The Lincoln Orange Grove Apartments are a novel housing typology focused on providing affordable housing to first time home-owners. Drawing on the architectural language of Irving Gil, the new development integrates into its largely historic Pasadena neighborhood through a simple palette and form of white plaster devoid of unnecessary detail. ‘Nature’ is utilized to float ornamentally around the intersecting and offset forms, while trellises and corner windows provide welcome and transparency to entrances from the neighborhood.
From a retention of lifetime neighborhood residents down to the careful preservation and integration of an existing oak tree, the planning of the development was deeply rooted in the northwest Pasadena community and character. In an all too common current trend for Cities with great historical socio economic inequities, many Pasadena families who were once pushed into these under-resourced areas are now finding themselves quickly priced out of the very neighborhoods which they grew up in and contributed to the environment that now make them prime candidates for gentrification. With a focus on affordable first-time home ownership, the Lincoln at Orange Grove is an opportunity for local residents to get a foothold and stake in the future rewards of their community’s revitalization.
