[caption id="attachment_161" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Settling in at Daybreak"]
[/caption]
Well almost one year. Mike and I spent the weekend at Daybreak meeting with the current residents in preparation for our Post Occupancy Report as well as conducting our 1-year warranty walk of the project. It was a great chance to see how the buildings are weathering and what is working/not working for the residents. AND while we've been frequent visitors of the community guest rooms, it was a great opportunity to stay in one of the unoccpuied units (yes, there are still units available for sale!) to see what it feels like to live in a building that we spent almost 3 years of our lives designing and shepherding through construction.
Thanks to our consultant team for making it such a great project - Marcy McInelly (urban designer previously with Urbsworks, now with SERA), MGH Associaties (civil engineering); Lando Associates (landscape architecture); and Swenson Say Faget (structural engineering). Especially our fabulous team of gals who started out the project with us but have since moved on to do their own thing - Maria Cahill (civil engineer who has since started Green Girl Land Development Solutions); Melissa Medeiros (landscape architect who has since started Land Line Design); and Liz Fekete (structural engineer who has since started Frank Company)!
Generally speaking the residents were happy with the way the buildings support their personal and community lives. They all really like the feel of the Common House and all it has to offer. (Warm fuzzies were in the air.) They also liked the open-ness of the units , the natural ventilation and daylight, and the coolness of units on these extremely hot days we've recently experienced. It was fun to see how residents have personalized their homes.
We also had a chance to enjoy the community life - helping prepare the community meal - brunch on sunday and attending a special dinner on saturday night that was hosted by an associatte community member Paul and a food collective he is starting called "The Worker Bee Collective". The Secret Cafe was able to utilize Daybreak's commercial kitchen and dining room - the menu featured a scrumptous dinner of Salmon with a side of peach salsa topped rice and entertainment was provided by a indie-folk quartet.
Each time I visit Daybreak it feels like I'm coming home. And each time I leave, I look forward to my next visit.