During the design phase, this retirement home for an order of nuns was envisioned as an assisted living community. The nuns, however, wanted something that had more of a residential feel. The project consists of a central core with offices, lounge, dining room, and other public spaces. This core is flanked by two wings with clusters of private living units organized around a common living room. "Each common space was kept to an intimate scale in the manner of a regular house," says architect Eduardo Caceres. The wings wrap around a healing garden that can be viewed from the units and common areas.

Category: Assisted living; Entrant/Architect: KodamaDiseno, San Francisco; Builder: Marchetti Construction, South San Francisco; Developer: Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Saratoga, Calif.; Landscape Architect: Keller Mitchell, San Francisco