EVENTS
Maria Ogrydziak ARCHITECTURE
ACTION THROUGH ARCHITECTURE FOR HOMELESS HOUSING
With a creative vision, architect
Maria Ogrydziak has lent
her skill and talent to Paul’s
Place, an innovative project tackling one
of today’s biggest humanitarian crises —
homelessness. “I knew that architecture
could help make great strides toward a
solution to homelessness in the city of
Davis,” she says.
As the designer of Paul’s Place, Ogrydziak
gathered input from volunteers who work
with the homeless, law enforcement,
former Mayor Robb Davis, and Davis
Community Meals and Housing executive
director Bill Pride, among many others.
“Collaboration helped design this
building,” she says. “A variety of people
were involved in a variety of ways to
envision this community project.”
Paul’s Place is more than a building. It’s a
warm, welcoming and highly functional
village. Breaking ground next year, this
four-floor collage of tiny houses with on-site
support and resources will take the place
of the aging single-story DCMH facility
currently at 1111 H Street in Davis.
“I wanted a far departure from an
institutional, monolithic look,” says
Ogrydziak. “Paul’s Place will be an
appealing, positive place that promotes a
sense of community, and its structure will
also represent the cycle of progress people
make from the first through fourth floors.”
The first floor will house an enhanced
DCMH resource center with showers,
restrooms, laundry facilities and four
emergency shelter beds, and the second
floor will feature bridge housing — a
residence consisting of 10 single-occupancy
bedrooms, with shared kitchen, family
room, bathrooms and laundry. The
third and fourth floors offer permanent
supportive housing with 18 300-square-foot
private microhomes.
“Davis can set an example with this
project,” Ogrydziak says. “This concept
can be replicated in other communities,
even within big cities like Sacramento
because big cities are made up of individual
neighborhoods. With people contributing
time, money and expertise in a collaborative
effort, it’s a viable approach to dealing with
a widespread problem.”
“
Paul’s Place is a
community project
that we can all be
proud of and an
example to other
cities of what they
can achieve for
their homeless
populations
— MARIA OGRYDZIAK
Architect of Paul’s Place
”
241 B Street
Davis, CA 95616
530.400.5030
[email protected]
oarch.com
14 comstocksmag.com | 2019 SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SUPPLEMENT