SAN GABRIEL VALLEY
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

TORCH STREET, BALDWIN PARK
STEWART AVENUE, BALDWIN PARK

 

In collaboration with Tam Studio - long time colleagues - we were charged with developing a very low-budget townhome prototype - suitable for volunteer construction - for Habitat for Humanity to deploy in its San Gabriel Valley projects.

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Employing a contemporized Craftsman style and unit footprints with minimal square footages per Habitat's guidelines, the challenge was to create housing that retain the qualities of home: indoor/outdoor connection, front and rear entries, generous daylighting. 

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The prototype units are fully accessible on the ground floor, providing a bedroom and over-sized bath for each unit - the goal being to allow aging in place for every homeowner.

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The first two deployments of the protoypes will be in Baldwin Park, maximizing the zoning concessions currently allowable by the state - most notably the elimination of expensive and space-hogging garages. The first project - Torch Street - employs a familiar typology of site design, with  parking separating two bars of units. But, less common: The units are prefaced by landscape on both front and rear.

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The second project - Stewart Avenue - combines four new townhomes based on the prototype along with a comprehensive renovation of a church building and auxiliary classroom building into affordable housing units.