Public Space as a Seed for Social Housing
For the past years, UC San Diego–Casa Community Station programming took place in various community spaces in San Ysidro owned and operated by Casa Familiar. The UC San Diego–Casa Community Station now lives inside of Casa Familiar’s new mixed-use social housing project called Living Rooms at the Border.
Designed by Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman in partnership with Casa Familiar, and the support of Studio E Architects, the project was finalized in early 2020. Design and construction of Living Rooms at the Border was funded by the PARC Foundation and a grant from ArtPlace America, among other sources, and financial support from Civic San Diego, Capital Impact Partners and Citi Community Capital.
The UC San Diego–Casa Community Station was conceptualized as a parcel-size infrastructure made of cultural and social spaces, anchoring ten diverse units of affordable housing. It is a collection of small buildings: a community theater, social, immigration and health services, and an open-air civic classroom, led and managed by Casa Familiar and residents. The interface between programmed public space and social housing is essential to assure sustainability and inclusion.
Community Design Process
With a grant from ArtPlace America and programmatic support from the Blum Family Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Center on Global Justice partnered with Casa Familiar to lead a community-based participatory design process to envision the social, cultural and economic programming of Living Rooms at the Border. UC San Diego researchers and students worked with Casa Familiar to lead design workshops that included community leaders, area residents and youth.
