Projects
Givens Estates – Oxford Commons
Asheville, NC
Givens Estates wanted to update their Oxford Commons amenity spaces to reflect their mission to provide residents the opportunities for a purpose-driven life where they can pursue their passions and explore the possibilities for personal growth and enrichment. Thus, we updated their commons to provide modern amenity spaces that reflect Givens Estates mountain aesthetic.
Multiple dining venues include a flexible gathering space aptly named The Social Brew provides a new place to connect with others over a cup of coffee, light breakfast, or glass of wine.
Market + Craft serves casual dining as well as fresh baked goods, take-out items, and locally sourced goods in the Marketplace. The new patio offers a spot to gather for a meal at a shaded table or relaxation around a fire pit or Terrene provides a formal dining experience highlighted with a chef’s table bar to watch the kitchen action.
Additional renovations included the wellness center which now boasts a newly renovated 1700 SF fitness room and 1100 SF yoga and aerobics studio. A stained glass window triptych was relocated to a more prominent position and backlit to highlight the art inspired by the surrounding mountains. The multi-story grand staircase was refreshed with new finishes and now features a dramatic lighting installation.
Lakeside Apartments and Clear Creek Cottages at Carolina Village
Hendersonville, NC
These new independent living residences, consisting of 54 cottages and 36 apartments, are the next step in Carolina Village’s multi-year plan for strategic growth. The Lakeside Apartments are located next to the community’s Tranquil Lake, which is home to abundant waterfowl and pleasant landscaping. Discrete parking is provided under the building. The Clear Creek Cottage neighborhood is made up of six duplexes and seven 6-plexes. These homes take advantage of the terrain to provide multiple single-story residences, all with ground-level entrances maximizing the hillside site. Both the apartments and cottages reflect the community’s Smoky Mountain aesthetic featuring wooden post and beam details and stacked stone.
Views
Each Lakeside residence steps back from the one beside it allowing unobstructed views of the nearby mountains. Every residence’s large picture window and balcony or patio highlight these views and allow abundant natural light to stream indoors.
Balcony Customization
The outdoor space is customized to each homeowner’s preferences – everything from full four-season, three-season, screened-in, or open balconies and patios. Yet, each was carefully designed to maintain a similar aesthetic creating pleasingly complimentary cottage and apartment exteriors.
Clubhouse
What began as the need for tool storage near the community garden plots evolved into a clubhouse with a uniquely cantilevered roof covering an outdoor patio gathering space. The clubhouse boasts floor-to-ceiling windows and a cozy fireplace surrounding a large open multi-purpose space. Bathrooms and the original garden tool storage are also part of this striking amenity.
Photo credit: Nathan Cox Photography
The Grove at Meadowood Senior Living
Worcester, PA
The next step in implementing the Meadowood campus master plan involved adding a new independent living residential offering on a portion of the existing senior living campus. Four hybrid home buildings, each comprised of two floors of residences over under-building parking, surround a new campus pond, fire pit, seating areas, and pergola to be enjoyed by the entire community.
The 52 residences range between 1300-1800 SF and each has its own corner view that allows in ample daylight. Each unit also features a balcony or patio in addition to contemporary features, full laundry rooms, and walk-in closets in each bedroom. Each floor is also anchored by a central seating area where residents can gather to socialize.
Learn More About Hybrid HomesPhoto Credit: Nathan Cox Photography
Emerald Terraces at Village on the Isle
Venice, FL
The first of their kind in Florida, the Emerald Terraces introduced a new hybrid housing model to the Village on the Isle campus. The Emerald Terraces have parking on the ground floor, as well as covered sidewalk access to community center amenities. Each residence functions as a corner unit with multi-directional views and the added benefit of private lanais without visual or noise distractions from neighbors.
A Community within a Community
Each hybrid building includes a top floor community room for residents to gather together or entertain guests. The main clubroom area features a flexible great room space with a catering kitchen, comfortable seating, tables, stackable chairs and a large screen television. A sliding barn door leads into a modest fitness room that provides residents with easy access to wellness equipment. Retractable walls in both the clubroom and fitness area provide a seamless outdoor connection and enable events to spill out onto the large outdoor deck.
Age-Friendly Design for Hybrid Homes
Each building has 23 one- and two-bedroom residences ranging from approximately 1,250 square feet to 1,600 square feet of living space in an open floor plan. The residences are carefully detailed in accordance with universal design principles for people of varying ages and abilities without compromising the upscale residential design aesthetic. Accessibility, from door clearances to space templates, is designed into all homes to accommodate active residents, those who require assistance from a spouse or caregiver, and those who utilize wheelchairs or scooters to maintain their independent mobility. Supportive features such as elevated vanities and extra blocking in walls to accommodate shower grab rails, if needed, are discreetly integrated into the contemporary design.
