The Point is a 28-unit residential design-build project that was based on the principal of “Pocket Neighborhoods,” giving nearby neighbors a sense of community while preserving their need for privacy. The challenging site was an oddly shaped piece of surplus railroad land bordered on two sides by railroad tracks. The design focuses the units inward toward a shared south-facing commons. Parking for cars is situated at the front edge of the property instead of at the doorstep of each dwelling. The project consists of three new three-story buildings that are composed of one- to three-bedroom apartments and three-story, three-bedroom townhouses. Each dwelling has a private outdoor garden and/or rooftop garden, and one of the buildings features a commercial space on the ground floor.
The structural system is wood framing at all structures. Floor framing consists of I-joists, and roof framing consists of nail plated trusses. Lateral resistance for each structure is provided by conventional wood shear walls and holdown anchors. To avoid shear walls along the front side of the buildings, the “open front structure” approach specified in the National Design Specification for Wood Construction (NDS) was used to cantilever the floor diaphragms past the interior shear walls. This allowed open window systems to extend across the entire width of the units.
The site is located over soft bay mud, and a shallow mat foundation system was selected as the best approach for the project. ZFA worked closely with the geotechnical engineer, utilizing the CSI software program SAFE to analyze and design an efficient mat slab foundation.