Building for the Fundamentals of Community: Member Blog from Withee Malcolm
For more than 30 years Withee Malcolm has been involved with affordable housing in California, with this market accounting for more than 50% of the firm’s work today. As co-founder Dan Withee notes, “It’s the most rewarding work we’ve done, because it really makes a difference. You see the sea change in people’s lives, and it elevates surrounding communities immensely. Investment in people that desperately need it actually benefits an entire community. Money put into housing translates into interest in the entire area.”
Withee Malcolm’s approach to this specialized housing type blends big picture thinking and creative design to deliver award-winning projects. Inspired by participation in SCANPH 2020, firm designers and leaders sat down - socially distanced, of course - with client Tyler Monroe, VP of Development at Thomas Safran & Associates (TSA), contractor Tony Cano of Bernards, and residents of a recently completed veteran-specific development. Their conversations about affordable housing in Southern California and three specific projects revealed insights about these unique efforts generally categorized within People, Process and Program; just a few of the fundamentals that make a truly successful community.
Veteran’s Village of Carson
Offering onsite case management and supportive services, Veteran’s Village of Carson is an affordable housing development offering one-, two-, and three-bedroom units to Veterans and their families. This community-oriented project’s success was due in large part to addressing the specific needs of its residents.
Completed in collaboration with developer Thomas Safran & Associates, this high quality, mixed-use development includes 51 units. Community-building and service-specific spaces are provided through a 3,500 square foot community room, fitness center, and outdoor areas at the podium level and second floor, respectively. Retail on the ground floor is interspersed and supports connections with the larger neighborhood.
According to Tyler Monroe of TSA, “We look for every opportunity to make these projects special for the people who live there. We put extra effort into the design, aesthetics, landscape, and finishes. Affordable housing should look as good, if not better, than anything else in the neighborhood. It should be uplifting, enriching, and contribute to the environment and the people that live there.”
At Veterans Village, U.S. Vets provides supportive services, including occupational training, access to medical/dental resources and point of retention services, to enrich the lives of residents. Designing the spaces for these services to evoke home (welcoming, attractive, adjacent to outdoor spaces with places for interaction…even parking structures that are fully integrated with the development), encourages Vets to take advantage of assistance that benefits them and the larger community.
Ross Schenck, US Navy veteran, has lived in the development for 8 months. Even with restrictions put in place by COVID he shared “It’s beautiful there….it’s like a resort! I love the views, the location, and I’ve loved getting to know almost all of my neighbors.”
Missouri Place
Currently under construction, the 74-unit, 100 percent affordable community development known as Missouri Place in West LA used incredible teamwork to gain community support for its 74 units of affordable housing. The project is located at the corner of Missouri and Bundy, the site of a former LA County animal shelter. While surrounding residents were glad to see a derelict structure replaced, apprehension around multifamily housing for a formerly homeless or at risk of becoming homeless population raised initial concerns, particularly with single family residents of the Sawtelle neighborhood located directly to the east.
Key to community buy-in was outreach and inclusion for neighbors, so that they served as stakeholders in the planning and design process. Tyler Monroe of developer TSA noted that the outreach process actually guided the number of units and makeup, and included a bus tour to other affordable housing developments. According to Dan Withee of Withee Malcolm Architects, “the turning point for this project’s acceptance really was education.”
Modern design integrated with streamlined construction have also been key to speeding delivery, with anticipated completion in 2021. Along the Missouri street facade, the building features landscaped setbacks and a distinctive stair tower faced with translucent polycarbonate. Engineered cypress, constructed as a rain screen, helps to reduce heat gain and lends a contextual sensibility. Recessed balconies fronted by polycarbonate railings, setbacks and the interplay between the wood screens and smooth white stucco, articulate the facade to minimize the sense of mass along Bundy, which serves as a buffer between the adjacent residential neighborhood. According to Tony Cano with contractor Bernards, “a number of methods have been employed on this project…from enhanced constructability reviews and BIM coordination to prefabricated wood wall panels built off-site.”
Gateway at Willowbrook
The Gateway at Willowbrook showcases a highly successful public-private partnership that offers a previously untested affordable living-plus-public amenity model. This “project-within-a-project” combines four stories of 105-units of affordable senior housing with an 8,000 square foot Los Angeles County public library on the ground floor. The design of these components balances access and privacy to promote advantages to each other.
According to Tyler Monroe of TSA, “in the project’s early stages, ground floor commercial space was unprogrammed and we were evaluating tenants and uses. An existing library, with a smaller footprint, was across the street. Through conversations with Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas’ office and other County agencies we determined that a wonderful amenity for the community would be an expanded library that could serve a much larger area – 4 times the size of the original library. That onsite, community amenity is augmented with a community room open to residents and the community groups in the Willowbrook area. It supports programming of all types - senior programs, after-school programs, community programs, neighborhood council meetings, etc.”
The design capitalized on this dual program by carefully integrating resident and community access and support spaces as separate systems. According to Dan Withee of Withee Malcolm Architects, the balance between resident privacy, public access, and overall security drove the planning and design of the development. Design on this award-winning project evolved into contemporary Mediterranean architecture. A distinctive clock tower on the public-facing corner signals the building as a gateway project and provides an anchor to the entire development - a new town center for the Willowbrook community.