DESIGN CHALLENGE

Design 10 units of affordable housing on a vacant 1.5 acre parcel in the middle of an established residential neighborhood

DESIGN APPROACH

The City of Newton sponsored a competition for the development of this former DPW site. We won this competition by proposing to design small closely spaced single family homes rather than townhouses or garden apartments. This had an obvious appeal in that the proposed development would blend into its neighborhood context rather than standing out as a separate development. At first a little skeptical that we could achieve the necessary density using single family homes, we found that by paying careful attention to window/door location and to the placing of houses we could design a successful community of homes. We further emphasized the neighborhood context by providing a variety of siding types and colors to create an appearance of individually designed homes.