WHAT'S IN a story of compact urban living 2012-2016

WHAT’S IN? A STORY OF COMPACT URBAN LIVING 2012 - 2016

MEET OUR CORE TEAM

Nick Tartaglione

Ismael Segarra Research Topic Manager

Research Topic Manager

WHAT’S IN is supported by the Stantec R&D fund. This publication would not have been possible without this funding.

Chris Bonarrigo

Adam Gonzalez Research Topic Manager

Sara Zetler

Kristen Weigel

Joshua Soto

Intern

Project Manager

Marketing Manager

Marketing Manager

Innovation Program Director

Christopher Moyer

Grace Easton

Research Topic Manager

Eric Smoczynski

Innovation Program Director

Natalia Escobar Project Manager

Co-founder & Managing Director

Aeron Hodges

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OUR MISSION: A DOWNTOWN FOR EVERYONE 2012: WHERE IT ALL BEGAN 2013: BOSTON A CITY OF EMERGING NEIGHBOORHOODS

2014: DEVELOPING HOUSING WITH A PURPOSE 2015: DESIGN FOR SMARTER URBAN LIVING 2016: MEANINGFUL SOCIAL SPACES WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

MISSION A DOWNTOWN FOR EVERYONE Boston was ranked by The Economist as a top-10 city globally for its demonstrated ability to attract capital, businesses, talent and visitors. This ranking might come as a surprise to you due to the city’s small size (only 1/6 the area of New York City), but what makes Boston great is it’s history, economic vibrancy, superior highereducation, and richness in cultural diversity. Sounds like a great place to live? Yes, but only if you can afford it.

Over a third of the Boston population spends over 30% of their annual income on housing. Rental cost is signiÀcantly higher near urban cores, where convenient public transit and accessible urban amenities attracts many to reside in. Housing stock in Boston is scarce, especially smaller units; Single /double occupancy households makes up over a third of the all the renters, but only 3% of the housing stocks are studios.(Greater Boston Housing Report Card, 2015). Many universities in the city are not providing housing on campus, thus causing higher apartment cost around college campuses when multiple roommates can pool together higher rent than a single family. More and more people are being forced out of the city.

Established in 2012 by a group of young architects who were challenged to balance a base-line income against the rising housing cost, WHAT’S IN set a goal to Ànd urban housing solutions that are more accessible to the greater workforce. The group started out as a few individuals in the design profession, but the cause quickly spread and attracted many others to join. Among whom includes young developers, transportation engineers, urban planners, and city policy makers. Over the course of 5 years, the research group gathered data on housing preferences, designed affordable housing prototypes, cultivated collaborations with other groups with similar interests, and created an idea-sharing platform through an annual exhibit.

In this book, we will take you on a journey of our discoveries from 2012 - 2016, where we strived to create an affordable downtown Boston living for everyone.

5

2012

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

8

TO SHARE OR NOT TO SHARE…

You might be asking where we got the design ideas for “LUAN”(Our 300 SF mock-up unit) . The fact is, we asked around.

We invited 40 young professionals from Boston in 2012, and asked them: “what living in the city meant for them”. Some said they enjoyed the rich urban amenities, most expressed they appreciated the convenience of public transit, and all of them said living in the city is just too expensive.

9

10

SEX

54% 46%

STATUS

COUPLES

54%

<50K

27% 11% 8%

%SALARY towards RENT

MALE

58% 42%

SALARY

FEMALE *

54%

43% 3%

SINGLE

<25K >75K <75K

96% 4%

*

5 IN NEIGHBORHOOD 5% AMENITIES

31%

AMENITIES

IN BUILDING

14%

250 SF * 450 SF 350 SF

Between the choice of living in proximity to amenities within a downtown setting and living in the remote outskirts of town with amenities housed only within your housing

When asked how they would like to live; either in small quarters that rented for less OR more space for more money

....AN OVERWHELMING NUMBER OF PEOPLE WOULD CHOOSE TO LIVE DOWNTOWN, IN THE CENTER OF URBAN LIFE!

...PEOPLE COULD LIVE WITH LESS OR WANTED IT ALL; THE IN BETWEEN WAS LESS DESIRABLE.

$ $$

$$$

<30% 30-50%

>50%

WHO

WHY

HOW

* 40 YOUNG PROFESSIONAL POLLED

These 40 young professionals were well represented across gender, single/couple status. Most made less than 50k in salary and over 40% spent between 30%-50% of their hard-earned salary on housing each year. With student loans and other expenses, they were barely making ends meet. We also found that regardless of the higher cost of urban living, an overwhelming amount of these young professionals wanted to live at the center of urban life.

The team was facing a conundrum: is it possible to make urban living affordable? Well, we thought there was way, compact living. By reducing individual living spaces, with the same cost per square feet, the overall rent could be reduced. The question was how small is too small? Based on responses from the 40 people we polled, over half was open to living in space as small as 250 sf, that is the size of a one-car garage.

11

PUBLIC

PRIVATE BEDROOM

KITCHEN

BATHROOM

LIVING ROOM STORAGE

ENTERTAINMENT OUTDOOR

WHAT WE HEARD

What would you share?

WE DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T COOK THAT MUCH

12

WORK/HOBBY

Part of the reason why high density small living works in an urban environment is its proximity to existing amenities in the city. In addition, we found it is equally important to provide shared living spaces to compensate for the smaller individual rooms. When we inquired which rooms people are willing to share with each other, work and entertainment spaces raised to top of the list. On the other hand, people responded negatively to sharing bedrooms or bathrooms.

A typical way to arrange the amenity spaces, including game room, lounges, and common kitchens would be to centrally locate them on an easily accessible area in the building, like the ground Áoor. A different approach to consider is to scatter them around the building, so that residents could have more proximity to a common area from their rooms.

During the focus groups, we also gathered people’s preferences on what their priorities were inside individual units: “Storage space was a must”; “only small kitchen is needed, people didn’t cook much at home.” “Murphy beds and other movable furniture was for architecture nerds”. “Natural light was highly desired”. We took this feedback to heart, and we designed them into our mockup.

13

14

THE JOURNEY BEGINS WITH “LUAN”

Meet “LUAN”, this is our prototype for future urban living. It is only 300 sf in size, but it has everything you need and it costs only a fraction of a traditionally-sized apartment. The design includes a storage wall that can be customized into areas for a television, a desk area, or a bench seat. In order to hide the bed, an alcove is designed into the footprint. Instead of a full kitchen, a small prefabricated kitchen unit is included as part of the wrap-around island counter where you can entertain a small group of friends. The electric prefab kitchen unit includes a two-burner stove, a small sink and an under-the-counter fridge. Not too bad for a place to land your feet in the city, right?

15

DENSITY + DIVERSITY

MOVING ON

THE POWER OF TINY THINGS:

BY THE VERY NATURE OF BEING SMALL, MICRO-UNITS FOSTER INNOVATION IN THE COMMUNITY.

ENGINEERING

HERE’S HOW:

LAW

SCIENCE

BUSINESS

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION:

$

STORAGE

BEDROOM

ENTERTAINMENT

PRIVATE KITCHEN

3

DIVERSITY DENSITY INTERACTION

FRAMINGHAM $2,733 $1,445

BOSTON

$71,304 $2,074

KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVER

D.C.

POP. 0.6 M

$1,731

$1,398

$50,684 $1,334

MEDIAN RENT

$58,526

MEDIAN RENT

$1,772

$46,877

MEDIAN RENT

$912

$1,702

31.6%

12.8K PEOPLE/SqMi

MEDIAM RENT % MEDIAN INCOME

27.1%

CHARLESTOWN $2,757

27.4%

228 SqMi

36.3%

23.3%

N.Y.C.

L.A.

$50,285

$1,213

POP. 3.8 M

$49,138

MEDIAN INCOME

$1,248

MEDIAN RENT

MEDIAN INCOME

ME

MEDIAN RENT

0

65.6%

21.8%

Display boards of “Luan” Exterior.

TWO OF THE LARGEST DEMOGRAPHIC GROUPS TODAY – GEN Y AND SENIORS – ARE INVESTING IN HOMES BASED MORE ON A SENSE OF PLACE AND COMMUNITY AMENITIES RATHER THAN ON SIZE. BOTH GROUPS CITE CONNECTIVITY, FLEXIBILITY, AFFORDABILITY, AND SUSTAINABILITY AS REASONS TO MOVE INTO SMALLER QUARTERS. BUYING AND RENTING TRENDS TOWARD “RIGHT-SIZED, ORGANIZED, AND ECONOMIZED” EVEN AS THE HOUSING MARKET SHOWS SIGNS OF RECOVERY. HOAK, AMY, “AT ANNUAL BUILDER’S SHOW, SMALL IS IN.” MSN REAL ESTATE MARKET WATCH.

BACK BAY HADDON HALL

29 COMMONWEALTH AVE. CIRCA 1894 HADDON HALL CAUSED QUITE A STIR WHEN IT WAS BUILT BECAUSE OF ITS ELEVEN-STORY HEIGHT. EVENTUALLY, HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS WERE TIGHTENED ON THE REST OF BACK BAY, RESTRICTIONS THAT OBVIOUSLY HAVE BEEN VIOLATED A FEW TIMES SINCE. THE BUILDING WAS DESIGNED AS LUXURY APARTMENTS, AND IT IS AN ODDITY IN MORE THAN ITS HEIGHT. UNLIKE MOST BUILDINGS IN THE BACK BAY, IT IS YELLOW-TAN BRICK AND BROWNSTONE. EACH FLOOR IS DEMARCATED WITH BROWN STRINGCOURSES, WHICH ARE APPEALING IN THE WAY THEY RIPPLE OVER THE BAYS ON THE COMMONWEALTH AVE. END.*

*AIA GUIDE TO BOSTON pg. 178

LEHRER, JONAH, IMAGINE: HOW CREATIVITY WORKS. 2012.

30.5%

8K PEOPLE/SqMi

27K PEOPLE/SqMi CENTER FOR NEIGHBORHOOD TECHNOLOGY, H+T AFFORDABILITY INDEX. RETRIEVED SEPTEMBER 12, 2012.

