Metal– San Diego Central New Library, San Diego, CA
Mechanical – Control Air North, Inc.– Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, Oakland, CA
2013 Architectural –Air Systems of Sacramento– William Jessup University Expansion, Rocklin, CA
Mechanical – ACCO Engineered Systems– Cedars Sinai Advanced Health Science Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
2012 Architectural –Brady Air Conditioning, Inc.– 1905 Samuel Murphy Windmill Restoration Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA
Mechanical– Control Air North, Inc.– Li Ka-Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences at UC Berkley, Berkley, CA
2011 Architectural –CMF, Inc.– Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
Mechanical – Key Air Conditioning, Inc.– Tom Bradley International Interior Improvement, Los Angeles, CA
2010 Architectural –Air Systems, Inc.– Target Store, Sunnyvale, CA
Mechanical – Marelich Mechanical, Inc.– GLAVC Veterans Home of California, West Los Angeles, CA
2009 CMF, Inc.– Los Angeles High School #9 for the Visual and Performing Arts, Central Los Angeles, CA
2008 Control Air North, Inc.– California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA
2007 Air Systems Inc.– Harborwalk Condominiums, Oakland, CA
2006 Weiss Sheet Metal Company– Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA
2005 Custom Metal Fabricators, Inc.– Millennium Park BP Pedestrian Bridge, Chicago, IL