Mogavero Architects

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Work

Lexington Apartments

This mixed use project in Davis has 122 student apartments and 3,100 square feet of ground floor commercial space combined with central common areas to provide opportunities for social contact between student residents and create a friendly community feel. Common facilities that include a community building with recreation and exercise facilities, a laundry, and open study rooms were placed in key locations to enliven the project site and provide natural surveillance by the residents for added safety. The site allows for excellent non-vehicular connection to the UC Davis campus and was designed to be pedestrian oriented with wide, shaded sidewalks, narrow drives, and hidden parking in several locations. Retail and office space on the ground floor establish an interface with the street, and the 3-story residence buildings were designed to allow for maximum connection between buildings and landscape with porches in varied positions, generous balconies and covered walkways that penetrate buildings. The residences are a combination of ground floor flats and 2-story townhouses. The units were designed to provide extra privacy and living space for student lifestyles, balancing the needs of quiet study time with (sometimes loud) social activities.

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UC Davis Tercero 2 Student Housing

Our firm was charged with developing a program and implementing an interactive schematic design process for this 592 bed, dormitory style student housing project. The resultant LEED Gold project incorporates 30% water and energy savings along with storm water detention and treatment, natural ventilation, recycled materials and on-site renewable energy. Our firm provided site massing studies and constructability value analyses followed by an area-wide site planning effort that organizes existing and future housing projects on the UC Davis campus. The project creates community at ascending levels, accommodating differing comfort levels while allowing for varying levels of resident interaction. Plans encourage social engagement, balancing accessibility and safety with the need for solitude. Common spaces are carefully located with spatial visibility as a goal: a place to see and to be seen while contributing to a greater sense of community. In this way, students are able to establish a sense of ownership, taking care of their ‘home’ while being engaged with their surroundings. Floor plans from the University’s recent housing projects were analyzed as a way of developing prototypical clusters of student rooms, serving as building blocks for floor configuration and amenity layout. Window seats reinforce hallways as gathering spaces, defining each cluster while working in concert with the building’s passive ventilation system. Hallways end in vistas to the campus community, providing an open, airy feel to corridors and connection to the campus at large. New cluster design with window seats Sustainable site drainage‚ percolation swales, pervious concrete Motion detector ramp up/dim down Hallway lighting Natural ventilation system using stair towers to circulate air Beat Title 24 by more than 32% Daylight harvesting Natural ventilation system Solar water heating

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7th & H Affordable Housing

Our firm led a multi-disciplinary team of design professionals for this eight-story mid-rise, mixed-use project for Mercy Housing California. Located in downtown Sacramento and surrounded by myriad government and industrial land uses, this post-tensioned concrete building consists of 150 affordable residential individual units atop a clinic space for residents and accompanied by ground floor retail. The project sought to build a community within the building, contribute to the vibrancy of the neighborhood, and connect to the community at large. We achieved this through a variety of design approaches, including an activated streetscape, well-designed, visible common area spaces and distinct community rooms and balconies on the upper floors. The unique Z shape plan creates two large landscaped outdoor terraces on the second floor. The clinic on the ground floor is designated for resident use as part of a comprehensive wellness program for this special needs resident group. The roof is crowned by a dramatic solar panel array that provides energy to heat water and power the building. Our team’s passion for sustainable design coupled with our integrated design approach for building, energy and water systems provide a high-level of comfort for residents, provide for improved indoor air quality, and allow for efficient day lighting to deliver occupant satisfaction at very low operating costs. Using collaborative, integrated design practices and strategies helped to reduce the project’s ecological footprint and allowed us to achieve a truly green building, while satisfying all the programmatic goals.

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Capitol Yards

Located just over the Tower Bridge from downtown Sacramento, The Capitol Yards is a market rate apartment development that is designed to inspire community in an urban setting, embracing the concept of ‘together alone’ with a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces and unit configurations. There are two building types in two phases: phase 1 consists of courtyard buildings that include 270 studio, one and two bedroom and penthouse units; and phase 2, our Tower Bridge Gateway building, four stories tall with structured parking that includes live/work, studio, one and two bedroom and penthouse units. Combined, both phases will build out to 350 units. The courtyard buildings are under construction. Each pair of buildings is arranged on the site to create pedestrian courtyards with facing porches and front doors, site furnishings and amenities such as barbeques, fountains, pool, spa and a stage. Spaces can accommodate individuals or groups and are themed with varying plant palettes. The courtyard buildings have tuck-under, garage parking, dramatically reducing the amount of paved surface on the site. The dwelling units wrap around the parking on the ground floor on three sides of the buildings. These end wraps narrow the aperture of alley entrances, creating building frontages at the street and providing a neighborhood context that is not interrupted by massive parking areas or excessive driveways

