David Baker Architects (DBA) have delivered Blue Oak Landing, a new modularly constructed affordable housing complex in Vallejo, California. The project takes cues from the firm’s earlier projects, such as the Tahanan Supportive Housing Complex in San Francisco, where a similar sawtooth design and perforated weathered steel panels were implemented. In total, the development provides 75 supportive apartment units across two 4-story buildings.
To prefabricate Blue Oak Landing’s component modules, DBA collaborated with Factory_OS, a modular construction company located in the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, just a few miles away from the site. By choosing modular construction, the architects were able to collapse the project’s construction timeline to around five months.
The building’s facade panels were also manufactured locally by BŌK Modern, in nearby San Rafael, California. A sawtooth-shaped, street-facing elevation shields apartment windows from direct sunlight and glare. Each of the sawtooth elements extends outward to shade the ground floor and sidewalk underneath. The building’s rear elevation was clad in textured fiber cement with windows overlooking Austin Creek. The fiber cement is also revealed in pockets on the street-facing facade; it appears between the two volumes of the housing complex, where covered passageways laterally connect the two buildings as one.
The massing of the project was determined in part by the existence of a no build zone over a stormwater easement in the center of the site. For this reason, the apartment complex was split into two distinct volumes. The gap between the two buildings allowed the architects to take advantage of wind to create natural ventilation within the apartment’s corridors.
“Wind is funneled [between the two buildings], which creates a high pressure zone,” said Katie Ackerly, principal at DBA. “When you create that high pressure zone, it becomes enticing for the wind to be pulled through these corridors where you have a negative pressure zone.”
In addition, Blue Oak Landing is poised to become a zero-energy building. “After this project was designed and permitted… even the factory component was built, the project manager put to us the challenge to create an all electric version of this building, as long as it didn’t delay the construction schedule or increase the operating cost,” Ackerly said.
While 70 percent of the building’s energy usage is currently offset by rooftop solar panels, the building owner intends to install photovoltaic cells in the parking lot within the next year, allowing the project to achieve net-zero energy usage. Significant energy efficiency gains were also achieved through the implementation of a heat pump.
According to a press release from the firm, the building serves “unhoused and at-risk individuals, couples, and families,” an important mission given the Bay Area’s staggering income inequality.
Solano County Health and Social Services maintains an office on the ground floor of Blue Oak Landing offering case management services. Additional building amenities include a computer lab, library, and communal courtyard with gardening plots.
David Baker Architects also shared a quote from a local Vallejo resident expressing approval of the new structure.
“Just wanted to write a quick note to tell you thank you for creating this beautiful building. I know not everyone understands the look but many of us do,” said the resident. “It shows that low-income housing doesn’t have to be a blight.”
Project Specifications
- Architect: David Baker Architects
- Developer: Eden Housing
- General Contractor: Roberts-Obayashi Corporation
- Modular Manufacturer: Factory_OS
- Landscape Architect: Fletcher Studio
- Structural Engineer: Murphy Burr Curry
- MEP Engineer: FARD Engineers
- Civil Engineer: Luk + Associates
- Facade Panels: BŌK Modern
View the full article: David Baker Architects clads Blue Oak Landing, an affordable housing complex, in weathered steel, which appeared in The Architect’s Newspaper on July 12, 2024.