Hotel Miramar Conversion

In partnership with CitySquare Housing, [bc] has been working on the conversion of the Hotel Miramar at 1950 Fort Worth Ave in Dallas into permanent supportive housing.

Built around 1953, the design is typical of the motels that were popular during that era. When this project is complete, it will comprise at least 40 units, each with a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchenette. Services will also be provided on-site, including case management, substance abuse assessment and support and employment assistance. Staff on-site will include a property manager, program manager, substance use specialist, employment specialist, outreach coordinator, and case manager.

Stay tuned for more from this project!

Miramar Motel in its heyday

Hotel Miramar at 1950 Fort Worth Ave

Samano Update

Along with cdcb, we recently had a pre-construction tour of Samano Studios & Armand's Grocery in Brownsville. This renovation is transforming the turn-of-the-century Samano Building in historic downtown Brownsville into permanent supportive housing studio apartments, office spaces, a grocery store and a coffee shop.

Folks at the pre-construction tour got a sneak peek of the current state of the building as well as what’s in store for the historic structure. Check out these renderings that Alison designed of the future space:

Samano exterior

View of grocery store corner entry for Samano Building from E 12th Street.

Grocery Store

The grocery store design focuses on highlighting the historic architecture of the building while providing an essential amenity to the community.

Multipurpose Space

The second floor is designed to support residents through community spaces that create opportunities for thoughtful programming. This multi purpose flex space is where the residents and the staff can come together as a community for events and informal gatherings.

Residential Unit

Residential units are designed to be both cozy and durable.

Samano Building: Historic Adaptive Reuse in Brownsville

In late 2020, we began work with our partner cdcb on an exciting historic adaptive reuse of the Samano Building in downtown Brownsville. Located at 1158 E. Elizabeth Street, the property consists of five stories, each approximately 5,775 square feet, with a basement. Originally built as a bank in 1925, the Samano building most recently was a Payless Shoe Store, followed by a period of vacancy until cdcb acquired the building.

When complete, the Samano Building will include a small grocery store and coffee shop on the ground floor (filling the gap in nutritious grocery access left when HEB moved from its downtown location), coworking/office spaces on the middle floor, and 34 units of affordable housing on the top floors with set-asides for citizens in transition. 

Check out these photos of Samano - including what it looked like in its heyday and a rendering of what the building will look like when work is complete!

Samano soon after construction at 1158 E. Elizabeth Street

The building as it stands today

The future Samano Building - rendering by Donald Hickman

MiCASiTA Update

Along with Enterprise Green Communities and cdcb | come dream. come build., [bc] has been at work refining core module options for MiCASiTA, our innovative grow-home model that allows families to purchase a home that is designed to grow as their family and finances do. 

Over the last few months, our team has gotten together for several report and design charrette meetings to review required and optional categories for Enterprise Green Communities Certification. This certification allows us to act on an integrative design process and set specific goals. The criteria checklist is a useful guide as we design the MiCASiTA grow-home model and seek to tap into economic, health, and environmental benefits.

Each MiCASiTA module will come prefabricated and will feature a main array of amenities and necessities. For example, our “Smart Box” options include a KITCHEN + BATHROOM + LAUNDRY or BEDROOM + LIVING ROOM. These two core options will then create our main starting point to the MiCASiTA grow home model. After the initial core is created and placed onsite for the family to move into, separate modules that can be added onto the home over time may feature an “Office Box” that has a BEDROOM + OFFICE + BATHROOM, a “Kids Box” featuring 2 BEDROOM + BATHROOM, or a “Flex Box” with GARDEN / GARAGE / STORAGE.

The graphic below represents the L core diagram, with the two “Smart Boxes” coming together to illustrate the process of the grow-home model. The top shows Gable Roof and the bottom shows a Shed Roof.

Our next steps as the design team are to come up with a thoughtful façade design and wrap up to begin the permitting process.

Core massing option graphic by Oscar Olvera.

Welcome, Donald!

Help us give a warm welcome to our newest Senior Design Manager, Donald Hickman. Donald will be located in our Houston office, where he will manage our Houston projects and support design efforts across our other offices, as well.

Originally from Detroit, MI, Donald has spent his entire professional career in Houston. He has served as a technical design professional and marketing graphic designer at HOK. He also served as a Project Architect and Designer at Stantec. His career experience includes the construction documentation of corporate high-rises and campuses, as well as the design development of a STEM library, a medical examiner’s facility, and a middle school. It was his passion for small-scale design and providing architectural services to those in greater need of them that led him to a career with [bc].

Read more about Donald here!