BLOCK 7

Block 7 is a downtown revitalization project for the city of Redding, California. The existing site was a two level parking structure for the now defunct shopping mall. The revitalization project removed the old parking deck and added a 5 story office building, a 5 level parking garage with brise soleil and solar panel array, 20 market rate housing units with retail space at street level (unbuilt future phase) and 78 units of net zero affordable housing divided across three buildings, all with retail at the street level. Whistlestop Park was also designed as part of this project and serves as a green space and gathering place for the community, something that did not exist in this cultural center for the city.

The design was influenced by the agrarian structures of the Sacramento River valley to the south and the natural beauty of the Shasta Trinity National Forest to the north. Most impactful were the layered and brightly colored banks of Shasta Lake. The strong horizontal striations formed by the rising and falling of the water level through the seasons is a stark contrast to the vertical deep green treeline above.

The development was designed as a whole while also allowing each part to have its own identity within the larger composition. Building massing holds urban corners and addresses the street while also allowing respite in the two pocket parks carved into the affordable housing block. The office tower is clad in a dark grey brick mix that continues through the rest of the development as a public interface datum at street level. The upper volumes are clad in grey and corten metal panels vertically oriented and collected in shifting horizontal sedimentary layers.

Downtown streets were reconnected and the alley was improved, all with the pedestrian in mind. Downtown Redding did not have a center or an identity at the urban core, this project is the catalyst for a central downtown identity.