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or the 83 proud residents of Paisano Green, El Paso’s first net zero, LEED Platinum-certified low-income senior housing community, the 59,787-sf development is home. But to the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso (HACEP), the city itself, and architecture firm Workshop8, in Boulder, Colo., the project has been a fortunate experiment that has changed laws and lives, providing a shining example of sustainable business practices from an unlikely, dusty border town setting. Stimulus package funds made available to housing authorities across the country in 2009 presented the initial opportunity. Gerald Cichon, HACEP’s CEO, had long hoped to do something special for the senior housing stock in his city and saw this as an opening not to miss. “Our mission has always been safe, clean, affordable housing,” he said, “but I saw this grant as a chance to put El Paso on the map for sustainability.” Cichon enlisted help from two design professionals: architect and The University of Texas at Austin lecturer Francois Levy, AIA, and architect
“Texas firms did have a leg up, since we had to find people who would understand the specific needs of our climate and geography.” and University of California Berkeley Department of Architecture professor Robert Herman, FAIA. Together, they created a request for proposals with extensive requirements. “We couldn’t limit ourselves to only looking at firms in Texas for this, but Texas firms did have a leg up, since we had to find people who would understand the specific needs of our climate and geography,” said Cichon about why they decided to open the competition nationally. it was a collaborative group of design professionals calling themselves Workshop8, in Boulder, Colo., who The leg up for Texas firms notwithstanding,
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Texas Architect 73