The bar for the quality of architectural design in affordable housing is being raised. In most instances, new affordable housing developments are indistinguishable from higher-end market-rate communities, no longer looking like the boxes of the past.
“What we’re seeing now is a continued improvement of the quality of the design for affordable housing,” says Fernando Villa, a principal at Magnusson Architecture and Planning. “It should look as beautiful as any market-rate project. You really want to push the envelope in design with a limited budget.”
Michael Wiencek, president of Wiencek + Associates Architects + Planners, agrees. “No matter what the budget, we should be able to win an award. If you don’t hit the envelope and create innovative ways [to achieve] higher end, you end up with the affordable housing of the past.”
Architects also work to ensure that developments connect with the surrounding community as well as residents’ needs.
“Being creative is a necessity because it’s not just about building housing or apartments, but about creating a home and a community that work for residents in harmony with the broader neighborhood,” says David Obitz, design principal at KTGY Architecture + Planning.
Looking ahead, David Baker of David Baker Architects says modular construction will receive stronger consideration. “It’s maturing and cutting a year off a construction schedule and saving some money. Site building is primitive,” he says, adding that modular building has its challenges, but it still is proving to be more efficient.
Read about more innovative design in affordable housing on the following pages.
Open Air
The Rivermark, developed by BRIDGE Housing, is serving as an anchor of a new smart-growth area in West Sacramento, Calif., creating 70 units of affordable workforce housing at the start to ensure economic diversity in the new neighborhood.
David Baker, principal of David Baker Architects, focused on providing open-air circulation so that the internal open space in the building benefits the public and provides a direct relationship to the city as a whole instead of being buried inside the walls.
One corner features an open-air staircase in a tower that serves as a beacon for the neighborhood and steers residents toward the steps instead of the elevator. Breezeways, patios, and balconies also bring in light and fresh air and help connect residents with nature.
“Open-air circulation makes a huge difference in how the building feels,” says Baker.
A second-level podium courtyard is the heart of the project, with balconies, decks, and patios surrounding the space. Large concrete steps and a climbing wall provide fun spaces for children to play.
The $29.4 million development, which was completed in 2014, received GreenPoint certification. The building also is oriented for solar gain in the hot climate. The units all face either north or south and feature large windows and sunshades, while the sides of the building facing west have small windows.
“We made a big design statement that’s also practical that people don’t roast on the western side of the building. It has an interesting big gesture there,” Baker says.
The Rivermark also consists of primarily humble materials, but Baker says it’s good to spice it up with a little bit of premium material, too. In this case, the exterior of the building features touches of standing-seam galvanized steel.
Transition Space
The design of The Residences at Thayer both complements and bridges the single-family housing and industrial offices near the flourishing central business district in Silver Spring, Md.
“We wanted to draw your eye down to something that would be seen as the transition,” says Michael Wiencek, president of Wiencek + Associates Architects + Planners, the architect behind the development.
The architect wanted to do a park space as the gateway to the residential space but couldn’t pull the building all the way back. Instead, he designed a knife edge on the building and a triangular pocket park to mark the boundary of the commercial district and create a counterpoint to a tall apartment building across the street.
“We do a lot of stuff here where we get two for one. This angle gives us a dynamic piece of architecture and a bold statement, but it also creates the space for the pocket park that we otherwise might not have convinced the client to use that land for,” he says. “By having a good architectural reason, a good planning reason, and a sensible argument for it being an amenity for the building and the public makes it that much more doable.”
The architect also focuses on creating a base, a shaft, and a cap on every building it does, including The Residences at Thayer. “The glass holding up the big knife-edge triangle and the top floor stepping back give it scale on one side that relates to the industrial buildings but breaks the scale down into three pieces and three textures as it addresses the residential,” says Wiencek.
The $18 million low-income housing tax credit project, which earned LEED for Homes Silver certification and met Enterprise Green Communities standards, was completed by Landex Development in 2014 and includes 42 affordable and 10 market-rate units. Additional features include cost-saving residential-grade windows arranged to have the look of an expensive storefront and stormwater retention on the green roof.
