TCA Architects

5001 73rd Street

tcaeditor - Oct 20, 2023

5001 73rd Street is an affordable project for low-income families and individuals with annual incomes up to 60% of the San Diego County median income, with one-fourth of the apartments set aside as permanent supportive housing for homeless families and individuals. The site provides an opportunity to serve as an anchor for the neighborhood, providing a buffer between a busy street, car dealership, and single-family neighborhood. The design draws inspiration from the California Coastal Modern architectural style, maintaining simple lines and refined details while blending with the existing single-family neighborhood. The building articulation and material choice follows the Central Urbanized Planned District’s design guidelines for Contemporary Style for multifamily developments. Planned amenities include a ground floor community room, office space for case management, 2 elevated courtyards, a playground, a computer lab, electric vehicle chargers, an area for bicycle storage and repairs, a laundry room, and an outdoor tot lot. Designed to be sustainable, the building would be all-electric with on-site solar panels, heat-pump water heaters and drought- tolerant landscaping.

AVA LITTLE TOKYO

TCA Architect - Oct 15, 2023

AVA Little Tokyo includes two buildings that bring a total of 280 new luxury apartment units into the vibrant Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles. Located at Los Angeles and 2nd Street, this new six-story mixed-use project combines five levels type-3 construction over ground level and two-level subterranean garage. Designed in tandem, the AVA Little Tokyo buildings are to be perceived and operated as a single mixed-use community. Similar exterior façade materials provide a visual harmony, while Parcel A contains sufficient amenities to portray an individual identity; Parcel B contains the ground floor leasing and fitness spaces. Other amenities include two outdoor courtyards with a pool, spas, and lounge spaces. On the ground level, residents have access to storage, DIY rental spaces, and bike repair services. To activate the promenade, eight 2-story townhome apartments are located on the street facing the adjacent residences. Amenities featured in each building are driven by the best location within the project. The large corner public plaza with 13,500 square feet of retail and restaurant spaces activates the street and surrounding community. A 1,500 square foot rooftop deck combines seating, fireplaces, and a social bar with dramatic city skyline views. The project achieved LEED Gold certification.

SOUTH PARK BY WINDSOR

TCA Architect - Sep 25, 2023

The Hanover South Park Apartments (now South Park by Windsor) represent a brand new product type in the growing urban fabric of Los Angeles, and is a bellwether of the new urban architecture to come. Its proximity to public transportation (such as the Metro subway and the projected downtown streetcar as well as LA Live) attracts modern urban professionals looking to live, work and play in the emerging downtown Los Angeles South Park district. With a density of 189 DU/Acre, the project consists of five wood framed levels over two levels of concrete. Building amenities include a pool, BBQ areas, landscaped courtyards, community clubhouse, gym, theater rooms, and a business lounge. The open spaces include two roof decks overlooking the new urban cityscape of South Park Los Angeles- one of them a projecting sky deck, six stories above the corner plaza of Olympic & Hill. The first floor houses 16,000 square feet of retail spaces, including restaurants and several live/work units for professionals. Contemporary façade materials, such as glass guardrails, composite aluminum panels, anodized aluminum storefront and windows are underlining the vibrant language of the exterior.

OLIVE DTLA

tcaeditor - Sep 20, 2023

OliveDTLA reflects the rapidly transforming Los Angeles South Park neighborhood. The design was inspired by the neighborhood’s shift from commercial to mixed use. At the corner plaza, intersecting architectures reflect two of the area’s existing block building typologies. The narrow facade mimics the exposed side of the neighborhood’s commercial buildings, with random patterns of various-sized windows. The long facade reflects the existing historical commercial front façade’s patterning and repetition, albeit with contemporary materials and residential detailing. Through these juxtapositions, OliveDTLA remains authentic contextual and contributes to an exciting new community. Compact unit plans reduce the price point for studios, one and two-bedrooms; reflect the nature of urban living; and have easy access to a wealth of onsite and DTLA amenities.

