Projects Overview
Ft. Leavenworth
Mendota Federal Prison Camp
Sonoma County Water Agency
National Park Service Intern Center
City College of San Francisco
Cameron Park
Eleanor Roosevelt Circle
Kingwood Commons
Mutual Housing at the Highlands
Davis, California
Project Start: Spring 2004
Project End: Spring 2007
Architect: James Zanetto, Architect and Planner
Owner: Davis Senior Housing Cooperative
Eleanor Roosevelt Circle is an affordable senior housing facility with 59 one-bedroom apartments, a community building, and laundry facilities. The project is a cooperative partnership of Davis Senior Housing Communities, Neighborhood Partners, LLC, and the Yolo County Housing Authority. Designed to provide seniors with convenient access to community services and with energy efficiency in mind, the project was was nominated for the I. Donald Terner Prize for affordable housing projects. Meline Engineering provided the HVAC and plumbing designs for all buildings on the project.
The HVAC system for individual apartments included an Aqua-Therm system – a tank water heater that generates hot water for space heating and domestic hot water use.
The Community Building HVAC system design featured two-stage cooling and heating for the large dining and meeting area. Two heating/cooling units were linked to a single air distribution system staging. This design provides efficient heating and cooling at part-load conditions, as only one heating or cooling unit needs to be engaged.
The HVAC system design also incorporated a hood for the grill in the community building’s commercial kitchen. This type of hood would usually require the installation of a make-up air unit. The owner and architect were concerned about the first and maintenance costs, as well as the poor aesthetics of such a unit. They asked Meline Engineering to investigate alternatives. Meline Engineering provided calculations satisfying the hood manufacturer and code requirements, which allowed the installation and successful operation of the hood without installation of a make-up air unit.
Plumbing design included all components necessary to provide for a functioning commercial kitchen in a compact space. In addition, Meline Engineering specified the site booster pump for domestic water.
Construction administration included responses to RFIs and additional design services to accommodate a new directive to install commercial kitchen equipment during construction.