Blue Oak Landing

2024 Design Awards Honor Recipient

Located just north of downtown Vallejo, Blue Oak Landing provides 75 supportive apartments in two buildings linked by open-air circulation across a courtyard. The project sets a new bar for performance, resourcefulness, and connection to place for permanent supportive housing (PSH) in the Bay Area. The all-electric building—on track for zero energy—was built with modular technology to streamline delivery of much-needed homes for unhoused residents.

This project is the architect’s first zero energy PSH and the developer’s first modular project. The 54 mods were fabricated by a local factory three miles from the site and placed over the course of 10 days. Once solar carports are installed, the property is predicted to generate as much energy as it consumes annually. The building greets the street with a strong graphic character defined by an articulated sawtooth edge set off by perforated weathering-steel panels.

Within a generous native landscape bordering an urban wetland, the massing is split in two, with bridge circulation framing a visual link to a broad courtyard and creek beyond. Three levels of homes are served by open-air circulation, and homes along the building facade feature south-facing windows shielded from late afternoon sun by extended vertical fins.

The airy ground level is dedicated to resident and service uses, including a flexible community room with full-height glazing on two sides. The dynamic yard offers a community patio, resident vegetable garden, universal play area, and dog run. A low-profile fence preserves visual connection to the creek, including views of grazing goats.

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This was an exemplary project that satisfied every requirement the jury can think of for a project of this type and quality of design. The creative use of prefabrication units is amazing. It considers the needs of previously homeless families as well as the environmental challenges of the site. Coherent and powerful design.

//framework for design excellence measures

Measure 1: Design for Integration

This project sets a new bar for energy performance, resourcefulness and connection to place for permanently supportive housing in the Bay Area. Through a strong partnership between architect and owner, the project abandoned on-site combustion mid-construction, embracing an expansive high-efficiency rooftop PV array and CO2-based central heat pump water heater and putting the project on track to zero energy.

A utility easement bisecting an awkward triangular lot led to a building form split into two bars connected by a bridge, with an open lobby creating a link from the street to a generous creekside yard that enhances permeability, stormwater treatment and native habitat in additional to functional program in the form of a series of outdoor “rooms.”

Ruthlessly efficient modular construction is combined with features that enhance daylight, views and natural ventilation, and custom fabrication in the facade, entry gate and lobby ceiling, to create an economical building that elevates the human experience and sense of identity.

Measure 2: Design for Equitable Communities

Modules were fabricated at a factory three miles from the site, a substantial investment in local business. 70% of the factory’s 400+ workforce are local residents, who took pride in building homes in their community. The factory supports union and “fair chance employment”, hiring and training formerly unhoused and incarcerated workers. The project includes space for a nonprofit with intensive behavioral health services that supports County residents to move toward resilience, wellness, and independence. Homelessness impacts communities as well as individuals: By providing stable housing for 180 residents, this community moves people away from Vallejo’s streets and shelters.

Measure 3: Design for Ecosystems

The site was an underutilized lot along a major thoroughfare in the city of Vallejo, adjacent to a city creek that feeds an important Bay watershed. The project adds much needed housing while also increasing overall site permeability and habitat by integrating the 4-story building with a verdant yard planted with 100% native species and bioswales and hosting a range of outdoor program areas. Although Dark Sky and Bird Safe standards were not a formal reference for design, the design is in general compliance with these design principles.

Measure 4: Design for Water

This project includes above-average water efficiency measures including 0.8 gpf toilets, 1.5 gpm showerheads, low-water landscape and efficient irrigation design.

Measure 5: Design for Economy

This project builds upon previous modular projects to realize extremely efficient modular design, with only 54 double-loaded modules for a 75-unit building, and sawtooth design that minimizes on-site construction at the roof level. Factory construction reduced construction time by 10% and a prefab rainscreen system simplified construction sequence of the primary facade. Reliance on raw, natural material finishes and artistic detailing executed in-house by the architect (custom perforation pattern in the gate and facade steel, custom lobby ceiling, and partnerships with local artists) elevates the project while saving costs.

Measure 6: Design for Energy

Energy efficiency features include a highly-efficient CO2 heat pump water heater, and minimal common area HVAC. The “dog trot” plan and arrangement of program is designed to maximize effective cross-ventilation especially on the ground floor. If residents open their doors to the exterior corridors, they could also find relief in their homes from cross ventilation in an emergency.

A rooftop bifacial PV array is predicted to offset 70% of the building’s energy. Solar carports, not yet constructed, will increase PV offset to 100%, making this one of the first zero energy permanent supportive housing projects in the state.

Measure 7: Design for Well-Being

Similar to ecosystems narrative, although no explicit optimization studies were done or standards followed beyond CalGreen and GreenPoint Rated to ensure healthy environmental benchmarks were observed, the design incorporated best practice fundamentals, such as window size, orientation and shading designed to reduce heat gain and improve visual and thermal comfort; and architect’s base specifications targeting Green Science Policy Institute’s “6 classes” chemicals.

Measure 8: Design for Resources

‘The design relies on the finish of raw natural materials (concrete, steel, tile, wood, exposed piping) and maximizes exterior program (lobbies, circulation), in order to avoid unnecessary finish materials. Recycled wood was used for landscape features including Wholetrees play equipment and Streetlife recycled wood furniture.

Embodied emissions reduction measures included a 30% cement replacement in podium and site concrete, packaged heat pumps with limited refrigerant, and low-GWP central heat pump water heater.

Measure 9: Design for Change

The design observes good passive principles, including modulating glazing ratio and shading by orientation, open-air circulation, and a massing design that facilitates cross-ventilation. The project is all-electric, with no fossil fuels burned on site. One reason for using a central DOAS for ventilation was the ability to use a high MERV-15 filter temporarily to mitigate smoke events and other bad-air emergencies.

Measure 10: Design for Discovery

This project is one of several projects undertaken with the same partners, and both architect and ownership organizations have commitments to learning from past projects and ensuring high performance. Shark energy submeters are being used to monitor energy use by end use and optimizing operations. The heat pump water heater has been commissioned and PV system monitoring put in place. After a few years, we plan to collect feedback from residents and staff, using methods based on post-occupancy surveys we have developed and conducted in other, similar buildings.