Functionality doesn’t have to mean ho-hum architecture.

Nor does an eye-grabbing building mean you have to break the bank.

Eric Wohle has proven that point while also leaving his mark on Manteca’s Central District.

The architect with LDA Partners was selected by the City of Manteca to work on four design-build projects - the new animal shelter, the renovated HOPE Family Shelter, the transit station breaking ground this year and the vehicle maintenance facility now under construction.

Wohle also designed Leo DeGroot’s retail center at North Street and North Main Street that is anchored by Coldwell Banker Crossroads Real Estate and Oak Valley Community Bank. He’s also the architect F&M BaNk attained for its new location that will be built at Alameda Street and North Main Street. Wohle said F&M Bank wants what is best described as “Santa Barbara architecture” for its Manteca branch.

Other notable buildings in San Joaquin County designed by LDA Partners includes the Stockton and Tracy Department of Motor Vehicle offices, the passenger security area at Stockton Metro Airport, as well as Wine & Roses in Lodi.

Design-build essentially means contracting with one entity to literally design and build a project. The end result is lower costs and a project typically finished ahead of usual construction schedules.

All of the city projects have a heavy emphasis on functionality and keeping long-range maintenance costs low. It ranges from the animal shelter with a built-in system to clean the kennels to the family shelter with a metal roof to the transit station that will have touches such as wainscoting on walls to reduce wear.

The animal shelter was designed to catch the eye of passersby and to be as warm and inviting inside as possible.

“The idea was to have a building that encourages people to stop and see the animals to help get them adopted,” Wohle said.

The goal with the HOPE Family Shelter was twofold- making it not seem like a homeless shelter and to reflect the late 1910s era as much as possible for a building that has historical significance as the first hospital built in Manteca.

The 7,000-square-foot transit center being built at Moffat Boulevard and South Main Street brings together three goals the city had in mind: a transit hub, a community meeting facility, and a downtown focal point.

In short, the desire was to create an iconic building for Central Manteca.

The result is a design employing brick and stone, expansive glass and a liberal amount of steel to create a modern take on the 1920-era design that inspired structures such as Manteca’s Lindbergh School on North Street.

Topping the design is a clock tower that will be visible along Main Street as well as the Moffat Boulevard corridor.

Wohle will be the first to tell you Manteca already has some pretty impressive buildings in the central district. The problem is most are all covered up by stucco or steel shells.

The original Bank of Manteca building that once housed the Bank of the West and is now a retail space on the southwest corner of South Maple and West Yosemite has a steel skin hiding what Wohle and others describe as a “stunning brick building.”

Wohle’s favorite among those not camouflaged with what might be best described as attempts to modernize them is the former bank building directly across from South Maple from the original Bank of Manteca. It was designed by an Italian architect who made bold use of concrete and glass to make a visible statement.

As a child, Wohle was fascinated by making structures from Legos.

Helping build on that desire was Don Laurenti who Wohle took drafting from for two years at East Union High.

After graduating from East Union High in 1991 where he still holds several swimming records, he went north to compete for the University of Washington where he majored in architecture design and planning. From there it was on to the University of New Mexico for masters in architecture.

He credits Mel Loureiro of Progressive Designs in downtown Manteca being a big help. Loureiro directed Wohle to LDA Partners in Stockton. He started interning there in the summer of 1994, went to work full-time in 1997, and became a partner in 2005.

Wohle and his family reside in Ripon.