Standard Receives Honorable Mention in California Senior Housing Design Competition

STANDARD DESIGNS BAHIA MEADOWS:
Senior Housing Based on Indigenous Dwellings

Standard recently received an honorable mention from Suburban Alternatives Land Trust (SALT) and Northbay Family Homes (NFH),  sponsors of the California Senior Housing Design Competition, for the firm’s conceptual design for Bahia Meadows, a model for affordable and sustainable senior housing communities.  Taking their cue from the people who formerly inhabited the North Bay area, Standard designed a sustainable senior housing complex that blends a historic low-tech precedent with modern technology to create a new community for active residents. 

The Bahia Meadows complex features 30 accessible, low energy senior dwellings and a range of community spaces. The dwellings themselves are inspired by the wooden, turf-roofed structures of the Coast Miwok people whose territories once stretched from Marin County up to Bodega Bay. In this environmentally sensitive area, grass roofs promote biodiversity by replacing the ground displaced by the housing.

On each suburban-sized parcel, groups of up to three south-oriented dwellings,  some duplexes, are placed side by side. Slight variations in the homes’  orientation prevent monotony and create unique spaces. This planning strategy proposes a denser suburb - one that encourages social interaction between the residents while allowing for their privacy. Grouping the homes within a compact footprint reduces environmental impacts and integrates passive solar energy.  The floorplans and sections are carefully designed to balance natural light, heat gain and loss, access and views. Wood decks on the east facing ends of each home offer sweeping views over the protected river estuary and the San Pablo Bay.

The 24-foot wide dwellings are wood framed with a raised floor, substantially prefabricated offsite to reduce impact of construction. Eco-friendly materials and systems are integrated throughout the project to minimize natural resource consumption and waste, including engineered lumber, natural linoleum,  recycled carpets, non-off-gassing cabinetry, and low VOC paints. Photovoltaic and solar water heating panels are mounted on trellises at one end of each home, to shade the parking and offset the already low energy use of the dwellings, targeting “net zero” energy consumption.