June 2024
By Doug Austin, FAIA, MAIBC, LEED AP
Dear Homebuilders and other industry professionals: I am writing to encourage you to keep AVRP Studios in mind when assembling your design and development teams.
Our San Diego-and Canadian-based firm brings more than 45 years of experience to a wide range of projects. We specialize in multi-family housing design, including affordable, market rate and student housing.
Our team has designed tens of thousands of housing units for numerous projects located in San Diego, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, China, Indonesia, and elsewhere. Our recent work includes:
In our commitment to finding new avenues for affordable housing, AVRP has gone as far as inventing a new method for building high‐rises that employs modular construction.
I am credited as the co-inventor and owner of a number of recently issued U.S. Patents, primarily designed for the construction of multifamily housing. Preform Systems, a company I own, was awarded U.S. and International patents for a new methodology involving prefabricating modules that act as the formwork for concrete buildings up to 75 stories in height that hold the potential to save significant construction cost and time in the building process.
I am currently working with Modular West, an American company anticipated to be producing modular housing units in their factory near the Hyundai Plant in Tijuana, Mexico. Preliminary estimates anticipate savings of over $100 per square foot, while saving months of construction time.
We’re passionate about creative thinking and it’s what led us to designing modular housing and looking at ways to build it more effectively. We can’t just subsidize our way out of the housing crisis. We’re looking toward innovation to create more affordable housing – to build it faster and for less money.
Click on these links to see highlights of our affordable design work and our multi-family work. Please call me or email if you think AVRP would make a good addition to your team. We’re passionate about creating affordable homes for all San Diegans. It’s an issue we’ve been invested in for years.
Warm regards,
Doug
619-972-4727, mobile
dhaustin@avrpstudios.com
About the Author: Austin is the Founder and CEO of AVRP Studios. He serves as Chair of the Advisory Board for YIGBY (Yes in God’s Backyard), an organization committed to finding innovative ways to build homes for low‐income families and individuals. A national speaker who is called on to advise elected leaders at all levels of government, Austin served as Vice Chairman of San Diego’s Redevelopment Agency and he is a former City of San Diego Planning Commissioner. Austin received his B’ARCH from Cal Poly SLO, where he is an Honored Alum and serves on the President’s Council of Advisors. Austin has furthered his post graduate education studying at the Harvard’s Graduate Center for Design and participating in the exploration of workforce housing at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing.
About AVRP Studios: Celebrating 45+ years of creativity and achievements, the firm and its principals have earned more than 150 design awards, including multiple Gold Nugget Grand Awards from PCBC, a list that includes Grand Awards in 2023 and 2022. AVRP originated in 1976, when Doug Austin began a small design firm out of his home. Today, the firm has designed numerous iconic projects both domestically and internationally. The firm’s project types include urban infill, mixed-use, housing, education, corporate office, multigenerational space, healthcare and more. The firm is led by three principals: Douglas H. Austin, FAIA, LEED AP, MAIBC; Christopher T. Veum, AAIA, IIDA; and Randy Robbins, AIA, LEED AP. Visit www.avrpstudios.com to learn more.