Oakland CA | Completed
The 7.5-acre brownfield infill site—previously home to decrepit housing, an abandoned factory, and unused train tracks—was an unhealthy, perilous environment. The site spans an industrial-residential divide and particular care was taken with the scale and transitions at the edges.
In collaboration with the Oakland Housing Authority, we created a new village—a vibrant community made up of 60 affordable family rental apartments, 77 affordable rental townhouses, and 20 supportive apartments with an in-house clinic space, as well as 22 integrated Habitat for Humanity townhouses for first-time home-owners.
New landscaped paths and traffic-calmed roadways connect new housing to the previously isolated school, library, and community center. The renewed housing attracted Acta Non Verba, a community farm that engages with the kids from the housing and larger area.
In an article entitled “Design as Balm for a Community’s Soul,” New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman cited Tassafaronga Village as an example of the “multiplier effect of good design.”
Project Details
930 84th Avenue
Oakland, CA
United States
Total 80
