Casas Las Granadas

This 12-unit affordable apartment project, located in downtown Santa Barbara, successfully achieves many seemingly disparate goals. It creates a contextual and harmonious urban façade on an exposed blank wall of a four-story parking structure; it provides a green oasis in the midst of an active urban setting; it extends the City’s unique network of pedestrian connections; and it provides affordable housing for downtown workers who commute by foot, bicycle, or public transit. The project celebrates the City’s Spanish Colonial heritage, as mandated by strict design guidelines, and has become a landmark in the neighborhood, creating a delightful sense of place by providing enclosure and scale to the adjacent urban plaza. The building sets a new standard for affordable housing.