KTGY Designs Honored By Habitat For Humanity Orange County

Design Taxi

May 13, 2009

The KTGY Group has its latest designs for three single-family homes for Habitat for Humanity Orange County and now under construction at Yorba Linda Avenue and Park Avenue in Yorba Linda, California.

Additionally, the architectural firm also assisted in the construction of these three homes on Build Day.

As a recognition of its efforts, KTGY was awarded Habitat for Humanity’s 2009 Dream Builder Award at the Fifth Annual ‘Doorways To The Future’ gala awards dinner at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach.

Habitat for Humanity of Orange County is dedicated to ending substandard housing and building strong communities in Orange County and the Dream Builder Award recognizes those companies that have made a substantial donation of time and resources to Habitat for Humanity Orange County.

KTGY has been committed to working with Habitat for Humanity throughout northern and southern California. Last year, the company designed and assisted with the building of Habitat for Humanity’s four homes in Anaheim on East Julianna Street. This year, KTGY’s Jill Williams, AIA and principal, provided site planning and architectural design for Habitat for Humanity’s three homes in Yorba Linda.

KTGY’s Tien Shen, LEED AP, project manager, has been instrumental in heading the consultant team and gaining City approval for the construction documents. Both Williams and Shen were also part of KTGY’s 12-member Build Day team that provided construction assistance for the Yorba Linda homes on May 1.

The enthusiastic team, which included four KTGY principals (Williams plus Chris Texter, David Obitz and Ken Ryan), helped frame the second-story walls and install electrical panels. Ryan is the former Mayor of the City of Yorba Linda and heads up KTGY’s community planning and urban design studio and served two terms as Mayor of Yorba Linda.

An experienced home designer and planner, KTGY was able to make the best use of all the available square footage on a small infill site to create attractive, very livable and comfortable homes.

“The land plan was as important as the exterior design,” says the project’s designer Jill Williams, AIA.

“Also, it is important that the homes are not only of a high quality, but also take advantage of a certain simplicity in framing since this is a volunteer workforce.”

Williams adds, “These three homes carry on the historic precedent of this great neighborhood with sitting porches, two-car garages turned to the rear and accessed from a private drive, and a material palette that is reminiscent of the era with shingles and clapboard siding.”

Two of the homes are targeted to families earning 120 per cent of the area’s median income ($100,900 for a family of four) and one for a family earning 50 per cent of the area’s median income ($46,500 for a family of four). Targeting completion in July 2009, the homes will be two stories with three bedrooms and either 1½ or 2½ baths. Habitat families are required to provide 500 hours of “sweat equity” to help build their own home, assist another Habitat family build a home, or work in some other part of the Habitat organization.

Williams adds that is exciting to help end substandard housing and provide hardworking families with an opportunity to share in the American Dream of homeownership. KTGY has considerable experiencing building market rate housing as well as affordable and workforce housing working with leading non-profit housing developers like Jamboree Housing, BRIDGE Housing and South County Housing Corporation.

KTGY recently celebrated the grand opening of Jamboree Housing Corporation’s Diamond Apartment Homes in Anaheim, a pioneering green multifamily development that provides both housing and mental health supportive services for previously homeless individuals and their families in Orange County.

In addition to Diamond Apartment Homes, KTGY has designed and completed several other affordable apartment communities for Jamboree Housing including Monarch Pointe Apartment Homes in Anaheim, Ceres Court Apartment Homes in Fontana, and Granite Court in Irvine.

“Working together as a team is better than a ropes course for team building plus we get to help families in need. What a great way to participate in building communities of hope, dignity and self-worth through the construction of quality, affordable housing,” says Tricia Esser, KTGY’s CEO.

“Today, corporate social responsibility goes far beyond the old philanthropy of the past – donating money to good causes at the end of the financial year–and is instead an all year round responsibility that companies must accept for the environment around them, for the best working practices, and for their engagement with the local and world communities,” Esser adds.

“We at KTGY are sincerely dedicated to making a difference in the communities where we work, live, play and design.”