40 Years of Affordable, Climate Adapted & Beloved Housing

Image from print edition of The Davis Enterprise

Indigo Principal Architect Jon Hammond’s name in print in David Thompson’s op ed in the Davis Enterprise. Thompson’s account outlines the process by which a visionary team including an architect (Hammond), developers, and a co-op banker (Thompson himself) were able to get high-quality, energy-efficient, low cost housing built in north Davis’ Senda Nueva neighborhood in the 1980s. The housing cooperative model used at Dos Pinos has kept the townhouse apartments in this complex affordable and has encouraged the flourishing of a close-knit community of residents.

Compact, highly-efficient floor plans, solar orientation, and window shading are some of the features that keep these modernist apartments cool in summer and warm in winter with minimal energy use. The site features small private patios, but emphasizes common green space shared by residents, including a swimming pool. Located a short walk from the Marketplace Shopping Center and directly linked to the extensive Senda Nueva Greenbelt, Dos Pinos is walkable and bikeable to retail and recreation space for kids and adults. 

Given our ongoing housing affordability crisis in Davis (and all over California) paired with the climate crisis, Dos Pinos offers an ever more important model for how we can build places that are more affordable, more sustainable and more enjoyable. It takes vision and creativity, but we have shown that it is possible.

Dos Pinos, Davis, CA