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The Arbors

The Arbors at Oak Park is a senior, mixed-use project in Sacramento on a prominent corner with in the Oak Park neighborhood. This mixed-use redevelopment project is an important and highly visible component of the continuing revitalization of Oak Park, Sacramento’s first “street car suburb.”  It contains 56 one bedroom units of affordable, senior housing with ground floor retail. To mark the re-connection of the site to the community, the project features active, pedestrian oriented retail shops that focus on a “living room” at the courtyard the corner of MLK and Broadway.  The streets are lined with landscaping providing a comfortable and welcoming pedestrian environment. Designed to improve the sense of safety, the project activates the street frontage with ground floor retail. By providing over thirty units with windows and balconies that front directly on the street, much needed life is given to the neighborhood. The building is designed to maximize comfort and health for the senior occupants.  Features such as south facing sunshades, natural day lighting, flow through ventilation and ample community spaces, make the project both comfortable and energy efficient.

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Maple Park

Tucked away in rural Live Oak in Sutter County, and a few blocks from the main avenue, were 30 wartime-era affordable housing units that were falling apart and slowly becoming abandoned. It was determined that rehabilitation was unfeasible and the site was transformed, providing 56 units of low income family housing in 3 story buildings. The property is surrounded by a pedestrian friendly loop road and complemented by a central open space and community building. An agricultural vernacular is expressed in the buildings with expansive shed roofs, citrus accent colors and a playful mix of siding patterns. Garden areas and courtyards allow residents to grow their own food, socialize and build community. The project consists of 2, 3, and 4 bedroom units with a central community building that contains a daycare facility for preschoolers. Each unit has storage, a private patio or balcony, and a washer/dryer.  The buildings face narrow, pedestrian friendly streets and create park-like courts of various sizes.  Parking is tucked under the buildings and does not dominate the site. Given the lack of municipal storm drainage, all runoff is retained and allowed to infiltrate the site, and numerous green features are incorporated into the design: energy performance 26-30% above T24; Green Point Rated 118pts.; low VOC materials and finishes; high thermal mass design; variable speed HVAC fans; ceiling fans; energy star appliances; low E dual pane operable windows and shades; construction/demolition waste reduction; efficient lighting; materials with recycled content; water conserving fixtures; a community garden;  and water conserving landscape. The project is designed to accommodate future solar hot water and photovoltaic systems which will make it a Net Zero community. Designed to create a centrally located community space the site includes a new community building as the focal point, with a portion of the building dedicated to day care for up to 20 pre-school aged children who participate in the local Head Start Program.  Adult education classes for project residents are held in the adjacent, larger rooms.  Outdoor open spaces are located near existing trees and have become small courts that subdivide the site into smaller communities.  Gum Street, which previously was a dead end, has been extended through the site to create a stronger connection with the surrounding neighborhood. The private, narrow driveway-like loop slows cars and creates a safe pedestrian oriented space. All unit entries are visible from the street and create focal points for informal interaction and gathering.

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McKinley Village Clubhouse

2017 Gold Winner – NAHB’s Best in American Living Awards McKinley Village is an urban village in the core of Sacramento that combines the qualities of the city’s most successful urban neighborhoods with design features that give this neighborhood distinctive character. The 4,200 sf recreation center for a community of 328 homes serves as the community’s civic center; offering a pool, community gathering space, and an area for retail use such as a cafe, restaurant, or yoga studio. Bikeways and walkways stitch together the neighborhood and connect McKinley Village, McKinley Park, Midtown, Sutter’s Landing Park and the American River Parkway. The design of the Recreation Center enhances the character of East Sacramento, with distinguishing neighborhoods like McKinley Park, Meister Terrace and East Portal Park. As the neighborhood’s community facility, the building was designed with sweeping roof forms and deep overhands that define and engage outdoor spaces while also shading large expanses of glass. The building’s design is enriched by details such as brick patterning, expressive structure, and interconnection to the site. Natural Ventilation The McKinley Recreation Center is a 4,200 sf clubhouse with a 34’ tall passive downdraft cooling tower. The tower takes advantage of the prevailing winds, plus the higher relative density of cold air to create passive cooling at a tiny fraction of the cost of traditional mechanical cooling. Air enters the top of the tower where evaporation from a wet medium cools the air. The heavy cold air then naturally falls down the tower into the space below. The building’s control systems regulate the tower intake. Hot air is exhausted through motorized windows at the top of monitors on the north and down wind side of the building. The resulting system is very simple to operate and maintain because it relies on natural movement of hot and cold air rather than energy intensive compression cooling of the space. It also allows the building to be open to the outdoors during many of the warmer months.

