An agrarian way of life has defined Chino Hills since the late 18th century, when its hillsides were first used for grazing cattle for nearby Mission San Gabriel and the Santa Ana del Chino and Rancho La Sierra ranchos. Though only a few miles from nearby metropolitan areas, the spirit of the City is quite different, embracing a lifestyle that is more in concert with the surrounding rolling hills and open vistas. At the corner of Eucalyptus Avenue and Peyton Drive, a new series of gabled structures rises from the surrounding landscape, a project whose iconography and warm materiality evokes the rural, equestrian vernacular of Chino Hills. This new affordable housing for seniors builds on the principles that have shaped the surrounding city, balancing development and the preservation of open space. It seeks to create a place that these seniors can call home, a truly exceptional, sustainable, beautiful project that embraces the City’s character and embodies its more pastoral way of life.
The project is organized as a series of gabled structures stretching along Eucalyptus Avenue, angled to the northeast in plan and linked by a series of central courtyards and adjacent terraces each with spaces for outdoor recreation and relaxation. The project includes up to 75 one-bedroom units, each with ample living and dining spaces, a full kitchen, fully accessible bathroom, and bedroom with a walk-in closet for individual seniors or couples. The project includes expansive common areas for community members, a large community kitchen, and other amenity spaces including a large fitness space and computer center.
The project along Eucalyptus Drive varies between one and two stories in height, it’s gabled rooflines and terraced forms creating a modest, human-scale architectural expression that is in keeping with the surrounding context. These low-scale, predominantly horizontal forms create a direct dialogue with the barns and stables immediately south and west of the project site. The project’s gabled forms are clad in troweled plaster and a warm-hued cedar siding, creating a feeling of warmth and a haptic quality that feels like home. The architectural forms are thoughtfully detailed, creating layers of texture and depth that are brought to life as the sun moves across their stepped facades over the course of the day. Stone planters and other secondary elements such as built-in furniture create further detail and provide additional layers of diverse materiality and interest.
The surrounding landscape is designed as an equal partner to the project’s architecture, embodying the more bucolic, pastoral character of the nearby hillsides, acting as stewards of the land that defines this community. The planting palette for the project is predominantly drought tolerant native grasses, whose golden hue will blend with the surrounding hillsides and be home to the rabbits, birds and other flora and fauna who we have seen nearby. Oaks, sycamores, and other native tree species provide shade and more tranquil spaces to gather beneath. Lavenders and coneflower will dot this landscape of grasses, providing further moments of warmth, color, and interest, and supporting native pollinator species.
S E R V I C E S
Architecture, Interiors, Landscape & Lighting