HANOVER SEPULVEDA

tcaeditor - Sep 17, 2023

The concept for the design of Hanover Sepulveda is inspired by the natural topography of the site, dramatic and hidden from the bustling boulevard that defines busy Los Angeles city life. The long linear site translates into a project that is simple yet challenging at the same time. Site constraints and extreme topography posed challenges of access and building configuration. Special unit designs were employed to achieve high building efficiencies. Circulation and fire access requirements demanded the need for a concise arrival sequence, complete with a guest drop-off and turnaround area to meet current trends of transportation. The narrow street frontage allowed an opportunity to focus quality design on the limited front façade. The horizontal emphasis of lines and planes in the front elevation represent notions of stepped terraces, which define individual retreats for each dwelling unit. The ultimate oasis, in the form of a unique amenity deck, is tucked to the rear of the building, reserved for discovery by the residents. Natural material finishes, such as stone veneer and wood-toned siding, help to reinforce the ideas of capturing a sense of nature within the project.

JIA APARTMENTS

TCA Architect - Sep 14, 2023

Meaning “home,” JIA is an urban six story mixed-use project with 280 apartment units and 20,000 square feet of ground level retail on the North-West corner of Broadway and Cesar Chavez. The location of the project is at the main entry into Los Angeles’ Chinatown, adjacent to the Twin Dragons Tower Gateway. The project is designed in order to respect and respond to the Twin Dragons Tower Gateway with a large public courtyard on the street corner for residents and the local community. The façade along Broadway has neighborhood serving retail along the entire ground level with articulated units above to create smaller scale elements along the street edge. The urban nature of the project reflects the future of residential and mixed use design in the Los Angeles area, with the close integration of public and private uses. The contemporary architectural reflects a forward thinking approach to the revitalization of Chinatown and elements of color with strong forms were used to make a statement at the gateway to Chinatown.

201 MARSHALL

TCA Architect - Aug 28, 2023

201 Marshall is an infill project within the Redwood City Downtown Precise Plan boundary and is situated adjacent to the most significant transit node in the city. A tower element anchors the corner of intersecting streets, marking the corner and creating a vertical, iconic marker that is visible from the adjacent transit station. Fundamental to the design is the connection to public transit, and locating the project’s “front door” directly on the main corner at the base of the tower element. With a double-height lobby space and main entry, a direct connection is made to the nearby transit center. The base element of the project relates to the pedestrian scale of the buildings across Marshall Street, and awnings and storefront help to reduce the scale along the street frontages.

ARIVA

TCA Architect - Aug 20, 2023

Ariva Apartments is Phase 2 and 3, located within the master-planned community that occupies the former site of General Dynamics-Convair’s missile plant. Ariva offers one- and two-bedroom units that feature quartz countertops, washers and dryers, private terraces, and views of the two-acre Centrum Park. The project is a four story Type V construction over two levels of Type I parking garage and brings 253 units to the San Diego Spectrum Center. The two buildings are located east of the yet-to-be-built Ariva Way and south of Lightwave Avenue in the city of San Diego.

REATA

TCA Architect - Aug 15, 2023

Located in Laguna Hills, Reata is designed in a “Spanish Revival” style, taking influence from Southern California’s historical architecture. The project is the centerpiece of the city’s Urban Village Specific Plan and fundamental to the design is the connection of pedestrian access to the neighboring Oakbrook Village Shopping Center. The project includes a 10,000 square-foot space called the Village Green; aiming to provide a vibrant, pedestrian-oriented atmosphere. The retail awnings and storefronts along the ground level are designed to help reduce the scale of the building along the pedestrian frontages, while allowing for views into public areas of the building. The tower elements anchor key corners and cantilevered balconies provide relief and texture, working to further break down the scale of the massing. The project has 289 dwelling units consisting of 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom units; each featuring private balconies and decks looking outward over the densely landscaped site or over one of the four courtyards.

APEX

TCA Architect - Jul 20, 2023

APEX Apartments developed by Mill Creek Residential Trust includes 284-units on the former Mission Yamaha and Hilborn properties at the northeast corner of Crown Valley Parkway and Cabot Road. The project includes four stories of residential units over three levels of parking in the city of Laguna Niguel. A total of 32 studio, 161 one-bedroom and 91 two-bedroom units ranging in size from 600 to 1,453 square feet are proposed. The project design includes a contemporary California style of architecture with a varying roof line, stepped elevation planes and warm earth tone colors. The project includes approximately 3,340 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenity space including a pool/spa, fitness, club rooms, and multiple barbecue areas.