FROM HTTP://HTAINDEX.CNT.ORG/MAP

469 SqMi

28.9%

ME

THE AUTHORS OF THIS STUDY, PHYSICISTS GEOFFREY WEST AND LUIS BETTENCOURT, ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN THEIR CONCLUSION IN THE LANGUAGE OF PHYSICS. “THEY COMPARE URBAN RESIDENTS TO PARTICLES WITH VELOCITY BOUNCING OFF ONE ANOTHER AND CAREENING IN UNEXPECTED DIRECTIONS. THE MOST CREATIVE CITIES ARE SIMPLY THE ONES WITH THE MOST COLLISIONS.”

16

27.1% 25.9%

A DOUBLING OF POPULATION INCREASES PATENT PRODUCTION AND INCOME GENERATION BY A FACTOR OF 15%.

MORE PRODUCTIVE AND MORE INNOVATIVE.

302 SqMi

59.2%

24.7%

SCAN

+ $597

SCAN

LEHRER, JONAH, IMAGINE: HOW CREATIVITY WORKS. 2012.

AN EXHAUSTIVE STUDY OF URBAN STATISTICS - EVERYTHING FROM MILES OF SEWER PIPES TO THE WALKING SPEED OF PEDESTRIANS - SHOWS THAT CITIES, UNLIKE ORGANIZATIONS, “EXHIBIT SUPERLINEAR GROWTH.” THIS MEANS THAT AS CITIES GET BIGGER, EVERY PERSON IN THE CITY BECOMES

+ $634

CENTER FOR NEIGHBORHOOD TECHNOLOGY, HOUSING + TRANSPORTATION AFFORDABILITY INDEX. 2010

11.8K PEOPLE/SqMi

(PEOPLE/SQ MI)

POP. 8.2 M

$2,123

BOSTON $2,686 $2,089

9.8K PEOPLE/SqMi

CITY POP. DENSITY LEVELS 30K

13.9%

34.9%

+ $888

MEDIAN INCOME

MEDIAN RENT

20.2%

48 SqMi

61 SqMi

15.6%

16.2%

%RENTER HOUSING

33.7%

%POP. LIVING ALONE

17.2K PEOPLE/SqMi

30.9%

+ $1,128

SOMERVILLE $2,590

%POP. AGE 20-34

47 SqMi

+ $1,206

WALTHAM $2,830

POP. 2.7 M

MEDIAN INCOME

+ $1,284

NORWOOD $2,604

CHICAGO

POP. 0.6 M

MEDIAN INCOME

+ $1,237

WILMINGTON $3,015

$1,702

MEDIAN INCOME

+ $1,288

SHARON $2,886

LEHRER, JONAH, IMAGINE: HOW CREATIVITY WORKS. 2012.

POP. 0.8 M

“IT IS THE EXCHANGES WE DON’T EXPECT, WITH THE PEOPLE WE JUST MET, THAT WILL CHANGE THE WAY WE THINK ABOUT EVERYTHING...IT IS THE SHEER DENSITY OF THE CITY - THE PROXIMITY OF ALL THOSE OVERLAPPING MINDS - THAT MAKES IT SUCH AN INEXHAUSTIBLE SOURCE OF CREATIVITY.”

COST OF LIVING/MO.:

CHEAP RENTS ENCOURAGE A DIVERSITY OF RESIDENTS IN A CITY NEIGHBORHOOD, AND IT IS THIS DIVERSITY IN SOCIAL NETWORKS THAT LEADS TO 3X MORE INNOVATION THAN IN HOMOGENOUS NETWORKS. “BECAUSE CITIES FORCE US TO MINGLE WITH PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT ‘SOCIAL DISTANCES...’ WE END UP BEING EXPOSED TO A MUCH WIDER RANGE OF WORLDVIEWS.”

SAN FRAN

IDEAS “EMERGE FROM COLLECTIONS OF ACQUAINTANCES WHO INSPIRE NOVEL THOUGHTS.” LEARNING FROM STRANGERS LEADS TO INNOVATION.

MCLLWAIN, JOHN, HOUSING IN AMERICA: THE NEXT DECADE. URBAN LAND INSTITUTE, 2010. PG. 3

$1,649

KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVER: DIVERSE STRANGERS MEET IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM OR AT THE FOOD TRUCKS OUTSIDE. INTRODUCTIONS LEAD TO DIALOGUE AND THE DANCE OF NEW IDEAS BEGINS!

55.8%

PUBLIC SPACE: SEEKING TO FULFILL UNMET NEEDS, THE MICRO-UNIT RENTER VENTURES OUTSIDE HIS/ HER OWN DOMAIN

64.0%

2

57.9%

PRIVATE SPACE: 300 SF SATISFIES THE MICRO-UNIT RENTER’S BASIC NEEDS

“THE AGE OF SUBURBANIZATION AND GROWING HOMEOWNERSHIP IS OVER…AND THE STRONGEST MARKETS WILL BE FOUND IN PLACES THAT PROVIDE A VIBRANT 24/7 LIFESTYLE.”

TRANSPORTATION COST/MO.

1

49.9%

BATHROOM

ME

MICRO-UNITS SHOULD BE LOCATED IN AMENITY-RICH URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS. WHEN SACRIFICING ON SPACE, RESIDENTS SHOULD FEEL THAT THEIR IMMEDIATE NEIGHBORHOOD IS AN ACCESSIBLE EXTENSION OF THEIR PRIVATE DOMAIN. THIS MEANS THAT IT IS CRITICAL FOR MICRO-UNITS TO BE LOCATED NEAR GROCERY STORES, NIGHTLIFE, PUBLIC TRANSIT, ETC. MICRO-UNITS THAT ARE ISOLATED OR MAROONED IN AMENITY-STARVED NEIGHBORHOODS WILL LIKELY FAIL.

$

WORKROOM

LIVING ROOM

2006

FINANCE SCAN

PUBLIC WORK/HOBBY

$

MEDICINE

HOUSING COST/ MO.

LET’S SPARK INNOVATION!

2014

OK, WHAT’S A MICRO-UNIT?

SO, WHAT IS WHAT’S IN?

FLEXIBLE CLOSET SPACE BUILT-IN SEATING/STORAGE IN-UNIT BATHROOM

MULTI-PURPOSE UTILITY ZONE

IN-UNIT KITCHENETTE FOR LIGHT COOKING AND FOOD STORAGE

POLISHED CONCRETE FLOOR

FLEXIBLE WORK/ DINING SURFACES

300sf

seems pretty spacious, doesn’t it?

SIZE VS COST: WE ASKED OVER 40 YOUNG PROFESSIONALS HOW THEY WOULD CHOOSE BETWEEN THE SIZE OF THEIR UNIT AND HOW MUCH THEY WERE WILLING TO PAY FOR THEIR SPACE.

HERE ARE THE RESULTS:

250 SF $

450 SF $$$

350 SF $$

THE ISSUE: MANY YOUNG PROFESSIONALS WANT TO LIVE IN BOSTON BUT CAN’T AFFORD TO DO SO. BECAUSE THIS DEMOGRAPHIC IS ESSENTIAL TO THE EXPANSION OF ANY CITY, WHAT’S IN IS OUT TO UNDERSTAND HOW ARCHITECTS, DEVELOPERS AND CITY AGENCIES CAN HELP MAKE CITY-CENTER HOUSING MORE AFFORDABLE AND THUS CENTRAL TO THE GROWTH OF BOSTON’S INNOVATION ECONOMY.

#BARS #LOCATION

#AFFORDABILITY #SHOPS

#T

#GYM

#OUTDOOR SPACE

#COMMON AREA

#WALKABILITY

#CARS

#GROCERY

THE AGES OF

33%

18 - 34 TO GET A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF

of boston’s population

THIS DEMOGRAPHIC WANTS OUT OF AN URBAN LIVING EXPERIENCE.

FE M

OWN OR RENT O

19%

42%

USE THE T

RE

NO

17%

NO

78%

YES NO

22%

*SURVEY TOOK PLACE 3.11.2012-5.17.2012 *47 RESPONSES

17%

35%

65%

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF YOUR MONTHLY INCOME IS CONTRIBUTED TO RENT? IN YOUR OPINION, HOW SMALL IS “TOO SMALL” FOR A STUDIO APARTMENT? WHICH SCENARIO WOULD YOU RATHER CHOOSE?

OPEN

YES

O

WOULD TELECOMMUTE

Y

ES

*AIA GUIDE TO BOSTON pg. 67

OWN A CAR N

44 HULL STREET CIRCA 1870

THIS HOUSE HAS THE DISTINCTION OF BEING THE NARROWEST HOUSE IN BOSTON, WITH A WIDTH OF ABOUT 10 FEET AND ONLY ONE WINDOW PER FLOOR FACING THE STREET.*

$

WANTS TO LIVE FRUGALLY IN THE CITY

83%

81%

THE SKINNY HOUSE

Y

ES

WN

58%

ONLINE SURVEY DATA

SHARES WELL WITH OTHERS

M

NT

SMALL IS SEXY

E

IMAGINATIVE AND ACTIVE EMERGING PROFESSIONALS WHO VALUE QUALITY

34 Y.O.

E AL

AL

NORTH END

big is not in

‘WE DON’T COOK THAT MUCH.’ WE NEED JUST ENOUGH SPACE TO COOK SOME PASTA AND A SMALL FRIDGE TO STORE LEFTOVERS OR CHILL A BOTTLE OF WINE.

psst...this demographic is

WHAT’S IN INTERVIEWED AND SURVEYED 82 INDIVIDUALS BETWEEN

31%

‘WE LIKE TO GO OUT.’ WE WANT TO BE CLOSE TO THE BEST RESTAURANTS AND HOTTEST CONCERTS THAT THE CITY HAS TO OFFER, BUT WE NEED TO BE NEAR THE PRACTICAL AMENITIES GROCERY STORE, PHARMACY, AND PUBLIC TRANSIT - TO MAKE THE DOWNTOWN EXPERIENCE ACTUALLY LIVABLE.

THE RESEARCH:

GENDER

14%

‘I VIEW MY CAR AS A LUXURY.’ I THINK I CAN LIVE COMFORTABLY WITHOUT IT AND I HAVE CONSIDERED THE POSITIVE IMPACTS IT WOULD HAVE ON MY WALLET.

‘I WANT TO KNOW MY NEIGHBORS.’ IT WOULD BE GREAT TO HAVE AN ACTIVE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE THAT ILLUSTRATED WHO WHO LIVES NEXT DOOR, WHO MIGHT BE ABLE TO SPARE A CUP OF SUGAR AND WHO WOULD WANT TO WATCH THE CELTICS GAME AT THE BAR DOWN THE STREET.

