Pensione Esperanza Affordable Housing, SRO
San Jose, California

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Floor to ceiling windows offer a sunny reception at main entrance.

As the sun sets, Esperanza starts to glow.

Pensione Esperanza is a 109 unit single-room-occupancy hotel designed to house low income individuals, including many of San Jose’s part-time and full-time hourly wage workers. Located on the edge of the city’s central downtown district, the three-story building redefines its location as urban, creating a continuous edge along Bird Avenue, a major commercial boulevard. This frontage element is clad in cement plaster and galvanized metal and topped with a reclaimed neon sign from a car dealership. The two levels of housing top street-front retail spaces.

Unit plan.

Site plan.

Main entrance at the corner of Bird and Columbia avenues.

awards

Best Affordable Design Award
Residential Architecture Awards
Builder's Choice Affordable Award
Builder's Magazine and National Association of Home Builders
Tax Credit Excellence Honorable Mention for Metropolitan and Urban Housing
Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition

project details

Client

Catholic Charities

Architect

David Baker + Partners

Structural Engineer

Tipping Mar + Associates

Contractor

Barry Swenson Builders

Photographer

Brian Rose

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project data
Pensione Esperanza
 9507
598 Columbia Avenue
San Jose, California
Completed 1999
number of units
studio 110
total 110
density ratios
project sf 43,000
site sf 40,511
acres 0.9
total bedrooms 110
bedrooms/acre 118
units/acre 118
parking
total 44
spaces/unit 0.4
type surface