PROJECTS

Homestead Oaks Apartments is a 140 unit, affordable housing community with an onsite learning center, leasing office, play field, sport court, and playground. The Owner, Foundation Communities, pushed green building as far as possible while celebrating the beautiful, natural, 30-acre setting. This will be the first multi-family rental apartments in the city of Austin to pursue 134.16kW solar tied directly to residential units. In addition to this, the apartments feature 18- 10,000 gallon rainwater collection cisterns used for irrigation; VRF mini-split HVAC systems in units; durable flooring in 100% of the residential units; and continuous, rigid insulation on exterior.

The site is a previously developed single family homestead covered in hundreds of heritage Live Oaks. The impervious coverage allowance was capped at approximately 4 acres, creating a challenge to the design team to carefully dance the building around the existing trees while keeping as small a footprint as possible. The limited buildable site area also pushed the mechanical equipment to the roof. The flat, 4 story roof allowed for ample space to accommodate both the HVAC equipment and 134.16 kW of solar. Pervious pavement was used in all paving except for the parking areas, and the water quality ponds were designed with a more natural look to complement the more native, natural landscape of the site.