#SOCIAL NETWORK #RESTAURANTS

HERE IS WHAT WE FOUND

55%

‘IT NEEDS TO BE AFFORDABLE.’ WHAT’S THE POINT IN LIVING DOWNTOWN IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF AMENITIES AFTER PAYING THE RENT?

‘KITCHEN SHARING CAN WORK IF THERE IS A CLEAR CLEANING POLICY.’ WITHOUT ONE IMPLEMENTED, I’M LIKELY TO AVOID THIS AMENITY IN FAVOR OF EATING OUT WITH FRIENDS.

ADD Inc ONEin3

guess what? this unit is only

BED ALCOVE/ LIVING AREA

WHO’D LIVE IN THESE UNITS?

18 Y.O.

15%

44%

41%

17% 10%

13%

30%

30%

50% 50%

<30% 30-50% >50%

300 SF 400 SF 500 SF 600 SF OTHER

600 SF UNIT W/ 45 MIN COMMUTE 250 SF UNIT W/ 10 MIN COMMUTE

T

USES PUBLIC TRANSIT REGULARLY WANTS ACCESS TO URBAN AMENITIES

83% OWN A PET

17

DESIGNED FOR MARKET SUCCESS?

CREATING ATTACHMENT MAKE IT WORK:

ECONOMY / CULTURE / HISTORY ROOMMATE SEARCH

BOSTON’S CITY IDENTITY LIMITS HOUSING IN THE MOST DESIRABLE NEIGHBORHOODS

LIKE-MINDED INDIVIDUALS ATTRACTS INFORMATION DATABASE

MICRO-UNITS MAKE RENTERS MORE LIKELY TO STAY IN BOSTON EVEN AFTER OUTGROWING THEIR SPACE LET’S SAY THAT MICRO-UNITS MAKE LIVING IN BOSTON AFFORDABLE AND EXCITING FOR A DIVERSE GROUP OF YOUNG PEOPLE AND WORK FORCE HOUSEHOLDS. WHAT HAPPENS IN FIVE YEARS WHEN THOSE SAME PEOPLE START FAMILIES AND YEARN FOR LARGER HOMES?

FURNISHED VS. UNFURNISHED

SOCIAL INTERACTION

PREFER UNFURNISHED IF IT SAVES MONEY

WOULD LIKE TO KNOW NEIGHBORS BETTER MISS THE GOOD OLD COLLEGE DAYS

WILL MICRO-UNIT RENTERS...

MODULAR / FLEXIBLE FLOOR SMART UNIT DESIGN

ADAPT TO DIFFERENT TENANTS OVER THE ABILITY TO CUSTOMIZE

IS A SELLING POINT, BUT IF THE DESIGN INCREASES COSTS, IT’S NOT REALLY WORTH IT

MAKE IT WORK:

A

47 % BACK BAY

CORRELATION TO ATTACHMENT

WE ASKED PARTICIPANTS IN THE WHAT’S IN FOCUS GROUPS WHERE THEY MOST WANTED TO LIVE IF THEY COULD AFFORD THE RENT. NEIGHBORHOODS WITH VIBRANT SOCIAL OFFERINGS, EASY ACCESS TO PUBLIC TRANSIT, CONVENIENT AMENITIES AND PROXIMITY TO WORKPLACES ROSE TO THE TOP OF THE LIST.

WANT TO LIVE IN

MORE FACTS?...SURE:

OPENNESS

ME

MICRO-UNITS WILL THRIVE IN AMENITY-RICH AREAS

ME

ME

SOCIAL OFFERINGS

NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ: SCAN

B

SOCIAL CAPITAL

ACCORDING TO A STUDY CONDUCTED BY THE KNIGHT FOUNDATION AND GALLUP, COMMUNITY ATTACHMENT IS MOST INFLUENCED BY THE FACTORS OF OPENNESS, SOCIAL OFFERINGS AND AESTHETICS (EVEN MORE THAN GOOD SCHOOLS AND SAFE STREETS). MICRO-UNITS -- REPRESENTING OPENNESS BY STAYING AFFORDABLE, POSING EXCELLENT SOCIAL OFFERINGS BY BEING SITUATED IN AMENITY-RICH NEIGHBORHOODS, AND FULFILLING THE NEED TO LIVE IN BEAUTIFUL SURROUNDINGS

BY GIVING RESIDENTS A BLACK CANVAS TO CUSTOMIZE -- MAY BE UNIQUELY ABLE TO HELP RESIDENTS CREATE STRONG ATTACHMENTS TO BOSTON. IN THIS EVENT, MICRO-UNIT RENTERS WILL BE MORE LIKELY TO B) MOVE WITHIN THE CITY EVEN AFTER LIFE CHANGES NECESSITATE LARGER LIVING ARRANGEMENTS.

CIVIC INVOLVEMENT

KNIGHT FOUNDATION AND GALLUP, “WHY PEOPLE LOVE WHERE THEY LIVE AND WHY IT MATTERS: A NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE.” KNIGHT SOUL OF THE COMMUNITY 2010. PG.9.

AESTHETICS EDUCATION BASIC SERVICES LEADERSHIP ECONOMY SAFETY

COMMUNITY ATTACHMENT MATTERS TO THE FUTURE OF OUR CITIES!

IGNORING COST, PARTICIPANTS RANKED BACK BAY AS THEIR

NUMBER ONE DESIRED

“COMMUNITY ATTACHMENT IS AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION TO A PLACE THAT TRANSCENDS SATISFACTION, LOYALTY, AND EVEN PASSION. A COMMUNITY’S MOST ATTACHED RESIDENTS HAVE STRONG PRIDE IN IT, A POSITIVE OUTLOOK ON THE COMMUNITY’S FUTURE, AND A SENSE THAT IT IS THE PERFECT PLACE FOR THEM. THEY ARE LESS LIKELY TO WANT TO LEAVE THAN RESIDENTS WITHOUT THIS EMOTIONAL CONNECTION.”

NEIGHBORHOOD.

HERE’S WHY: 7,000: PROFESSIONAL PLACES TO WORK 1,950: PLACES TO SHOP 450: PLACES FOR ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 350: PLACES TO EAT & DRINK 90: GYMS 52: GROCERY STORES & PHARMACIES 30: PARKING GARAGES 10: MBTA BUS LINES 8: MBTA STATIONS

LOCAL GDP GROWTH BY LEVELS OF COMMUNITY ATTACHMENT CA CORRELATION TO GDP GROWTH = .411 CA CORRELATION TO POP. GROWTH = 3.74

GDP GROWTH (2006-2009)

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

HEY, LET’S TRY HAVING THESE AMENITIES OVER HERE!

29% ATTACHED

20% UNATTACHED

30% UNATTACHED 55% ATTACHED

41% NEUTRAL

ATTACHMENT BENCHMARK 2010

25% NEUTRAL

SOUTH END LAWRENCE MODEL LODGING HOUSES

79, 89+99 EAST CANTON STREET CIRCA 1892

THESE FOUR BUILDINGS ARE THE OLDEST REMAINING EXAMPLES OF PHILANTHROPIC HOUSING IN BOSTON, BUILT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE WILL OF ABBOTT LAWRENCE TO PROVIDE “MODEL LODGING HOUSES...TO BE LET TO POOR, TEMPERATE AND INDUSTRIOUS FAMILIES...

AT REASONABLE RENTS.” EACH OF THE BUILDINGS HAS A NAME: LAWRENCE, ABBOTT, BIGELOW, AND GROTON...

THE QUARTET OFFERS AN INSTRUCTIVE CONTRAST TO THE NEARBY 20TH CENTURY PUBLIC HOUSING.*

*AIA GUIDE TO BOSTON pg. 145

FENWAY QUEENSBURY STREET APTS.

CIRCA 1899

RED BRICK FOUR-STORY APARTMENT BUILDINGS LINE THE STREET IN A HARMONIOUS ROW... CAFES AND RESTAURANTS ARRIVED IN MASSE ON BOTH QUEENSBURY AND PETERBOROUGH STREETS LATE IN THE 20TH CENTURY, BUT THE FIRST MIXED USE WAS MUCH EARLIER: A BAKER LIVED ABOVE HIS SHOP AT 37 QUEENSBURY STREET.*

*AIA GUIDE TO BOSTON pg. 236

6.9% 2.6%

2.1%

.3% -0.2% <3.70 (n=7 communities)

-1

3.70-3.84 (n=9 communities)

3.85+ (n=7 communities)

COMMUNITIES WHOSE RESIDENTS ARE MORE ATTACHED SEE MORE LOCAL GDP GROWTH!

CITIES LIKE BOSTON, WITH LARGE POPULATIONS AND VERY HIGH URBAN DENSITY HAVE ROOM TO IMPROVE UPON LEVELS OF

“NEUTRAL” RESIDENTS MAY BECOME “ATTACHED” IN THE FACE OF MORE SOCIAL OFFERINGS, COMMUNITY ATTACHMENT.

ATTACHMENT GOAL FOR GDP GROWTH

COMMUNITY ATTACHMENT LARGE POP. - VERY HIGH URBAN DENSITY

*AMENITY COUNTS ARE APPROXIMATE AND BASED ON DATA GAINED FROM QUERYING YELP.COM

POP. GROWTH (2006-2009)

6.7%

KNIGHT FOUNDATION AND GALLUP, “WHY PEOPLE LOVE WHERE THEY LIVE AND WHY IT MATTERS: A NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE.” KNIGHT SOUL OF THE COMMUNITY 2010. PG. 5.

Display boards of “Luan” Exterior.

SCAN

MOVE WITHIN BOSTON

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

SCAN

WHAT’S IN FOCUS GROUP PARTICIPANTS WEIGHED IN ON THE FACTORS THAT WOULD CONVINCE THEM TO RENT MICRO-UNITS IN THE CITY. A COMBINATION OF THE ABOVE LEADS TO MARKET SUCCESS.

18

MOVE TO THE ‘BURBS

MORE OPENNESS,

AND

MORE BEAUTIFUL SPACES

IN

PROXIMITY TO THEIR HOUSING UNITS. KNIGHT FOUNDATION AND GALLUP, “WHY PEOPLE LOVE WHERE THEY LIVE AND WHY IT MATTERS: A NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE.” KNIGHT SOUL OF THE COMMUNITY 2010. PG. 33.