Blog

Erin Reschke Appointed to Planning Commission

Kudos and congratulations to Erin Reschke on being appointed to the City of Sacramento Planning Commission! Erin’s longstanding commitment to fostering positive change within our community is invaluable. She brings a unique breadth of knowledge to the table and joins a prestigious legacy of Mogavero Architects who have had a hand in shaping our great city while in this role: Alix Ogilvie, and the late Michael Notestine who dedicated 21 years to the planning commission. Erin has actively participated in the transformation and growth of our city as an architect and Sacramentan for over 20 years. She has worked with over a dozen planning and development agencies across the state allowing her to work with various zoning codes and people in leadership roles at California cities. Erin’s dedication to sustainability is evident in her personal and professional life. A year-round bicycle commuter and former co-housing resident Erin lives her values. She has spent time in various realms of advocacy in Sacramento including responsible infill development, active transportation, affordable housing, urban agriculture, nature connection and green building in a carbon-constrained future. Erin is eager to bring her unique background and insights to the planning commission. Sacramento has made significant strides to increase affordable housing construction through a ministerial process. This has allowed projects that effectively meet code standards to bypass political interference. Therefore, The planning commission can focus on more varied and pressing matters including local general plan, specific plans, rezonings, use permits and subdivisions. Congrats, Erin!

Blog

Sacramento’s Housing Renaissance: Breaking Down Barriers for Affordable Living

The Mogavero team is back in Sacramento after an inspiring 3 days in Long Beach at the Housing California Annual Conference. We were privileged to be surrounded by California’s most ardent advocates for affordable housing and to connect with our cherished clients and friends. Housing CA provides an impressive array of educational sessions, practical workshops and most importantly a space for hope and new ideas to approach California’s largest crisis. A recurring theme of the week was identifying ways to remove the many barriers to affordable housing throughout the state. Sacramento is leading the way with its proactive and promising approach utilizing a “more of everything” housing strategy. This sentiment was echoed in a recent SF Chronicle article which identified some key changes Sacramento has implemented to streamline the process.  Arguably, the most important change has been removing the politics from the building approval process. Instead, decisions are made by planning staff through a “ministerial” process, meaning if the building complies with code, it’s automatically approved. As a result, Sacramento is experiencing a higher rate of housing construction per capita than any other region in California. Several of our projects are a direct result of this change; 1212 Del Paso, Salvator Apartments on Arden Way, and San Juan Apartments and 4995 Stockton on Stockton Blvd, to name a few. As Sacramento continues to grow, it is heartening to see some of the obstacles to building affordable housing removed. With several projects on the horizon, we are proud to be involved in the Renaissance of Housing happening here in Sacramento. Salvator Apartments San Juan Apartments 1212 Del Paso

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The Lofts at Fort Visalia Grand Opening

Self-Help Enterprises and Mogavero Architect’s new 80-unit multifamily affordable housing complex, The Lofts at Fort Visalia, opened on December 7th. The grand opening celebration included an incredible reception that attracted community members, new residents, artists, historical society members and many stakeholders who had a hand in bringing to life this much-needed affordable housing community to the City of Visalia. The Lofts, located at 340 East Oak Avenue, are situated on the site of the first building in Visalia, the Fort, built by early settlers in the region. The historical significance of the site and the importance of preserving its integrity was essential to both the Visalia Historical Society and the development team. Prior to construction, the site was radar scanned and excavated for potential historic remnants. More Recently, the Arts Consortium of Visalia and My Voice Media Center had been occupying the site, both of which, along with the Historical Society, would be included in the reimagined Lofts at Fort Visalia. While no official artifacts of the early days at the Fort were found, the Mogavero team was motivated to honor the historical influence of the site.  Thus, the design and materials selection were thoughtfully curated to reflect this narrative.  For example, the team paid homage to the Fort by integrating a sculptured log wall at the main entrance.  This log wall is an artistic interpretative piece, retelling the past and mimicking what once stood. Considering the site’s more recent history as an active creative and exhibit space for the Consortium, there was a strong emphasis on maintaining their influence. Artists’ lofts and studio spaces have 11-foot ceilings, to take advantage of natural light.  An art walk along the street with elevated terraces allows for open house events on special occasions. In addition, there are two large murals within the courtyard space that speak to both the artistic and historical significance of the complex. The goal was to create an inclusive community where artists and residents commingle and celebrate the sense of community and belonging. The Historical Society of Visalia was an incredible resource throughout the project. Not only did we strive to encapsulate the Fort’s history within the design, but a museum space was also set up to provide the group with an opportunity to display original tellings of the past. A diorama of the original fort, historic photos of that time and information about the town of Visalia are housed here. The Lofts is a precedent-setting development for Visalia, spanning almost an entire city block and fully immersed in the downtown landscape, pointing a way forward for the whole region. Thank you to Self-Help Enterprises, the Historical Society of Visalia and the Arts Consortium of Visalia for helping us bring our vision to life, it was an honor to be a part of the team.