Eclipse Apartments is the neighborhood of Fremont’s first publicly-funded affordable housing building. It offers a vibrant yet cohesive mix of live-work storefronts, lofted mezzanine studios, one-bedrooms, and two-bedroom units, reserved for households making between 40% and 70% of the area’s median income.
The building added 153 units to an empty lot on a quiet stretch of State Route 99 / Aurora Ave, and the new density is minimized with two design moves. First, the structure is stepped up the hill by segmenting it into three volumes. Second, the three volumes are articulated by carving out four courtyards. This makes the long building appear as three smaller buildings with bridge-like connections and courtyards in between them. The central corridor is day-lit from all sides, and at street-level you can see clear through the building from any direction.
The four courtyards not only make more corner units and more windows available, but they also bring in a mix of public and private outdoor spaces off the street, encouraging social encounters as well as moments for peace and quiet. In addition to the courtyards, the storefront live-work units, private patios, parking access for bikes and cars, and interior common amenity spaces each play a role in integrating the building’s interior and exterior spaces.
The three separate (but connected) roof tops offer incredible views of the city, waterways and mountains while also hosting a variety of amenity areas and activities for residents and their guests. Rooftop features include cooking and dining areas, landscaped gardens, a children’s play area, climbing wall, and solar panels for generating on-site renewable energy.
Large floor-to-ceiling windows set between horizontal floorplate bands on the building’s facade composition were inspired by the rhythmic repetition of a film strip on a reel in motion, nodding Aurora Avenue North’s past as a hub for drive-in movies. Ample parking for residents is provided underneath the structure but the building is pedestrian-friendly in a walkable, centralized location.