Photos of “Luan” at ABX 2012 19

2013

BOSTON A CITY OF EMERGING URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS

22

BOSTON A CITY OF EMERGING URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS

Now that you have learned how to make small units livable through smart designs, you might be wondering where they can be built in a city like Boston.

Although the design principles mentioned in the last chapter (ample storage, access to natural light, and a space for every function) are applicable to luxury compact living units at urban cores, our goal in affordable urban living redirect us to search for areas in the city where property values are not as steep. We needed to Ànd places outside of the coveted city centers, and identify potentials in some up-and-coming neighborhoods, where public transit is convenient and neighborhood amenities like retail and services are available. We selected six neighborhoods for investigation in the greater Boston area: Allston Brighton, Chinatown, Dorchester, East Boston, Roxbury and Somerville. All of them are relatively more affordable to live in, when compared against downtown Boston and Cambridges’ monthly rental costs.

Within each of these neighborhoods, we overlaid information including public transit and urban amenity density in order to Ànd suitable clusters of areas where compact living development can happen. In addition, we overlaid locations of city-owned land parcels to Ànd further cost savings hoping for future collaboration with the city.

Here are what we found in each of the six neighborhoods…

23

24

city owned

residential land

Most major cities in the country have city own parcels of land which are zoned for various types of development. Within these 6 neighborhoods of Boston, and Somerville, you will find the percentage of city owned land zoned for residential development in relation to the total area of the neighborhood, as well as the number of available lots for development.

2%

ALLSTON/BRIGHTON

1%

DORCHESTER

6 . 1 mi 2

1.3% .75%

.5%

4.11mi 2

4.736m 2

ROXBURY

SOMERVILLE

3.915m

EAST BOSTON

1.6% CHINATOWN

88m

i

2

3.638m

“As you can see, the potential for growth in neighborhoods like Roxbury, Dorchester, and Allston/Brighton are among the highest.”

293 LOTS

2,202,509 sqf 1,624,319 sqf

30m

.0

24m

00

3 mi

2

.0

i2

50m

i2

.0

i2

i2

LOTS

58m

.

50

.0

i2

2

i

.1

i

2

.0 79m

589 LOTS

12 LOTS

46 LOTS

11

1,407,393 sqf

850,000 sqf

664,349 sqf

86,488 sqf

LOTS

< to be exact >

compliments of the cities of Boston and Somerville

25

Elis

Sris h

matrix

eth Hoff ab

21

livability

Goyal 19 ti

How did we determine the livability of a neighborhood?

This summer we developed a rigor for determining the livability for 6 neighborhoods based on objective and subjective criteria. Below you will find the livability scores for each Area of Interest, based on the perceptions of two emerging residents of Boston. This data was collected over multiple visits to each site at 3 different times of the day.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;These are our impressions as young residents of Boston with fresh eyes on these neighborhoods. But we want to know what you think about your community!â&#x20AC;?

based on:

based on:

Noise Level

Pedestrian Activity

Outdoor Space

objective score

subjective score

Amenity Density Commuter Access

400 350 300 250 200 150 100

50

Union Sq.

Uphams Corner

50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Dudley Sq.

Summer St.

EAST BOSTON

Savin & Dot Ave.

Curve St.

0

Uphams Corner

Summer St.

Leather Dist.

50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Davis Sq.

ROXBURY

Dudley Sq.

0 Union Sq.

SOMERVILLE

Davis Sq.

Harvard & Standish

Safety Cleanliness

0

Central Sq.

Light Levels

Central Sq.

DORCHESTER

CHINATOWN

Savin & Dot Ave. Harvard & Standish

Leather Dist.

Curve St.

Allston Village

Allston Village

Chestnut Hill

Chestnut Hill

ALLSTON/BRIGHTON

26

400 350 300 250 200 150 100

50

0

NEIGHBORHOOD IMPRESSIONS

After mapping these areas and studying their demographics on paper, we realized we wouldn’t gain full understanding of these neighborhoods until we experience them in person. That was when we recruited two investigators, Elizabeth and Shristi from Northeastern University, and enlisted them to visit these areas to talk to their residents and business owners, to photo-document existing amenities, and to observe their suitability for compact living development. We learned a few things from these investigations: Not all neighborhoods are created equal, living in these greater Boston neighborhoods has it’s drawbacks.

Cheaper living cost is a direct trade off with longer commuting time if you work downtown, and options are often more limited if you are looking for more than just the basic amenities. Within the six neighborhoods investigated, there is also a ranking of preferences, according to our investigators. Based on both subjective and objective observations, they prioritized neighborhoods like East Boston and Somerville.

Although many neighborhoods are ready for more housing densities, many fear that new development will only bring disparity and gentriÀcation. We felt that new projects need to be executed with care and guided with appropriate policy, so that we are not ridding the last few havens for affordable urban living.

27

allston brighton

neighborhoods

T network

T stops & 1/4 mile walk

OPULATION: 55,225 REA: 3.638 MI2 DENSITY: 15,180 P/MI2

Allston and Brighton are interlocking neighborhoods located neatly between Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, and Newton. They are connected by Commonwealth Avenue. The two towns are mostly populated by college students. Bringing a wide range of economic infrastructure to support the lifestyles of this age group. There are many restaurants and bars paired with eclectic storefronts and interesting people. Although both neighborhoods are often thought of as one, they each offer a different living environment, which allow the combination of the two to be strongly unified.

(BOSTON: 12,906 P/M2)

eighborhood Map ile Rad iu

Open Spaces

T line & Stops

IN

ES TER T

ARE A O F

M /4

AREA O F

Existing Buildings

s

Amenity Buildings

1

egend

Griggs St.

Warren St.

Allston St.

Washington St. Sutherland Rd.

South St.

SIT E

Boston College

Chestnut Hill Ave.

28

Chiswick Rd.

EST TER IN

Packardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Corner Pleasant St. Babcock St.

Harvard Ave.

SIT E

BU West St. Paulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s St.

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WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INSTAGRAM @SEEWHATSIN

Residential street off Brighton center! #brighton #community

Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s color coordinated with the T. Were clearly becoming very familiar with the Green line. #T #mbta #greenline #bline

And another one #brighton #residence #community

Amenities in Packards Corner #allston #t #greenline #mbta #community #amenities

City owned lot just blocks away from amenity filled Brighton center! #success #brighton #cityowned #bra #boston

Amenity city #brighton #amenities #community

Boston neighborhoods seen through the eyes of its newest residents.

One negative impression of Allston/ Brighton: the B line and its guarenteed delayed lateness. #greenline #late #allston #brighton

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#harvardave #mbta #allston #greenline #T

Hubway sighting. #hubway #bu #allston #infrastructure #bike #bikercity #amenity

Harvard ave. Allston lookin good. #allston

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somerville

six neighborhoods

T network

T stops & 1/4 mile walk

POPULATION: 77,104 AREA: 4.11 MI2 DENSITY: 18,777 P/MI2 (BOSTON: 12,906 P/M2)

Neighborhood Map

AREA O F

Existing Buildings

T IN

M /4

ile Rad iu

s

Amenity Buildings

1

Legend

Open Spaces

T line & Stops

Just north of the city, next to Cambridge, is Somerville. Somerville is not considered part of Boston, but is its own city in Middlesex County. Known for being the most densely populated municipality in New England, it has become increasingly gentrified. This shift it is thought mainly to have occurred with the extension of the MBTA Red line connecting it back to Boston. Regardless, it remains a quiet and calm area. The streets and town squares that sit within its network, although developed, still reflect the community. Little change shows a sense of ownership and commitment to their community. The lack of competition to become the next “Harvard Square” is a common thread throughout the residents’ comments. Thus, Somerville remains quaint and peaceful. It is perfect for the young working professional looking to live in a low-key environment. Amenities woven the communities fabric create an inviting community and high residential potential.

EREST

Davis Square

SIT E

Porter Square

#30

EST

TE

SI

AREA O F

Sullivan Square

TER IN

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Own

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y

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WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INSTAGRAM Boston neighborhoods seen through the eyes of its newest residents

Not a cloud in the sky in Somerville on top of Prospect Park Hill Monument - Greenville and Munroe st. #somerville #prospecthill

Amenities in Union square in Somerville on Prospect st. #somerville #amenity

Using the bus system in Somerville. Infrequent times but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get you where you need to go. #somerville #publictransit #mbta #88

Awesome way to brighten up a boring chain link fence. #somerville #exploring #chainlink

@SEEWHATSIN

Somerville amenity near Union square open green peaceful park on top of a hill with views of the Boston skyline. Ideal. #somerville #boston #amenity #park #prospecthill #skyline

Oc

GE

So far so good Somerville. Prospect & Somerville ave. #somerville #shade #trees #amenity

#amenity #somerville #park #green #play

More amenities on Somerville ave. #somerville #streetscape #exploring #impressions

Welcome to Somerville #somerville #art #mural #unionsquare #amenity #areaofinterest

Just your typical, lovely Somerville street #somerville #unionsquare #residence #tripledecker

31

chinatown

six neighborhoods

T network

T stops & 1/4 mile walk

POPULATION: 6,762 AREA: 0.188 MI2 DENSITY: 35,913 P/MI2

Located in downtown Boston, Chinatown is one of the most densely populated residential areas of the city. With one of the most dense Chinese populations in New England, a strong sense of community and unification has developed here. Set in the Financial District, Chinatown is enclosed by the Mass Pike, South End, Downtown Crossing and the Boston Commons. The density of the population is loud and constant but also easily accessible through the Green, Red, and Orange lines of the MBTA. Although it is hard to find quiet residential, exceptional accessibility has become a valuable asset to the community.

(BOSTON: 12,906 P/M2)

Neighborhood Map Existing Buildings

M /4

ile Rad iu

s

Amenity Buildings

1

Legend

Open Spaces

T line & Stops

Park St.