New Era
Two underutilized parking lots on a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) site in the Soundview neighborhood of South Bronx, N.Y., have been transformed into much-needed affordable housing for seniors and families.
Architect Magnusson Architecture and Planning (MAP) worked with the awkward site, which faced an unbuilt street between the older NYCHA buildings and Soundview Park.
“It was an innovative use of NYCHA property and has the potential to really extend the neighborhood and become a new edge of Soundview Park,” says Christine Hunter, a MAP principal.
Fernando Villa, also a principal at MAP, says it was important to make a contrast but still connect the new buildings with the older NYCHA stock. MAP used brick as the connection to the older buildings, a reference to the existing mid–20th-century brick structures as well as smaller homes in the neighborhood.
The buildings each have three-story wings along the newly constructed portion of Bronx River Avenue and an eight-story portion set back from the street facing the park. MAP broke the mass of the buildings through different brick colors. Massing also helped to maintain the existing views of the park and the Bronx River from the NYCHA buildings. An outdoor common area was inserted between the buildings to create one campus.
The $95 million development, which was co-developed by L+M Development Partners, Lemle & Wolff, and CPC Resources, also meets Enterprise Green Communities standards, with high-efficiency building envelopes and energy-efficiency systems.
“It’s like a new era for an area that was underdeveloped,” Villa says, adding that the new development is a good example of how to improve NYCHA campuses across the city.
Master Plan
Solaira at Pavilion Park, the first affordable housing component in the Great Parks Neighborhoods master plan and the first new affordable senior housing in Irvine, Calif., in two decades, blends seamlessly into the surrounding neighborhood.
“This affordable senior community weaves itself into the broader master-planned community and provides grandparents the opportunity to live near their family and their grandchildren,” says David Obitz, design principal at KTGY Architecture + Planning, the architect behind the development.
Inspired by connectivity with people and nature, the 221-unit project has access to Orange County’s largest park and trails and is rich with amenities and market-rate details within affordable parameters. Instead of creating one large structure, the apartments are split between three main residential buildings. The design elements are inspired by the eclectic American Heritage architectural ethos that is prevalent throughout the master plan and include board-and-batten siding, stone-base elements, earthy colors, and gabled ends. The ends of the three-story buildings have been lowered to two stories for a softened expression.
The site plan was organized to create common-area space between the buildings. The community’s amenity area was designed to have its own architectural identity to set it apart from the apartments.
Design on the interior was done with seniors in mind.
“Universal design principles allow residents to age in place gracefully and comfortably,” says Obitz. “None of the art that hangs in the public corridors of the apartment buildings is repeated, and each floor has its own color scheme, to help seniors find their way.”
Intermediate Scale
Gateway Apartments fills a big hole in the urban fabric of a downtown historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ind.
Formerly a large industrial brownfield site with a gritty foundry plant in the middle of an active residential neighborhood, the 60-unit affordable housing community for families was co-developed by Jonesboro Investments Corp. and Thrive Alliance with the help of RDL Architects.
Kevin Dreyfuss-Wells, senior project manager at RDL, says it was important to have the right density and scale for the development to transition into the surrounding neighborhood.
The architect opted for developing the project at an intermediate scale, what Dreyfuss-Wells refers to as the “missing middle,” something more common almost a century ago with smaller, walk-up buildings.
“From an urban design perspective, we see a gap in the product out there that maybe 80 or 90 years ago was more common,” says Dreyfuss-Wells. “[Intermediate scale] has a lot of advantages. We have 60 units divided among nine buildings.”
The three-story walk-up buildings, which range in size from four to 10 spacious two- and three-bedroom units, line the street. The 10-unit buildings have two-story townhomes on the end to serve as the gateways into the site and bring the development down to the residential scale. In addition, the architect selected careful brick detailing, varied rooflines, and brightly colored awnings to respect the surrounding residential styles.
The $10.7 million development, which was primarily financed through low-income housing tax credits and completed in April, earned Gold certification under the National Green Building Standard.