Studio E Architects is honored to announce that Celadon at 9th & Broadway – our award-winning, 250-unit high-rise affordable housing community for developer BRIDGE Housing – has brought home yet another award prior to the completion of construction, as the project was named a 2014 Builder’s Choice Grand Award winner in the “On the Boards” category. The jury praised the project for its elegant resolution of the logistical challenges of serving a wide range of resident groups with highly-specialized needs – while still managing to convey a “high-end” feeling of quality construction and design consistent with the emerging character of San Diego’s redeveloping downtown.
The project, currently under construction, takes full advantage of a prime transit-oriented urban corner site – mixing commercial uses at street level with 250 affordable residential rental units for individuals and small families in its upper levels. Eighty-eight of the apartments will be devoted to supportive housing, including twenty-five units for youth that are aging out of foster care and other special-needs residents; Sixty-three apartments will serve seniors under the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE).
Studio E’s design for Celadon at 9th and Broadway imagines an urban residential type wholly-influenced by San Diego’s unique climate and setting. From the article:
‘“The design is based on (these questions),” says principal Eric Naslund, FAIA. “How do you put a sustainably-designed high-rise into a neighborhood that already has fabric and scale? How do you make sure that the building takes advantage of San Diego’s ideal climate and downtown streetlife?” The building’s ability to blend in with adjacent structures, its tower inset, and its rooftop outdoor spaces (“that roof is where all the gardens are”), all contribute to its being “highly-amentized,” says Naslund—a term more often used by luxury developers than by designers of affordable housing.’
The building will be a model of sustainable design in an urban setting when complete– the project is expected to achieve a LEED Silver rating – incorporating such features as naturally-ventilated corridors, drought-tolerant roof gardens, and most prominently:
‘…a veil of solar panels drapes across the top of the structure and down its side, providing “a very direct view of how the thing is producing its own energy,” says Naslund. “We didn’t try to hide the panels. We celebrated them.”’
SVA Architects, Inc. served as the Architect of Record for the project. Construction, by general contractors Turner Construction Company & Highland Partnership, is slated to be complete in spring of 2015. Congratulations to all involved, and stay tuned to this space for future updates on this exciting project!