Downtown Crossing

Boylston

South Station

Chinatown

SIT E

AREA OF IN T

Tuffs Medical Center

SIT E

32

EST ER

AR E

Arlington

A

OF

INTERES T

HO

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O

T

UPAN1CY 3.9 CC % Vac a nt

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i

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WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INSTAGRAM Boston neighborhoods seen through the eyes of its newest residents

Lots of green on this residential hudson street in #chinatown #amenity #exploring #neighborhoods #boston #green

Harrison ave, Chinatown is all about the alleys. #chinatown #alleyway

Biker evidence in Chinatown! Hudson st. #bike #bikers #boston #community

Lots of new construction happening in #chinatown #boston #growth #urban #architecture #construction

So many little nooks to be found! #chinatown #leatherdistrict #boston #exploring

@SEEWHATSIN

Harvard ave - leads to the Hudson st. lot sited for development #chinatown #boston

Alleyway/pathway on Harrison ave. #chinatown #explore

There is certainly a lot of underutilized space.

Potential for growth is evident. #surfacelots #chinatown #boston

Occup

GE .8%

Awesome to come across spaces like these in Chinatown where the green/ open space is a little more difficult to find. #chinatown #flowers #green

Bright and sunny day in Chinatown #chinatown #friday

33

east boston

six neighborhoods

T network

T stops & 1/4 mile walk

POPULATION: 38,429 AREA: 4.736 MI2 DENSITY: 8,114 P/MI2

East Boston was first a hub for shipbuilding, carrying a high population of immigrants from the start. The population has continued to diversify, making east Boston even more unique. This part of Boston was constructed by connecting multiple islands with landfill, and sits facing the North End and the Financial District across the Boston Harbor. The neighborhood is embraced by green infrastructure, through parks and trees, that weave through the residential areas.

Connected to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s public transportation through the Blue Line demand for access into the city has been increasing.

(BOSTON: 12,906 P/M2)

Neighborhood Map

Legend

1

Existing Buildings

M /4

ile Rad iu

s

Amenity Buildings

Open Spaces

T line & Stops

Suffolk Downs

Orient Heights

z

E

SIT

E

SIT

F INTERE

S

Wood Island

T

O EA

Airport

AR AREA

O

N TE FI

Maverick

REST

SIT E

Terminal E

Terminal C

Terminal A Terminal B2

Terminal B1

34

Hi

VA C

ne

%

78 . ily 1

Fam

3B%lack

3

ng 0

% 5s3panic

Y

7.6%

Vacant

7

Ad

%r

C AN

Prime spot. East Boston piers overlooking the harbor.#boston #architectureboston #eastboston #city #skyline

lt s .8A% du

@SEEWHATSIN

Boston neighborhoods seen through the eyes of its newest residents

The other end of Princeton street... not as friendly as the maverick square end #eastie #eastboston

#eastboston #wigglesworth #brick #architecture #industrial

Dig it #eastie #exploring #eastboston #boston #growbostongreener #AMENITY #condorstreet #urbanwild

RE

Ren 2.5 te r

35ul.t6s %

W

37h% ite

You

WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INSTAGRAM

East Boston is filled with chained off pockets like this one.

Sited for commercial redevelopment. #eastboston #development #future #amenities #adapt

U EN

27. T 5

HO

E

2 Group Non 1.

-Fa

Ow

E

.6%

%

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AG E

h Ot

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dr

US

3% il y m

r

TY NICI TH 4%er A4si%an

%n

ld e

24 C hi .8 l

O c c u pi e d

% 8.7ly

I see you Denzel Washington #denzel #denzelwashington #hollywood #eastie #eastboston #famous #film

Eclectic storefronts in eastie, day 2 of exploring! #eastboston #boston #exploring #soccer #facades

#eastie #eastboston #boston

The views in this part of town are the best #eastie #eastboston #boston

The hub of East Boston #blueline #mbta #infrastructure #transit

35

dorchester

six neighborhoods

T network

T stops & 1/4 mile walk

POPULATION: 87,545 AREA: 6.1 MI2 DENSITY: 14,350 P/MI2

Below the metro area of Boston lies the largest neighborhood of the city, Dorchester. Spanning six miles, this neighborhood is split into two; North and South. The Northern area is more urban and dense, while the Southern is highly residential. The MBTA red line and commuter rail run through the neighborhood. Dorchester houses a diverse mix of residents. The roots of the populations’ culture are shown through it’s restaurants, cafés, retail, and marketplaces. Even with a variety of ethnic backgrounds, the community stands unified.

As the inner areas of the city grow overpopulated and unaffordable, this area has had an influx of younger working class residents. With it’s quick access to downtown and access to water front, Dorchester is on the rise to be recognized as a more reputable spot to live.

(BOSTON: 12,906 P/M2)

Neighborhood Map Existing Buildings

M /4

ile Rad iu

Open Spaces

s

Amenity Buildings

1

Legend

T line & Stops

JKF / UMASS Uphams Corner

T IN

EREST

TE

A RE A O F

SIT E

Savin Hill

A RE A O F

Four Corners / Geneva

T IN

Feilds Corner

EREST

SIT E Talbot Ave

Shawmut

Ashmont

36

SI

VA C

T

RE

i

Y

9%

Vacan

t

Owne

H is p a

62.7%

Renter

White

76.

5% y

Blac

k

38 %

26

g

Famil

A

C AN

r

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H

A

am

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% 19 4.r3 .

G o u p N o n-F 2

27%

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ING T YPE

ni c

16%

A si a n

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ed

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her

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WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INSTAGRAM @SEEWHATSIN

#uphamscorner #potential #strandtheatre #amenity #roxbury #dorchester #boston

#dorchester #fieldscorner #architecture #amenities #bpl

Point of interest potentially #uphamscorner #leonbuilding #dorchester #roxbury #primespot #boston

#dorchester #roxbury #boston #T #mbta #exploring

Boston neighborhoods seen through the eyes of its newest residents

Why chain link why #urban #chainlink #leonbuilding #boston #dorchester #roxbury #architecture

Red line to Ashmont for more exploring in Dorchester! #mbta #T #infrastructure #redline

#forlease #boston #dorchester #urban #architecture

Beautiful day for some strolling #fieldscorner #dorchester #boston

O cc u pi

% 9.4y

#dorchester #community #pride #mural #colorful #streetart

#dorchester #menino #mayormenino #boston #welcome #community

37

roxbury

T network

T stops & 1/4 mile walk

POPULATION: 67,080 AREA: 3.915 MI2 DENSITY: 17,134 P/MI2

West of Dorchester lies one of the oldest neighborhoods, Roxbury.

This neighborhood became the center of African-American life in Boston. In addition, it boasts strong diversity with a large mix of ethnicites. This neighborhood is home to many privately owned and authentic storefronts and eateries. Accessed by the Orange Line and by bus, Roxbury offers its residents [and visitors] outdoor amendities, recreation centers, schools and universities, and various places of worship. Although lacking a strong reputation in safety, Roxbury is an evolving neighborhood that shows potential. It is an easily accessible, diverse community with many amenities to offer its residents.

(BOSTON: 12,906 P/M2)

Neighborhood Map Existing Buildings

M /4

ile Rad iu

s

Amenity Buildings

1

Legend

Open Spaces

T line & Stops

Melnea Cass Blvd.

Roxbury Crossing

a

RE

Lenox St.

A OF INTER E

ST

A

six neighborhoods

Newmarket Dudley Station

Jackson Square

T

E

SI

A OF I N ARE TE

Green St.

Four Corners / Geneva

Forrest Hills

38

E

Uphams Corner

ST RE

S

IT

Stony Brook

i

E

3 ner

VA C

.9

u p N o n-F am

2

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E

it

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8.2%

Vacan

t

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31%

h Ot

2% Asian 11 Wh

te r

Bl Fami l

O c c u pi e d

y

74.2 %

91.8%

% 50ack

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Ad

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WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INSTAGRAM @SEEWHATSIN Boston neighborhoods seen through the eyes of its newest residents

Malcolm Xs home...#roxbury #boston #historic #historicpreservation

Nature time #roxbury #parksandrec #boston #trees

Dudley square #boston #roxbury #dudleysquare #exploring

Can you say outdoor pool? Yes please. #swimming #boston #roxbury #recreation #amenities

Womp womp #roxbury #deadend

#boston #roxbury #housing #projects

#architecture #urban #city #boston #roxbury #uphamscorner #potential #boston

Ivy and bricks #roxbury #architecture #boston

Quiet and secluded yet a two minute walk from the central streets packed with amenities.

Love! #uphamscorner #Roxbury

Quiet, quaint, and easily accessible Nonquit st right off of Dudley street. #diggingit #roxbury #uphamscorner

39

40

ABX 2013 CLOUD FOREST

After “LUAN” traveled around Boston to showcase how the big idea of compact living could foster innovation in cities, the WHAT’S IN team learned a few lessons from the 2012 exhibit. No matter how modularized the installation is, 2 by 4 lumbers are heavy to carry and inconvenient to deploy. Between each exhibit, it was costly to store and relocate the installation parts. The Luan structure could have been more prominent on the exhibit Áoor to attract more visitors.

On one hand, the exhibit was to showcase the neighborhood research conducted that year, on the other hand, it was tasked to represent the quality of an amenity space in a compact living community.

Built on prior experiences, the team set out to create a lighter and more mobile form of exhibition. We thought that nothing could be lighter than air. From start to Ànish, the exploration of material and construction took many months. The Ànal product was generated through many pushes and pulls by constraints of time, budget, materiality, constructibility, rules of the exhibit space, and basic laws of physics.

41

42

43

44

DESIGN THROUGH EXPERIMENTATION

The design and execution of the pneumatic structure, we called it the “Cloud Forest”, was built on a series of trials and errors. Rigging and helium balloons were not allowed at the exhibit space, so we had to Ànd out an inÁatable design that will not only stand tall to attract the crowd, but also to do so on it’s own without additional support.

We quickly learned that the combination of trash bags and double-sided tape would not hold together over time, so we used irons to heat seal the plastic drop clothes instead. Asymmetrical shapes might have been more attractive, but when it came to making the Cloud stand on its own, we opted for a more stable conÀguration of a symmetrical tripod. When it was time to inÁate one of the prototypes, we found out regular air pressure is not enough to combat the material weight, so we added heated fans to make the Cloud Áoat.

When the Cloud Forest was Ànally towering above the exhibit space, we saw what we had created: a Áexible object that was lightweight, foldable into a small volume that can be carried with one hand, took 2 minutes to set up, and did not require heavy wood structure or moving trucks.

