Casa Del Maestro

Santa Clara, California

Architect: KTGY Architecture + Planning
Landscape Architect: The Guzzardo Partnership

Thompson | Dorfman Partners was chosen through an RFP process to provide full development services to the Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) for the construction of Casa del Maestro, the first faculty housing community built for a public-school district in the State of California. These services included financial analysis, concept design and programming, entitlement, permitting, and construction management. As a design/build contractor, Thompson | Dorfman selected, contracted, and managed a team of highly qualified professionals to execute this project. Although this type of development is typically the domain of non-profit developers, Thompson | Dorfman brought a unique understanding of the target resident and product quality desired by the SCUSD. Specifically, SCUSD sought to create high-quality architecture to dispel the fears of faculty and the surrounding neighbors that it was creating a prototypical “affordable project,” while designing and building the community on a fixed budget. An overwhelming response resulted in a lottery with more than 100 teachers vying for the 40 available units upon its completion in April 2002. Due to the success of Casa del Maestro, over two dozen school districts throughout California are considering similar initiatives based on this prototype.