RICARDO MONTOYA ARCHITECTS

August 10, 2011

San Diego Affordable Housing wins Gold Nugget Award

Volume 1, Issue 1

Gateway Apartments

Special points of interest:

Winner of the 2009 Gold Nugget Award of Merit at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference Project seeks to lift community by providing quality affordable housing Local artists Werc, Crol and Victor Ochoa create beautiful murals and multi-media mosaics

Prime location with spectacular views. We could not have asked for a better location for our affordable rental housing project. Situated just south of Commercial Avenue and the southern boundary of downtowns East Village, Gateway Apartments sits at the gateway to Barrio Logan. With its rich cultural past, the setting is ideal for our design concept. Gateway Apartments consists of four stories of units and amenities situated around a sunny central courtyard lush with landscape and gathering space. Two levels of subterranean garage provides secure parking for residents. The projects unique shape is due to a fault trace that was located during the planning phase that necessitated a rethinking and re-design of the main building. The design intent was to create a building or buildings that use urban archetypes relating to its proximity

to downtown, as well as marrying elements of the Hispanic neighborhood in which it sits. Local artists were tapped to create murals and mosaics, serving as a preview of the rest of the neighborhood, a transition-point. The rotunda that houses the main entry and viewing decks relates to southwestern architecture in a nod to the demographics of Barrio Logan as do the main building color palette. A pocket park and separate community center round out the projects amenities where kids can play and get help with their homework after school. Developers: Simpson Housing Solutions
Work completed as: Maple Dell + McClelland Architects

Please visit us at www.montoyaarchitects.com

Gateway Apartments, San Diego, CA

Photographs Courtesy of Rich Marchewka Photography

RICARDO MONTOYA ARCHITECTS 2506 Navarra Drive, Suite 621, Carlsbad, CA 92009