After the Cloud Forest debuted at ABX 2013, it went on to exhibit at the Boston Society of Architects, and the American Institute of Architects HQ in DC. 45

2014

DEVELOPING HOUSING WITH A PURPOSE

48

DEVELOP HOUSING WITH A PURPOSE

During the research leading up to 2014, it was evident that there is an emerging compact living market in cities like Boston. With the list of city-owned parcels located at highly developable non-urban-core neighborhoods, the next step for WHAT’S IN was clear: learn the crucial factors to developing affordable small urban housing.

We asked ourselves where housing was most needed, and how fast demand were increasing. We wanted to identify the right density for a new development so that it would not only gain economy of scale, but also not be overwhelming to its neighborhood context. How about parking? How did different parking solutions compare in terms of cost and site feasibility? How could development be sensitive to its existing neighborhood community culture, and which sustainability feature would be appropriate for building housing on a budget? Which public funding sources were available, and could buildings be built affordability without public funding support?

All of these were pressing questions on our mind, and we wanted to explore them through a series of case studies. In fact, we were able to Ànd many answers through collaborating with the Federal Home Loan Bank’s Annual Affordable Housing Development Competition. When analyzing the past winners of this high-proÀle competition, participated by teams of graduate students in design, development and public policy from schools like Harvard and MIT, we gathered many insights and creative solutions to creating well-rounded developments that don’t break the bank.

49

CASE STUDIES WITH EIGHT PROJECTS The Annual affordable housing development competition, hosted by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, provides graduate students the oppurtuntiy to tackle architectural, Ă&#x20AC;nnacial, and policy challenges key to creating afforable housing soultions, by pairing them with affordable housing organizations. We took a look at projects from the previous 15 years in order to identify some of the crucial elements in affordable housing design. The following 8 proejcts provided the widest variety of typolgies for us to study:

50

Shawknit mill

The Corsa

Lyman gardens

Xin-50

Dot corner

Almaviva

The Edgerly

The Village at walnut

51

need for housing Need for Housing

Boston and its greater Metro area are facing a growing housing shortage. The Boston Globe recently stated that the city “needs to build 53,000 housing units by 2030 to keep pace with rapid population growth that is already increasing prices and squeezing out low- and middle-income residents.”

According to Mayor Walsh’s proposal, 20,000 of these units must be for middle-income residents.

The housing shortage is amplified by the region’s recent population shifts. In addition to an influx of new residents from across the nation and abroad, people are moving from Boston’s suburbs back into Boston’s urban neighborhoods. Meanwhile, the density and historic status of Boston continue to limit the rate of new construction. Combined, these trends conspire to generate a severe housing crisis.

+6%

+18%

+7%

+16%

+5%

+14%

+14%

+18%

+6%

+15%

+5%

+14%

+7%

+16%

+6%

+22%

Projected Population Change 2000-2030

=

1950

average household 3.37 people

=

2000

average household 2.62 people

JANUARY

JANUARY

LAWRENCE

JANUARY

1,000 applicants

1 year waitlist

*1, 2, & 3 bedrooms closed for Lowell, Brookline, & Somerville

HOLYOKE JANUARY

JANUARY

JANUARY

JANUARY

JANUARY

JANUARY

JANUARY

JANUARY

JANUARY

JANUARY

BOSTON MA SECTION 8

Change in the Typical Household

AW K N

JANUARY

JANUARY

JANUARY

33

67

59

$15.9 M

M IL

ALM

T

I

VI

VA

PLATNIUM

140

L

R AN GA

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GOLD

$11.7 M

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WHAT’S IN is a research group committed to addressing these problems by advocating for urban housing at an affordable price. Collaborating with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston (FHLB.B) and drawing on its model of publicly funded housing, WHAT’S IN aims to apply strategies, proposed by the Bank’s Annual Affordable Housing Development Competition, to a broader variety of urban living environments. In the past the group has researched Compact Living as a model for lowering rental costs, formulating the findings into a new typology of the Micro-unit. In order to explore the possibility of lowering the land acquisition cost of housing projects, the group also investigated affordable neighborhoods outside of the urban core, with special attention to their livability. This year WHAT’S IN teamed up with FHLB.B to showcase eight winning entries from FHLB.B’s annual Affordable Housing Development Competition. The entries are judged according to several categories: physical design, community, environmental sustainability, finance, and feasibility. These winning entries address the need for affordable housing through exemplary strategies, reformulating the definitions that have hampered development in the past. Learning from the strategies exhibited in these eight projects, WHAT’S IN hopes to jump-start a conversation about current strategies in affordable housing development.

JANUARY

53

SH

Searching for solutions, this housing drought has given rise to many questions.

Some see the construction of affordable units as the central solution since, in order for any new housing to accommodate the growing population, people must first be able to afford to live there. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, affordable housing is “shelter in which at least 40 percent of the units can be sold or rented to a household that is earning no more than 60 percent of the area median household income”.

JANUARY

Waitlist for Affordable Hosuing In Massachusetts

WHAT’S IN? 2014

52

Projected Housing Unit Demand 2000-2030

105

MA CITIES OVER 50,000 PEOPLE

$40.9M 50,000 people 100,000 people 250,000 people

ENS

SILVER

500,000 people

42 57

THE ED

$13.3 M

G

ER

LY

PLATNIUM

220 130 $91.5 M

XI N

VI

L

LA

164

50

-

GE

94

PLATNIUM

24

$29.5 M

AT

0

W

A

UT

CERTIFIED

$3.5 M

CO

LN

RS

A

CERTIFIED

24

Boston City Owned Property

D OT C O

MBTA Stop 1/2 Walk Radius

R

11 $13.5 M

NE

R

GOLD

What’s In? 2013 Neighborhood

What’s In? 2013 Area of Interest

53

Contextual Density

Each of the eight projects responds to its context through different formal and programmatic tactics that shape its physical design. Some draw on the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surrounding architecture and density patterns to articulate a locally appropriate public facade and volumetric shape. Others pay close attention to how the project meets its adjacent sites so that it meshes with the neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social practices. Contextual sensitivity also occurs at the level of the individual units, as many of the projects use a range of unit dimensions tailored to the actual living habits of different types of residents, from single use to the elderly to families.

The size of the projects varies from small, single-parcel, to multi-parcel and large-scale towers. No one scale necessarily achieves greater success. Instead, each project considers the density of their context, working the building into its extended site with sensitivity to vernacular traditions, programmatic offerings, and traffic flows.

Given the availability of vast amounts of undeveloped urban land, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) used to employ universal housing models to promote efficiency and density. As a result of tighter land constraints, designers now look to the existing urban context to develop the design and density of housing.

New Construction

Renovation

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% ) ! &

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Density of Neighborhood: 35,913/mi2 FAR: 4.0 â&#x20AC;&#x153;The density and responsiveness to the site was very well done.

Townhomes at the base of the development was a smart way to incorporate the larger units and the tower next to the highway is a smart way to deal with shading issues.â&#x20AC;?

Density of Neighborhood: 17,280/mi2 FAR: 2.0

Density of City: 8,637/mi2 FAR: 2.0

Density of Neighborhood: 14,350/mi2 FAR: 1.0

& $ +

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Density of City: 18,147/mi2 FAR: 1.0 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Units work well, overall decisions were well thought out and had a rationale and supporting details.

Could really visualize how this space would be used.â&#x20AC;?

Density of Neighborhood: 9,913/mi2 FAR:1.0

Density of Neighborhood: 20,786/mi2 FAR: NA

Density of City: 1,872/mi2 FAR: NA

Chinatown-Boston, MA

Somerville, MA

54

Existing Context

Lowell, MA

Brookline, MA

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Creative approach to reuse of a mill building, proposing to create a large central atrium. The proposal understanding the context and explaining why commercial uses were not appropriate.â&#x20AC;?

South Boston-Boston, MA

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thoughtful of the site and industry around it. Liked that it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have many units. Microunits support family housing by not pushing young professionals to family housing. Did a lot with a tiny infill siteâ&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The proposal thoughtfully and boldly made the case for increasing density, a major challenge in Brookline.â&#x20AC;?

Lawrence, MA

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Very appropriate for the neighborhood. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Humble in its own way.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Urban infill isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always the sexiest type of development, but they did a good job dealing with local scale without trying to be faux-historic.â&#x20AC;?

Dorchester-Boston, MA

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Did a great job incorporating resident services, the neighborhood context and site issues, and who would be living there. Overall the design seemed very livable.â&#x20AC;?

Holyoke, MA

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Includes mix of commercial and retail with residential design echoes other new projects in Holyoke. Good discussion about aging in place.â&#x20AC;?

Parking & the City

Street Parking Free

10 Units

# $ ! &+#

Surface Parking $3,000 - $5,000 per space

Structure Parking $15,000 - $18,000 per space

Below Grade Parking $30,000 - $50,000 per space

Architects, urban planners, and policymakers have recently begun to reconsider the role of parking in affordable housing projects.

While the Mayorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office of New Urban Mechanics has overseen the innovative reuse of parking spots across Boston, recent housing proposals, including the eight presented here, are playing with the kinds and number of parking spots offered. These creative adaptations show that fewer parking spots allow for more housing units at a decreased cost, making them even more affordable. Of course, the role of parking varies from project to project. Urban environments may require less parking density due to their connectedness to public transit, whereas suburban projects may call for higher parking counts.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sixty-three percent of municipalities in the MAPC region and 13 of 16 zoning districts in the City of Boston have residential parking requirements that exceed the average vehicle [source: Metropolitan Area Planning Council] ownership per household.â&#x20AC;?

10 Spaces

#$" &

'! & # $ ! "'!&

"$% 24 Units / 0 Spaces 0 Spaces per Unit

.5 Spaces per Unit Urban Core

"& "$! $ 24 Units / 9-11 Spaces .56-.69 Spaces per Unit

( ) !'& 164 Units / 94 Spaces .57 Spaces per Unit

* !

220 Units / 130 Spaces .59 Spaces per Unit

+ ! $ !% 140 Units / 105 Spaces .75 Spaces per Unit

1.0 Spaces per Unit Satellite Neighborhood

& $ + 42 Units / 57 Spaces 1.32 Spaces per Unit

% ) ! & 53 Units / 67 Spaces 1.26 Spaces per Unit

1.5 Spaces per Unit Suburban Town

( ( 33 Units / 59 Spaces 1.78 Spaces per Unit

55

context & community Community First Design

Successful housing projects of any kind require that inhabitants are engaged with their living environment, not only in basic upkeep and maintenance, but also contribute to a vibrant social life. This is achieved when the community is involved in the development process, from preliminary design discussions to the project’s life after construction.

