The recently completed Casa Dominguez affordable housing and community facility by Abode Communities is touted by the organization as innovative. Upon a recent site walk and visit, I can say that its innovation lies not only in it’s unique program but also lurks unseen, behind it’s walls, beneath it’s ground, and above it’s roof. The [...]
Is it possible to build multi-family housing without air conditioning in Southern California where the weather averages high 70s F in the daytime for most of the year? With smart building design, it is definitely possible to do so. During their building walk-throughs in the middle of the October heat wave of 2009, the developer’s [...]
What do you do when your project has close to 40,000 square foot of roof space in one city block, good sun exposure, and no shading impediments? Go solar, of course, and generate your own electricity with a renewable energy source. Mosaica, one of the largest green, mixed-use projects located in San Francisco, California, boasts [...]
Years ago, I came upon a bustling weekend flea market situated on a lot disfigured by broken concrete and asphalt, and anchored by a dilapidated warehouse structure in the middle of the site. Who would have thought that I would end up as the construction manager working for the developer who gave the site a [...]
During my student days at U.C. Berkeley, my friends and I would go to the Great China Restaurant for dinner and the California Theaters for a movie. Along the way, there was a big parking lot which was often viewed as an eye-sore. More than 10 years later, this lot has been transformed into two [...]