Sustainable Design Features
Energy efficient, hurricane impact-resident windows and doors, continuous insulation, LED lighting and energy star appliances are just a few of the features built into the homes. Low or zero emitting floor coverings, paints, adhesives and composite woods have been specified as well as recycled content and regionally extracted and manufactured materials. Locating parking on the first floor under the homes offers the additional benefits of less impervious surface space being needed.
Learn More About Hybrid HomesRLPS really takes an owner’s position in the planning and design process—they took the time to understand our needs way before “putting a pencil to any paper.”
Joel Anderson, CEO
Photo Credit: Nathan Cox Photography
The Crescent at Oakleaf Village
Toledo, OH
Hybrid Homes 2.0
Wallick Communities wanted to add a new independent living component to the Oakleaf Village of Toledo community, comprised of a recently introduced memory care residence and a 1980s era building providing licensed residential living and assisted living. The new housing needed to meet consumer expectations for abundant daylight, open floor plans and covered parking while maintaining affordability for older adults in this Midwestern working class area. And it had to fit on a 1.46 acre site. The design result is two parallel hybrid home apartment buildings with a connected dining pavilion between them. These three buildings form The Crescent, a micro rental housing community for active seniors.
Maintaining Affordability
The smaller size of the individual hybrid home buildings compared to a traditional apartment building allowed for more economical wood-frame construction. The individual apartments are relatively small, ranging from 842 to 1,156 square feet, yet the design maintains marketable features such as open floor plans and wood-look luxury vinyl tile in the main living spaces to make the spaces feel larger and spacious tile shower with frameless glass door systems to help maximize the experience of the modest size bathroom. Private garage parking and carport options are available for a separate fee which helps keep the base costs down.
Integrating Amenities for Market Appeal
Recognizing that the minimal amenities in the existing building would not appeal to today’s consumers, the design team was challenged to create a community-within-a-community. Each upper floor of the hybrid apartment buildings incorporates a different activity area including a woodshop, arts and crafts room, and a beauty shop, as well as fitness centers in both buildings and an employee lounge. The main lobby, a dining venue and living room comprise the pavilion building, which can be accessed from inside the hybrid homes or through an exterior landscaped courtyard. The compact 814 square foot living room features a large fireplace and is equipped with a portable bar, projector/screen and flexible seating to allow for a host of educational seminars, cultural and social events and informal gatherings. The dining room is modestly sized at 1,445 square feet and features a bar, multiple types of seating and a coffee station. Both the dining and living spaces open up to a patio, allowing events to flow through both areas.
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Landis Homes – Learning & Wellness Center and Crossings Apartments
Lititz, PA
Constructed front and center on an existing campus, these senior living apartments and community center connect lifelong learning, holistic wellness and vibrant community.
Community Front Door for Lifelong Learning and Wellness
Located in the heart of campus and visible from the adjacent roadway, the new Learning and Wellness Center fills the need for a community front door. Designed to be a bustling center of activity where connections flourish, the main floor houses a bistro and lounge, art gallery, salon and spa, business center, bank, pharmacy, and auditorium to support the community’s Pathways Institute for Lifelong Learning® classes and other educational and entertainment programs. Spiritual wellness is encouraged in The Quiet Place, a series of small rooms for meditation. The new center also allowed for a consolidation of administrative offices into one central location.
Fitness Spaces
Fitness spaces are located on the ground floor with both internal access and a separate entrance for residents walking, biking or driving from other parts of campus. This area includes a four-lane lap and therapy pool and a spa pool with natural lighting, a state-of-the-art cardio and strength training room with equipment designed for an active aging population and a wellness studio to support group classes.
Crossings Apartments
The Crossings Apartments replaced older single homes with higher density housing that reflects current consumer demands. These new residences provide an indoor connection to community amenities and feature a mix of one bedroom plus den, two bedroom and two bedroom plus den apartments ranging from 1,253 to 1,569 square feet. Open floor plans, natural light and abundant storage were the priorities for these residences. Each apartment also includes one under-building covered parking space.
Community Connections
This project also includes an interior pedestrian bridge over the driveway to provide an interior connection to this campus hub. Residents, team members and visitors are able to walk under cover from the Health Care and Personal Care houses, through The Crossings and the Learning & Wellness Center, and all the way to the apartments on the west side of the community. President/CEO Larry Zook shared that bringing the different parts of campus together under one roof was something residents and team members have dreamed of for many years.