This long-term involvement in the development process allows the community to keep alive their neighborhood identity and tradition. Furthermore, community involvement counters the intrusion of gentrification by empowering the neighborhood to shape and set the terms of new development affecting their extended place of living.

New models of affordable housing shift the architect’s role from fountainhead to mediator among different visions from the community, challenging the architect to adjust design to realize shared goals.

These housing projects include the interests of their respective communities in different ways. Some establish informal and formal channels for input from community members from the outset of the design process. Some physically engage the surrounding groups to be part of the buildings’ occupants. In the case of adaptive reuse, these projects also revamp abandoned buildings and sites, transforming them into places that give back to the community.

environmental sensitivity PLATINUM

GOLD

PLATINUM

PLATINUM

GOLD

SILVER

CERTIFIED

CERITFIED

110 PTS

110 PTS

110 PTS

110 PTS

110 PTS

110 PTS

81 PTS

80 PTS

147 PTS 136 PTS GREENSCAPE

NATURAL VENTILATION

WATER USAGE REDUCTION

RAINWATER COLLECTION

101 PTS

DAYLIGHTING

PUBLIC TRANSIT

ENERGY REDUCTION

87 PTS

RECYCLED MATERIALS

Sustainability

As a low-lying coastal zone, Boston will face challenges from rising sea levels in the near future.

According to the international scientific community, we are in the midst of a critical period for our environmental future; our window for taking action to mitigate global climate change is rapidly closing. Thus, affordable housing projects, especially ones in flood-prone areas like Boston, must be designed with greater environmental sensitivity.

56

43 PTS

VILLAGE AT WALNUT

46 PTS

CORSA

51 PTS

LYMAN GARDENS

SHAWKINT MILL

XIN-50

THE EDGERLY

DOT CORNER

ALMAVIVA

While strategies for sustainable design generally elevate upfront costs, they pay for themselves in the long-term and contribute to a project’s life-cycle affordability. Meanwhile, public funding and tax incentives encourage the incorporation of sustainable strategies in design, construction, and maintenance of these projects.

64 PTS

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Village at Walnut: Steps to Success, Local Residents, Brookline Council on Aging, Brookline Planning Department

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Xin-50: Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Coalition, Chinatown Residents Association, Chinatown Neighborhood Council, Chinese Progressive Association

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Corsa: Local and Potential Residents in South Boston

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DOT Corner: Kit Clarke Sr Services, Dorchester House, Fields Corner Main Street, Viet-AID, Buddhist Culture Center, Department of Neighborhood Development, Boston City Council, Boston Public Library, Fields Corner Residents, Local Business Owners

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Shawknit Mill: Local Residents, Lower Highlands Neighborhood Association, Cupples Square Business Association, Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association, House of Hope, Lowell Boys & Girls club, United Teen Equality Center, Elected Officials, City Administration, Local Experts

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Lyman Gardens: Boys and Girls Club, Girl Scouts of Western Massachusetts, Girls Inc., Greater Holyoke YMCA, Holyoke Food and Fitness, Homework House, Inc., Nuestras Raices, Head Start, Nueva Esperanza, RFP Children’s Action Corp., Salvation Army, Square One, Care Center, Chamber Centennial Foundation, Community Education Project, Head Start, Holyoke Create Arts, Holyoke Community College

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Alma Viva: City of Lawrence, Bread and Roses, Community Day Learning, Family Services Inc, Greater Lawrence Community Action Council, Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, Groundwork Lawrence, Lawrence Community Works, Lawrence General Hospital, Lawrence Methuen Community Coalition, Lawrence Public Schools, Mayor’s Health Task Force, Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce, Merrimack Valley YMCA, Northern Essex Community College, Valleyworks Career Center

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GE A LL VI

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Studio - $470 1 Bedroom - $499

16

$91,463,070

Studio - $1,010 1 Bedroom - $1,126 2 Bedroom - $1,402 3 Bedroom - $1,746

9

18

14

1 Bedroom - $506 2 Bedroom - $609 3 Bedroom - $703 4 Bedroom - $785

9

1

30 %

8

19

AM I

1 Bedroom - $338 2 Bedroom - $406 3 Bedroom - $469 4 Bedroom - $523

CT IO

$1,074,757

3.64%

of construction cost

$29,456,962

12 sources

REVENUE

COST

1 Bedroom - $161 2 Bedroom - $203 3 Bedroom - $234 4 Bedroom - $262

$

$

MARKET RATE

32

1 Bedroom - $1,368

fle L xib imi g le a ted o or ws f sin r nd afforno AMI cap alloate hou dable market r

R E NT

9

20 %

Studio - $452 1 Bedroom - $517 2 Bedroom - $517 3 Bedroom - $614

10

Lim fo ite rm

o ve e

re flex allowsible co for ns hig tru he ct rr i

46

1 Bedroom - $1,013 2 Bedroom - $1,218 3 Bedroom - $1,406 4 Bedroom - $1,570

14

22

12

AMI 22

Annual Gross Income

1 Bedroom - $1,241 2 Bedroom - $1,499 3 Bedroom - $1,786 4 Bedroom - $1,919

Nn bunue

STRU COMN o

6 6

Construction Cost

3

PB V

MI

12

ST d r o

7

9

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6.23%

of construction cost

INtG e money f sta nding NeD s o line fu FUsouercstream

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$5,699,052

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2 Bedroom - $614 3 Bedroom - $724

Typical affordable housing process

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2 Bedroom - $896 3 Bedroom - $967 / $1,034

1

4

Annual Gross Income

m

REVENUE

COST

$$ $$ $ $

MARKET RATE

AMI

1.21%

of construction cost

ic wh

60 % AM I

Construction Cost

5

4

2 Bedroom - $1,297 3 Bedroom - $1,549

$193,947

Mu lt to iple f un so d u a

N o Op on acintain

CONSTR U Reduced inco budget for me p C dev lac T elo es I pe c

Annual Gross Income

28

7

ST on CnO u c ti str profit

a

30

28 sources

2 Bedroom - $1,095 3 Bedroom - $1,182 / $1,264

4

19

% 50

$40,903,094

n

AM

3.34%

of construction cost

r

%

BV IP

$1,358,712

$15,940,618

13 sources

h Ea c lim h f it s u n d er the ing cap lop pot source has its own AMI deve entia e l rent income to th

R E NT

Alternative affordable housing process

58

INonG ey are required ng project em ND tat housi FcUes offfosrdable

Construction Cost

I

0% AM 30

14

40

PBV

26

AMI

Annual Gross Income

Studio - $799 1 Bedroom - $852 2 Bedroom - $1,016 3 Bedroom - $1,172

Construction Cost

3 6

%A 60

1 Bedroom - $1,022 2 Bedroom - $1,233 3 Bedroom - $1,421

I AM

VILLAGE AT WALNUT

Studio - $1,911 1 Bedroom - $2,661 2 Bedroom - $3,335 3 Bedroom - $4,251

0%

LYMAN GARDENS

46

59

SHAWKNIT MILL

3

6

35

25

50

6

MARKET RA TE

XIN-50

%

AM

PBV AMI 0% 4 4 4

I3

1 Bedroom - $1,034 2 Bedroom - $1,240

2

2 Bedroom - $1,344 3 Bedroom - $1,613

AM I

3

1 Bedroom - $517 1 Bedroom - $1,149

3

2.43%

of construction cost

$13,484,110

* AMI: Area Median Income, the dollar amount at which half the population earns less and half earns more. * PBV: Project Based Voucher, program of Department of Housing and Urban Development.

15 sources

Studio - $1,035 2 Bedroom - $1,444

Annual Gross Income

60

Construction Cost

7

3

$287,635

2.15%

of construction cost

$13,360,500

9 sources

%

I AM

2 Bedroom - $958 3 Bedroom - $1,107 4 Bedroom - $1,235

Annual Gross Income Construction Cost

2

50% AMI

13

30%AMI

10

1 Bedroom - $479 2 Bedroom - $575 3 Bedroom - $664

2

ALMAVIVA

These eight projects pursue a range of financing strategies, collecting funding from many sources. Of all the projects, Corsa has only has six funding sources, the fewest of all. The number of sources for the seven other projects averages fifteen each.

Each source comes with its own particular requirements regarding density, sustainability, and rental pricing, capped by AMI. As a result, while securing more funding sources may provide a greater amount of financial support, it will also constrain the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design flexibility and target demographic, thus potentially decreasing returns on investment. Corsa pursues fewer funding sources and thus gains higher returns on investment, creating a more sustainable development cycle centered on affordable housing. Remaining attentive to the drawbacks and advantages of these two development models is key for any project.

1 Bedroom - $1,063 2 Bedroom - $1,275 3 Bedroom - $1,475 4 Bedroom - $1,644

5

5

$328,128

Finance & Feasibility

3

30

PBV

19

THE EDGERLY

5 I AM

Construction Cost

2

I AM

0%

AM I

%

Annual Gross Income

1

2 Bedroom - $1,344

60 %

PHV 30%

1

12

DOT CORNER

v pB

Lessons Learned

There is no universal model for successful affordable housing. Rather, a multitude of strategies must be deployed with respect to affordable housing projects. These eight projects highlight the importance of these strategies, including community involvement, environmental sustainability, contextual design, and creative financing solutions through unit size, policy, and grass-root community organizing. Beyond Boston, similar projects already constructed across the U.S. and the world point to additional strategies that are innovative in construction methods and aesthetics of affordable housing.

In addition to these strategies, compact living could also contribute to an increase in the quantity of affordable housing in Boston. Although this model might not decrease the cost-per-square-foot, it does lower the overall rent, promote a more sustainable lifestyle, and encourage sharing more amenities with other urban dwellers. WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S IN urges the city to consider loosening zoning requirements of the compact living model, so that Boston might have a more substantive and long-term impact on the overall affordable housing supply. The need for affordable housing in Boston is not confined to zoned districts; we must break new ground in order that old ground might serve us better.

