Name: "Living Rooms at the Border" - Mixed-use development with rehab of a church and construction of 12 units of affordable rental housing.
Location: San Ysidro, California
Date of construction: 2004-2005
Type of building: Use conversion and rehab along with new construction
Project budget: $4M
Total square footage: 18,828 SF
Residential affordability (i.e. what incomes served): To be determined
Cost per unit: $
Cost per SF: $

Project Narrative:

This project will transform the site of the old church on West Hall Street into a community center, and administrative offices for casa familiar. It will create affordable rental housing built atop, under and around a concrete arbor. The project looks to integrate and improve on existing pedestrian linkages and crate over 6,000 s.f. of community gardens. In addition, the arbor can serve other uses like a community market, or additional community spaces.

The project is in the second phase of design, researching construction systems, materials and feasibility. The units will range from one to three bedrooms, and some units are designed for further flexibility by allowing the kitchen to be shared. Because of its complexity, this project will be introduced as a proposal to the City of San Diego as a potential "pilot" project under the "Strategic Framework", implemented by the "City of Villages"; through the San Ysidro Pilot Village Proposal. As San Diego revises its general plan, this framework looks to increase density and focus development in older urban communities. The project looks to address many of the challenges that it will take to introduce density into established urban cores by addressing issues of density, improving pedestrian pathways and access to mass transit, and affordable housing through high quality design.

Teddy Cruz, of Estudio Teddy Cruz, from San Diego, is designing the project. The fellow is integrating into the design team and will be involved with the research of materials and systems. This design has been recognized by two national design awards; the Progressive Architecture (P/A) Award from Architecture magazine, and, also, the Young Architect’s Award from the Architectural League of New York (the only award given to a project outside of New York City).