Learn more about Wellness
Penick Village – Parkview Hybrid Homes
Southern Pines, NC
Higher density replacement housing
The Parkview replaces aging existing cottages with a desirable higher density independent living option. Each three-story, 17-residence hybrid home is made up of units ranging from 600 to 1600 square feet. The balconies for individual residences are carefully positioned to maintain privacy and views. Parking is provided on the ground floor which also includes two moderately priced efficiency apartment options. Sitting areas on the residential floors provide additional spaces for casual interactions.
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Pleasant View Communities – Hearth and Harrow
Manheim, PA
Bring In Outside Community
Renovation of a former café created Health and Harrow—a restaurant, private dining room, bistro, coffee bar, and outdoor patio—to enhance campus life and help to bring the outside community into Pleasant View. This not only provides an additional dining venue for a town that has limited restaurant options, but the extra income also helps to maintain – and even increase – Pleasant View’s benevolence to its residents.
Outdoor Connections
Large storefront windows replace bay windows and a rarely used vestibule just off the patio has been repurposed as two dining alcoves in the front of the bistro. Outdoor connections are highlighted with expanded windows, many with sills less than a foot above the ground, patio dining with a variety of seating options, and a renovated fountain featuring work by a local sculptor.
Farm-to-Table
Hearth and Harrow highlights its local agrarian setting via hand-cut local tiles, local art, textured glass panels from a local glass supplier, reclaimed barn wood, and Edison bulbs inspired by nearby family farms. The name highlights the signature hearth feature and connects back to Pleasant View’s heritage of the family farm reflecting an operational goal to partner with local, Lancaster County food vendors and bring the Farm-to-Table movement to the community.
Photo Credit: Nathan Cox Photography
Warwick Woodlands, a Moravian Manor Community
Lititz, PA
Pedestrian Friendly, Varied Housing Options for Satellite Community
Since its founding, Moravian Manor has operated under the premise of blending seamlessly into the surrounding town rather than creating its own insular community. The downtown location became a challenge as the community has thrived and needed room to grow. The purchase of a nearby 72 acre property paved the way for the Warwick Woodlands satellite community.
Traditional Neighborhood Development
The design of Warwick Woodlands reflects Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) principles that respond to consumer preferences for an interconnected community—engaging rather than isolating residents from the existing townscape.
Key features are varied types of housing, courtyards and public spaces, and a network of pedestrian-friendly streets and sidewalks. The first phase included ten freestanding two-story townhomes, 70 duplex carriage homes, and The Woods Building comprised of 56 apartments, bistro, lounge and game room.
Community Connections
The limited on-site amenities reflect the intention that the active adult residents will avail themselves of the many resources nearby. Membership to the Lititz Recreation Center is included in the monthly fee and everything else, such as dining and housecleaning, is a la carte so that residents choose the services that fit their lifestyle.
The goal of strengthening connections to the town rather than creating an inward-focused campus resulted in the bistro being open to the public for all meals, as well as design measures to integrate the community into the existing context.
To blend into the borough neighborhood, the new satellite community features minimal signage beyond the required street signs and provides direct connections to the Lititz borough streets and sidewalk network. The Woods apartments building façade creates a design aesthetic of interconnected buildings along the streetscape. Landscaped medians further enhance the main street while aiding in traffic calming since the final phase will connect two major arteries running through the town. These measures were a major “selling point” in the Borough’s acceptance of several zoning variances including allowances for higher density residential models.
Consumer-Friendly Design Details
The diverse housing mix has no duplicate materials combinations among the 80 residences. Residents living in the apartments have access to under-building parking and a rooftop amenity added late in the design process to enhance pre-sales initiatives. The resulting flat roof area nestles between two gables at the main street for views in multiple directions. Mechanical equipment screening acknowledges that there is no “back door” for the building. Phase 2 additional housing is currently under construction and continues the initial premise of integrating the homes into the surrounding townscape.
Award: Senior Housing News Architecture and Design Awards Winner, Independent Living
Photo Credit: Nathan Cox Photography
The Villas at RiverMead Hybrid Homes
The Villas at RiverMead provide a new hybrid homes™ option that complements the existing cottages and apartments. Taking advantage of the site contours so that the parking level is tucked into the hillside, the four-story hybrid buildings reinforce the residential scale of the campus.
The two buildings include 12 corner villas, four on each floor. Each villa, with its open-concept design and corner orientation, is thoughtfully planned for maximum flow and light. Other features include fireplaces, walk-in closets, laundry rooms and open kitchens. A modest gathering area is included on each floor to provide opportunities for social connections among residents.
Learn More About Hybrid Homes