The Duke

Project Details

Project Description

2008 RADA
Multifamily / Grand

These townhouses contribute vibrancy to a mixed neighborhood of light-industrial structures and multifamily residential buildings of the clay tile-and-stucco variety. Our judges praised the project's “remarkable color” and “beautiful elevations”; one noted it “has multiple layers from the curb to the door.”

Wedged between a parking lot and other residential buildings, the lot measures an ungainly 83 feet by 300 feet. But Circle West Architects used the idiosyncratic shape to advantage, rotating the units and locating the parking circulation to the east and the pedestrian area to the west. “We wanted to create privacy and security, but we also wanted to embrace community, so we were able to create a strong pedestrian element,” says Peter M. Koliopoulos, AIA. Owners enter their units through a landscaped courtyard and walk into a ground-floor flex space.

Koliopoulos and project designer Sean Mortenson specified large glass openings for transparency, and they used red-painted metal fences and yellow metal siding to present a friendly face to the neighbors. “The idea is that you would have a vibrant identity day or night,” Koliopoulos says.

The units, which measure 16 feet wide and 36 feet deep, feature modest interiors with water-conserving fixtures, low-VOC paints, and a shading element along the west-facing windows. “It's a great achievement for the cost per square foot,” said one judge.