Casa Paloma

Location: Midway City, CA
Award Applicant: KTGY
Architect: KTGY
Developer: American Family Housing and Veloce Partners
General Contractor: Cannon Constructors
Photographer: John Bare Photography
Project Website: afhusa.org/casa-paloma

Project Statement

Casa Paloma, a new development, delivers the first affordable housing developments built with prefabricated modular units in Orange County. Located on a 1.12-acre site in Midway City, the community comprises a four-story building that features 71 apartments between 600 and 900 square feet in size, including two manager’s apartments; 48 units of permanent supportive housing; and 21 income-restricted units to cater to households earning up to 50% of the area median income. The architects designed Casa Paloma to center on multiple private courtyards, providing open space and natural lighting for residents.

Designers broke up the smooth facade by utilizing wood-like panel accents, perforated metal panels and solar shading at the windows. The ground-floor facade transitions from the bright white above to a cool gray, grounding the development at the pedestrian scale. The building is orientated to maximize daylight into all units and amenity spaces and allow for multiple intimate courtyards.

This beautiful residential community provides a mix of both supportive housing and affordable housing. Developed in a first-ever partnership of its kind with Orange County and CalOptima, many of the homes in this innovative community will be homes for high utilizers of the healthcare system. The developer and its partners are working together to provide just the right amount of intensive case management services and community engagement for tenants who are exiting chronic homelessness. The development represents best practices in supportive housing design, as the first wood modular housing development of its kind in Orange County.