Santa Ana adaptive reuse projects featured in Harvard housing design book

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Harvard University’s inaugural housing design book features two Santa Ana adaptive reuse residential projects, which are among just 113 housing projects nationwide included in the book.

“The State of Housing Design 2023” by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University is the companion book to the Center’s signature annual report, “The State of the Nation’s Housing.” The book’s authors surveyed over 1,300 advocates, contractors, residents, developers, and designers, to identify “new, novel and notable designs” in housing across the United States.Book cover of “The State of Housing Design 2023”

The Adaptive Renovations chapter features the Santa Ana Arts Collective at 1666 N. Main St. and La Placita Cinco at 2239 W. 5th St., both of which were supported with loans or funds from the City of Santa Ana to create new affordable housing.

“The inclusion of these projects in Harvard University’s housing design book shows that Santa Ana is being recognized on the national stage for its innovative approach to high-quality development,” Mayor Valerie Amezcua said. “Everyone in Santa Ana should be proud to see their city’s efforts acknowledged by this premier educational institution.”

The Santa Ana Arts Collective converted an underused, five-story office building from the 1960s into affordable live-work lofts for artists. Under the City’s Adaptive Reuse Ordinance passed in 2014, project designer Studio One Eleven was able to turn offices into contemporary apartments, with gallery space and a shared makerspace on the ground floor. The project opened in 2020 as Orange County’s first adaptive reuse project.

The book noted the environmental benefits of the Santa Ana Arts Collective: “The architects calculated that reusing the building avoided more than 2,000 tons of CO2 emissions and diverted 25 million pounds of waste from landfill.”

La Placita Cinco opened in 2021 at 5th and Hawley streets, breathing new life into an aging strip mall and saving it from demolition. Community Development Partners upgraded and preserved existing businesses while replacing a gas station with 50 affordable apartments and a community space, as well as Santa Ana’s first development to feature integrated parking lifts, also known as “stackers.” The project also added a small park known as a zocalo with wide sidewalks, large seating steps, fruit trees, and space for a farmers’ market.