Design-Forward Solutions for Affordable Housing

Municipalities are encouraging investment in affordable housing to meet the demands of a national housing crisis across the U.S., and developers are answering the call. Many clients engage with us to provide a high level of design while keeping construction costs in check. This challenge is an invitation to innovate within tight budget constrictions. Our architects are thinking inside the box to express market-rate aesthetics through affordable construction technologies and materials.

A Change in Assumptions

Changes in the perception of affordable housing have led to projects that aim to provide services that rival market-rate housing. In the case of “very affordable housing,” where tenant incomes cap at 80 percent of the neighborhood AMI, developers are often required to partner with community service providers to secure public funding support, which results in social services being located in the building.

Ebenezer Plaza in Brownsville, Brooklyn, is emblematic of this notion, where land owned by Ebenezer Baptist Church was repurposed to provide four towers on two city blocks. The residences support a new community facility for the church, a rooftop terrace, and plentiful ground-floor retail space.

Our design team wanted the façade to stand out as a community asset rivaling its neighbors. We chose two tones of brick ornament to convey a crisp identity, while still meeting budget considerations. The coursing is organized to accentuate floor levels and frame deep, punched openings, breaking up an otherwise flat face into a textured façade with varied massing.

Going modular to reduce costs

The developers for La Mora Senior Apartments in Yonkers, NY, explicitly requested a building that did not appear “affordable,” and from the outset, public funding sources stipulated the project pursue the highly energy-efficient Passive House certification.

La Mora Senior Apartments were built using modular construction to deliver on our client’s goals: sustainability, community, and budget. Photos by Andrew Rugge © Perkins Eastman

Providing high-quality, site-built housing with the requested amenities and required sustainability goals was a challenge financially, so the team turned to modular construction. The apartment units, including most interior finishes and portions of the façade, were constructed off-site in a factory. The individual modular boxes were then transported to the site and assembled into a building, with further work to meet Passive House standards for insulation and air infiltration. Modular construction can reduce construction time by up to 25 percent, which amounts to a major cost savings for the developer; it eschews typical construction hindrances like poor weather and labor shortages. The budget-friendly modular solution allowed us to deliver on the client’s mission—a neighborhood-scale, sustainability-focused, multi-family senior residence.

Amenities include a lounge attached to the mail room, above left. Each apartment has its own HVAC system along with operable windows to allow for natural ventilation, above right.

A Turn Toward Technology

As we pursue more of these projects with our developer partners, we’re growing confident in leveraging new construction technologies and materials in our arsenal to design and build high-quality affordable housing that’s both necessary and desirable.

A good example of this approach is a project on the boards in Queens, where our client requested that most of the façade be designed with high-performance, low-cost stucco (EIFS). A typical coating of EIFS tends to look flat and somewhat uninteresting. But that gave our team an opening to push its limits, strategically angling cuts into the material and varying the finish to provide visual interest over what could have been a large, flat expanse.

A new project on the boards in Queens, NY, uses multiple EIFS stucco finishes to achieve a
dynamic façade within a slim, four-inch depth.

The client’s directive for the exterior left more money for the interiors, including a party space, kids’ room, gym, library, and lounge.  Our luxury hospitality design team thus applied their talents for concept and finish quality to the affordable housing arena: A vertical-neighborhood motif sets the tone for the amenity spaces, which are spread across three levels. Each has a unique green accent and accompanying ornamental wallpaper. And within the units, the fixtures and finishes keep up with contemporary standards for market-rate housing.

Amenities like a well-appointed laundry space and lounge in this project on the boards are increasingly expected of affordable housing projects, requiring careful attention to detail and design while staying within a strict budget.

Establishing a New Baseline

Communities, developers, and architects are collectively raising the bar on affordable housing. That bar, however, must still contend with budget realities and public funding entitlements, requiring architects to get creative in providing the level of finishes and overall design that are increasingly expected from an affordable housing project. As more developers turn to us for guidance, our design teams are truly honing their inside-the-box skills, identifying processes and products that hit the mark for beauty and quality as we all take steps to address a nationwide cry for accessible, affordable housing.