This article first appeared in the November/December 2025 issue of Pro Builder
Canvas at Castle Rock
When you’re building attached townhouses on a plateau with views of Pikes Peak, planning requires more than designing floor plans.
“The community’s unique elevation makes it feel like a mountain village,” says Tom Wang, associate and senior designer at Danielian Associates Architects + Planners and lead architect for the development. “We worked with civil engineers and landscape architects to design a pedestrian-friendly community that maximizes those views.”
The community itself includes green spaces, pocket parks, paseos, walking trails and a community center, while the homes are designed so that each townhouse has a private open space, a courtyard, and an oversize garage within their small footprints.
Designed from the beginning as a rental home community, Canvas at Castle Rock offers a lower density alternative to an apartment house.
“We needed more units than you have in a single-family detached community, so we created interlocking homes to fit about 108 units into a tight site,” Wang says. The sloping typography of the site also presented a challenge, he adds, as the project was required to comply with Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) standards and deliver a pedestrian-friendly quality of life.
The solution: Each row of buildings has two end units, each with three bedrooms and a two-car garage. Between them is a single-level, one-bedroom unit with a front courtyard and a one-car garage topped by a two-bedroom unit featuring a private entrance, a two-car garage, and a balcony.
“When we were designing this community, the city planner asked us to make each garage deeper so that there was room in each to fit at least one F-150 truck,” Wang says. “We were able to include lots of guest parking, too, even on such a tight site.”
The homes and the community are designed to balance both privacy and community interaction.
“We maximized every bit of land that was available to give people private outdoor space, but we also connected a trail onsite to other trails and built a small park with a view of Pike’s Peak,” Wang says.
Wang and his team also designed the amenity space for the community, which includes a pool, a clubhouse and an office. They used a small triangular piece of land at the front of the community and fit all the amenities into that space.
“At Castle Rock we wanted to combine mountain cottage style with mid-century modern touches, so we went with a shed roof for each home and played with colors like sage green and blue,” Wang says. “We ended up with a more contemporary style.”
The community has sustainability measures such as energy-efficient features, low-impact landscaping, EV chargers for each home and a few stations within the community.
Canvas at Castle Rock
Award: Gold, Single-Family, Detached or Attached, For Rent
Location: Castle Rock, Colo.
Entrant/Architect: Danielian Associates Architects + Planners, Irvine, Calif.
Builder: Watermark Properties, Castle Rock.
Size: 764 to 1,778 square feet
Photographer: Davies Imaging Group
Kings Court
When Nick Jessee, principal of Monarch Urban in Washington, D.C., saw an alley with underused garages, he envisioned a charming cluster of homes that could blend with the surrounding Capitol Hill neighborhood … despite some challenges out of the gate.
“We’ve done projects in alleys before and they’re pretty tricky with tight dimensions and zoning regulations,” he says, including height limitations, lot coverage limits, and restrictions on the number of units allowed on the site.
“A big issue is that when you’re building on a site with existing structures like the garages that were there, you’re only allowed to build one house per lot,” Jessee adds. “This site was unique because it was already divided into four lots,” one for each garage.
Monarch Urban also had to bring in a full suite of utilities for the new homes behind the row of garages, and were able to spread that cost across the four units.
The attached two-story homes are clad in a whitewashed brick and feature private balconies and yards—both unexpected amenities. The garages face the alley in front, with little indication of what lies beyond.
“People want outdoor space that’s big enough to entertain, so we designed these homes with an elevated second floor deck on one house and balconies on the others,” he says. “We also recognize the importance of getting as much light and air into each home as possible.”
“Even within in tight constraints you can create something special if you just lean into the challenges.”
Kings Court
Award: Silver, Best Attached Homes/Townhouses, Built for Sale
Location: Washington, D.C.
Entrant/Developer/Builder/Designer: Monarch Urban, Washington, D.C.
Size: 1,089 to1,939 square feet
Photographer: Studio Trejo
Town Arlington
While the homes at Town Arlington may be attached, floor plans of at least 1,200 square feet with two or three bedrooms and a garage make them feel more like detached single-family units, says Tom Wang, associate and senior designer, at Danielian Associates Architects + Planners, the project design firm.
Exteriors in a local Hill Country farmhouse style match the location and feature enclosed front courtyards instead of back yards, while interiors feature an open floor plan on the first level and bedrooms and luxury bathrooms upstairs.
The gated community is adjacent to a town center, and each unit’s front door opens into a walkway that connects residents to amenities, green spaces, and to the town center.
Arranged in rows of four, five, or six attached units along a paseo, the architect worked with the land planner to turn the buildings to hide alley-accessed garages along the back.
“That way there’s not a long stretch of garages to look at or to interfere with the pedestrian-centric design,” Wang says.
The community is aimed at families and young professionals who want the convenience of a location within walking distance of shops and restaurants, security, and luxury amenities, including a barbecue area for hosting gatherings with friends and family, a swimming pool, a spa, and walking trails.
“This project brings a new level of rental options to this area,” Wang says.
Town Arlington
Award: Silver, Single-Family, Detached or Attached, For Rent
Location: Arlington, Tex.
Entrant/Architect: Danielian Associates Architects + Planners, Irvine, Calif.
Builder: Family Development, Palm Desert, Calif.
Size: 1,186 to 1,344 square feet
Photographer: Davies Imaging Group
About the Author
Michele Lerner
Michele Lerner is an award-winning real estate journalist in the Washington, D.C., area. She is a frequent contributor to Pro Builder.