Beth Asher is a 49-unit affordable housing community located in Oakland’s Dimond District, serving seniors with incomes between 30-50% of the area median income. The property has 31 studios, 3 jumbo studios, and 16 one-bedroom units. Originally built in 1971, it was thoughtfully renovated and reimagined by Phillips Win Architecture and Satellite Affordable Housing Associates (SAHA) in 2024 to better serve the needs of its senior community.
Phillips Win Architecture (PWA) is a West Oakland-based firm that focuses on mission-driven architectural services for both residential and commercial projects. PWA was originally established in 1995 as Anne Phillips Architecture. Its award-winning portfolio spans new construction, renovations, and tenant improvements across metropolitan, suburban, and rural settings. Project types vary from high-rise apartments to reimagined shipping containers; and include multi-family housing, office and retail complexes, single-family residences, and historic building renovations.
In August 2025, Winston Win, Principal at PWA, sat down with EBHO’s Membership Associate, Lavender Briscoe, to discuss SAHA’s and PWA’s Beth Asher property and to share insights about the intentionality that went into the project’s conceptualization and design process. Winston has over 20 years of architectural experience, and specializes in the renovation and adaptation of existing buildings for the firm’s affordable housing.
One of the questions Winston and his team sought to answer when redesigning Beth Asher was “How do we improve the look and feel of this building starting from basically the sidewalk?” He noted, “A building constructed in the 1970s was prior to the Americans With Disabilities Act, so while there was a ramp and stairs that went to the front door, it was far from compliant. It was way too steep, way too narrow. So we really had to think about how [residents] would enter the building in a way that didn’t seem like an afterthought because, of course, we’re coming along much later than the original construction, trying to solve those original problems in a way that seemed intentional, beautiful, and intuitive.
“We were working within limited space, and had to get really creative about what path that entrance could take. There were site utilities, there was parking, there’s all these things that we had to work around to fit this in. And ultimately, the solution was to create a new route that also relocated the main entrance. And what that really allowed us to do was create a whole new entry sequence.
“One of the things [PWA] believes is really important is that buildings should support human comfort. How that gets realized in any specific project might be something as simple as creating an intuitive way to find the building entrance and navigate through the spaces. For Beth Asher, it really lacked a clear entry. So we used one of the accent colors to highlight where that entrance was in the overall building form, and that color repeated in strategic places throughout the building. We also used things like material finishes and lighting to reinforce wayfinding. What was formerly a dark lobby where you didn’t really know where to go next, in the new design was a lobby that allowed daylight to come in, a lot of openness, and a sense of connection between the inside and out.
“Prior to the new design, there was this unit that was converted to a community room, but it was never intended to be a community room. We have actually relocated this room to a place that makes sense, that has connection. It’s a logical layout.
“Beth Asher is it’s just steps away from Dimond Park. There’s this beautiful pocket of nature, this courtyard in the back of the building, where there’s tall redwood trees and this creek goes by. There wasn’t anything prior to our renovation that was facing that space other than apartment units, but now the community room—which is straight ahead from the entrance—also has windows revealing that lovely space in the back. It’s making much better use of that site and connecting what’s happening in the building with these great things that were already there.”
While Winston and his team were largely responsible for shaping the project’s design, they also relied on community input from its conceptualization to its completion. “We had a series of resident meetings,” he said, “because there were residents already in the building that would get relocated temporarily during the course of the renovation, then have the opportunity to move back in. So the engagement was more about discussing the needs of the building, while getting feedback and confirmation from the residents.”
“Are these the things that would really contribute to their wellbeing and were they the right priorities?” were among the questions they carefully considered.
“With every project, you have choices of where to spend limited dollars, so every project is a little bit about asking questions and confirming, ‘Are we solving the right problem?’ and ‘Are we solving it in the way that prioritizes the things that are most important?’ Often, there’s more things we want to do than we have the budget for. So we would meet with residents periodically as the design developed, which provided a venue for presenting our design ideas, as well as receiving feedback.
“That process continued through construction, where the residents could get informed about what was happening in the building. It’s often not feasible to do 100% relocation, so we have to phase the project with some residents in the building and a portion of the building being worked on first, then those residents are relocated and the first group is moved back in, [and so forth]. There’s this constant communication happening during the project about construction updates, phasing, relocation, and accommodating the needs of residents through the process.”
After sharing key aspects of Beth Asher’s purposeful design, Winston spoke about PWA’s long-standing involvement with EBHO, highlighting how partnerships with affordable housing organizations have influenced their approach to projects like Beth Asher.
“EBHO provides community. To feel that your efforts in a specific area are part of this larger movement provides the opportunity to see how some of those conversations we’re having on specific projects ripple out and are shared experiences among different clients, residents, buildings, and places. That sense of connection to a larger community and movement provides a good grounding and orientation. It also helps us understand how our individual impact contributes to the larger whole.”
Winston concluded, “I’m just the architect of a project, but there’s all the stakeholders: community, funders, regulators, cities, counties, and state. There are so many different people and everyone is needed at the table in order to make this work happen. If we were each only operating in an individual sphere, we wouldn’t get a chance to see this connection, so organizations like EBHO are important for making visible this collective that’s so needed.”