Rebuilding for Those in Need: Opticos Designs for Wildfire Cottage Initiative

In October of 2017, wildfires in Northern California burned at least 245,000 acres and over 5,000 acres in Sonoma County alone. Since then, Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County has explored ways to expand its programs across the board to serve households displaced by October’s devastating wildfires, including its latest initiative: the Sonoma Wildfire Cottages.   Opticos is proud to be part of the team, led by Marianne Cusato, renowned designer of the Katrina Cottage, and the Cypress Community Development Corporation selected by Sonoma Habitat, to design and build a series of model cottages on the Fountaingrove campus of Medtronic in Santa Rosa, California.

“Making Room” and Constructing Change with the National Building Museum

Opticos Design is honored to have partnered with the National Building Museum and Metcalfe Architecture & Design to utilize our housing expertise, particularly at the Missing Middle Housing scale, to design an interactive element of a timely new exhibit, “Making Room: Housing for a Changing America,” on view now at the National Building Museum through September 2018.

Designing a Missing Middle Plan for Small Infill Sites: The Art of Creating Value and a Sense of Place on a Two-to-Five Acre Site, Part 1

Over the past several years, many clients have come to us wanting to explore Missing Middle Housing on two- to five-acre sites, which seem to be a “sweet spot” for Missing Middle application, especially for smaller developer/builders and for developers of sites within larger master plans. This scale is a sweet spot for us because it allows enough space to work with a variety of creative types and building layouts, and to begin placemaking.

Innovative Missing Middle Housing in Daybreak Makes Livability an Attainable Reality

We’re excited to announce that Phase 1 of our Mews Homes™, part of the award-winning Daybreak community outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, has reached substantial completion. Including 31 units and a site plan designed by Opticos, the collection of walkable homes has seen most units sold, and Phase 2 construction is already underway!

Shaking Up the 21st-Century Multifamily Market with a Missing Middle Neighborhood

What happens when a developer with passion for Missing Middle Housing buys and renovates 300+ units of historic Missing Middle Housing in Midtown Omaha, then gets bored while developing a few suburban garden apartments?