Carter Terrace consists of 101 affordable housing units on a 3.3 acre site developed by Mercy Housing California and funded by the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and by State Tax credits. The design utilizes walk-up unit types organized around a system of pedestrian and vehicular streets and separate parking courts accommodating the steeply sloping site. A Community center embedded in the land has a large two-story meeting room, which opens out onto the main public plaza. The plan sets a precedent for further development in the area by defining a pattern of on-site streets and open spaces. It is a typology of urban spaces reminiscent of older San Francisco neighborhoods. The three-story walk-up units are all dual aspect so as to maximize view and light in the apartments, with many of them having distant views to the East Bay. Floor-to-ceiling windows, trellises, and subtle changes in planes through the use of color and materials make up the main elements of the composition. The overall intent is for an architecture that is both disciplined and engaging to the inhabitants.
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