The Ormond Beach Villas project creates an affordable living community specifically for homeless, disabled and low-income veterans and their families. The project includes villas, common areas and community spaces where residents can feel at home. Because of our experience designing similar projects, the developer, Many Mansions, hired Pacific Office Interiors to design the community center and specify furniture for this affordable community housing project.
Addressing Veteran Homelessness
California has the largest number of homeless veterans in the United States, and in Ventura County, these vets average over 55 years old. Providing genuine respect to these homeless veterans in the form of well-built and maintained affordable housing was a priority.
Warm and Welcoming Design
Furniture for affordable community housing projects must provide comfort, durability and flexibility, especially in common areas like a community center. The project team wanted the community center to be warm, welcoming, inviting, family-oriented and, most importantly, off the street.
Taking a cue from the nearby beaches, we used an ocean-related color pallet of blues, greens and teals to brighten and enliven the space. Rather than going with large expanses of uninteresting painted walls, we used the walls to display colorful and engaging artwork. One wall features a large underwater panorama of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and the other walls have paintings of Caribbean scenes.
We specified Zintra Acoustic Panels in the Monsoon pattern by MDC Interior Solutions for several walls, adding acoustic control and more color. The Monsoon pattern seemed a fitting choice for our oceanic theme. Finally, we included a large tackable surface to allow residents and property managers to post notices, residents’ artwork and other community information. The resulting design provides a welcoming and calming feeling, a stark contrast to the spartan living conditions many homeless veterans face.
Space for Community and Family Gatherings
The community center offers a large, open area, three offices for staff, a library tailored to children’s interests and a small kitchen. The offices serve the leasing manager, building management and a Many Mansions site coordinator. Each office features a Haworth Planes L-shaped table, Haworth X-Series overhead storage with a tackable surface underneath and Haworth Soji Task Chairs. We used Haworth’s Very Stackable Wire Chairs for guest seating.
Furniture for the common area includes Haworth’s Very Stackable Wire Chairs featuring three colors of seats and backs, pairing them with AIS Flip Top Tables. The Very chairs are stackable up to 20 high, and the ASI tabletops flip vertically, significantly reducing the space they use. These capabilities provide compact storage when residents want an unobstructed open space. And, when the situation calls for additional seating, the matching Very chairs in the offices are available.
The library features rugged and playful bean bag chairs. We also included the Woodstock Marketing Jefferson Chairs, a more structured and supportive version of the popular bean bag. And, with the library’s focus on supporting children, we specified a built-in millwork bench along one wall with cushions and pillows for more seating options.
Furniture for Affordable Community Housing Projects
While furniture for affordable community housing projects must be durable, reliable and flexible–it does not have to be cold and utilitarian. Contact us to discuss your next affordable housing project and learn how we can provide a warm, welcoming and functional design to meet your needs.