$351,690

2.98%

of construction cost

$11,773,300

SUSTAINABILITY

13 sources

Via Verde

4

1

Dattner Architects, Grimshaw architects Bronx, NY

RKET RATE MA

Studio

- $1,000

Annual Gross Income Construction Cost

CORSA

24

$298,886

8.66%

of construction cost

$3,448,112

Via Verde in the Bronx packs a punch with a bundle of sustainable technologies, including a buildingintegrated photovoltaic system, onsite cogeneration, green roof, community gardens, rainwater harvesting, and droughttolerant vegetation.

ACCESSIBILITY Fillmore Park

David Baker + Partners Architects San Francisco, CA Located within walking distance of the bustling Fillmore District, an entertainment and transportation hub, Fillmore Park strengthens affordability by capitalizing on the areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s density.

MATERIAL INNOVATION

COMPACT LIVING

Z53 Social Housing

WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S IN microunit studies

0$3 0; b*UXSR 1RGXV Azcapotzalco, MĂŠxico Faithfully employing traditional construction techniques, Z53 Social Housing by MAP/MX and Grupo Nodus in Azcapotzalco, Mexico generates new spatial possibilities for affordable housing. Masonry brick walls carry the structural load,

ADD Inc. Boston, MA

The research group started out by searching affordable urban living solutions for young professionals. They soon realized that microunits not only yield cheaper overall rent, but also promote a more sustainable lifestyle. This new housing model not only suits recent grads, but also everyone else who desire to living in the city, where there are an abundance of urban amenities.

MODULAR CONSTRUCTION The Stack

GLUCK+ New York City, NY GLUCK+ used modular construction to complete the Stack in New York City in half the time of traditional on-site construction.

6 sources

59

60

ABX 2014 PIPELINE

Pipeline, the 2014 exhibit to showcase the research in affordable housing development, was built upon a sculptural shape that resembles the experience surĂ&#x20AC;ng under a wave. The exhibit was made with repetitive bays of plastic water pipes bent to various curvatures by colorful strings. The structure became an enclosure for the exhibit content as well as the ABX conference attendees. Its undulating shape attracted people towards it and to explore the research content within. The shape of Pipeline was generated using parametric design tools which output the exact length of both the strings and the water pipes, in order to create the desired forms.

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2015

DESIGNING FOR SMARTER URBAN LIVING

2

COULD SMALL LIVING BE A STRATEGY FOR AFFORDABILITY?

1

HOW TO ADDRESS GROWING HOUSING DEMANDS BY 2030?

HOW DO WE MAKE AFFORDABLE SMALL LIVING HAPPEN?

ENTER

CAN TECHNOLOGY MAKE SMALL SPACES FEEL LARGER?

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3

4

DESIGN FOR SMARTER URBAN LIVING

In 2012, WHAT’S IN started with a mission for affordable urban living and a myriad of solutions were explored along the way.

Cost per square foot too high? Design livable small footprints for less monthly rent. Too expensive to build downtown? Investigate city-owned parcels outside of the city core. Too many variables in the development process? Focus on things that really matter: engage the existing community, provide parking solution suitable for type of project, plan for affordable sustainable strategies early in the game.

A lot of ground had been covered with the research, but what was missing at this point was in-depth investigations into design. To build on the research from previous years, we were ready to Ànd more unit conÀgurations than the one prototype suitable for young professionals living alone. We were also ready to explore technological solutions that tackled what conventional design could not solve. Moreover, we were ready to hear more feedback from the market on which types smart apartment was preferred? Finally, we were ready to advocate for density, and expose people to the endless potentials of small urban living.

67 #

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CROWD-SOURCED PROTOTYPES

Conventional wisdom believes a few genius architects comes up with all the good ideas that forms our city skylines. But in fact, architecture as a subject matter is much more than one expert’s effort. This is especially true when trying to solve a socially relevant problem. Designing in a vacuum without input from the end-users might generate the most aesthetically pleasing apartment, but it probably is not going to be representative of market needs, or the most innovative. For a topic that’s as personal as housing, solutions should be generated from a crowd-sourcing design process.

One of the Àrst crowd-sourced event WHAT’S IN hosted in 2015 was called “design your own 300 square foot apartment.” We invited design professionals of all ages and backgrounds to diagram out how they would want to live in a small footprint. People had very different opinions on whether beds should be lofted, or private outdoor space should be prioritized over usable areas on the interior. Some proposed provocative ideas including having closet-like rooms for toilets and showers to save space, and having a glassy garage door as the exterior wall, for more daylighting and more open air access.

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“The CityHome was a 200 sq. ft. concept apartment built at the MIT Media Lab in April 2014. The CityHome’s main purpose was to test out our theory that: “Robotics can make space act like if it was two or three times bigger” So we decided to face the challenge of the priced out young professionals being either kicked out of the city centers or pushed to live in tiny conventional micro-units. We chose 200 sq ft as a worst case scenario, as it is far below the standard for micro units nowadays (around 300 sq. ft.). The question was: can we make 200 sf not only livable, but also desirable?”

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- Hasier Larrea

WHO LET THE ROBOTS OUT?

image credit: MIT Media Lab CityHome Group

Some of the most innovative ideas in architecture were enabled by technology. Living in small quarters might just stay beneÀt from a few tricks from something called “Robotic architecture”. Developed by a group of researchers from the MIT Media Lab, Robotic Architecture embeds inexpensive motor parts, typically found in garage door mechanisms, with furnitures and walls to transform a living room into a bedroom or dining room. When the MIT team was introduced to the WHAT’S IN team, the designers saw endless potential of this technology in making small spaces work not only for individuals, but roommates and families as well.

The two teams started a series of knowledge exchanges, including witnessing the robotics transforming spaces in person. We also had brainstorm sessions to explore various design schemes using this technology, one of which is a 450 sf room accommodating parents with two small children. This design includes a recessed play area that can be decked over for a dining space without the parents having to pick up all the toys, among many other movable space-saving feature.

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500 SF

1

74

YOUNG FAMILY

Here is a small apartment for family with kids. The Àrst scenario shows a “playing court” sunken into the Áoor, that can be enclosed to create open Áoor above without cleaning up the toys below.

2

The second scenario shows a sleeping arrangement: a series of sliding panels separating the parents sleeping area from the children’s pull-out bed.

3

The third scenario is for family dinners, where the beds are concealed, and the “playing court is covered”

450 SF

1

ROOMMATES

Here is a design for a two-bedroom, where the partition between the bedroom and living room can be adjusted. The Ă&#x20AC;rst scenario shows both roommates in their bedrooms, living room is at its smallest area.

2

The second scenario shows one of the two rooms minimized, when one of the roommates wants to increase the living room size by sacriĂ&#x20AC;cing his own private space.

3

The third scenario shows both bedrooms minimized to accommodate a large living room, suitable for a group gathering.

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TAKING DESIGN FOR A TEST-RUN

“Diversity and independence are important because the best collective decisions are the product of disagreement and contest, not consensus or compromise.”

- James Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds After the collective efforts of the crowd, many brand new design ideas for compact urban living emerged. These designs worked in theory, but how would end users respond? To answer this question, WHAT’S IN hosted focus group discussions as well as an online survey. Many debates rose regarding to pros and cons of compact living.

To many, this lifestyle is still unfamiliar. To others, clarity of spatial separation is a priority. The overall trend?

Affordability! People’s ideal price tag for compact living is around $1,000 a month, well below the average cost of a studio in Boston urban areas (around $1,600).

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“SURVEY SAYS...”

6 CHEAPER RENT, HUGE AMENITIES, RIGHT IN THE HEART OF THE CITY - WOULD YOU RENT A LARGE, WELL-LIT ROOM AND SHARE A BATHROOM WITH OTHER TENANTS?

We conducted an online survey aimed at renters currently living in micro-units to find out data on how we as designers can create better quality housing options.

(PROFESSIONALLY CLEANED AND LOCKED OF COURSE!) YES, IF THE BATHROOM IS DEDICATED AND SHARED WITH ONLY ONE OTHER TENANT YES, IF THE BATHROOM HAS MULTIPLE SINKS, SHOWERS AND PRIVATE TOILET STALLS (GYM STYLE) NO, I WANT MY OWN BATHROOM

12 COULD YOU LIVE IN 300 SQUARE FEET? “SMALLER SPACE, SMALLER RENT!” YES, LIVING SMALL IS MY LIFESTYLE NO WAY! I NEED MORE ROOM

13 HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY? $2,200 / MONTH — I PREFER LIVING IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THE ACTION WITH A KILLER VIEW $1,800 / MONTH — IT’S EXPENSIVE BUT THE URBAN AMENITY IS WORTH THE BUCK $1,200 / MONTH — I DON’T MIND THE COMMUTE AS LONG AS I GET MY OWN SPACE I CAN AFFORD

1 WHERE IN THE BOSTON AREA DO YOU LIVE? 7 HOW MUCH OF YOUR PAYCHECK GOES TOWARD RENT?

URBAN CORE (I CAN WALK TO COPLEY!) SURROUNDING METRO SUBURBS AND BEYOND

25% ($250 FOR EVERY $1000 YOU MAKE) 50% ($500 FOR EVERY $1000 YOU MAKE) 75% ($750 FOR EVERY $1000 YOU MAKE)

2 DO YOU READILY USE BOSTON’S TRANSIT SYSTEM?

YES NO

8 LIVING WITH A ROOMMATE IN A SMALL SETTING.

ALWAYS SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

[SEE ILLUSTRATED PLAN] YES! A COLLAPSING BEDROOM FOR A MORE SPACIOUS LIVING ROOM MAYBE, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT IN ACTION NO, I LIKE MY WALLS STATIC (NOT MOVING)

3 ROOMATES? (NOT INCLUDING YOUR SPOUSE) YES NO

14 WOULD YOU SACRIFICE SPACE FOR A PRIVATE PATIO?

15 WOULD YOU LOFT YOUR BED FOR MORE SPACE? YES NO

16 IS BOSTON A NEW CITY FOR YOU?

9 WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT?

YES NO

(IN GENERAL, WHEN CHOOSING AN APARTMENT) AFFORDABILITY LOCATION

4 HOW MANY ROOMMATES DO YOU HAVE? (OTHER THAN YOUR SPOUSE/PARTNER) ME + 1 ROOMMATE ME + 2 ME + 3 ME + 4

17 WHAT’S YOUR AGE RANGE? 20-34 35-64 65+ AND LOVING IT

10 CAN YOU WALK TO WORK IN 20 MINUTES OR LESS? YES NO

11 PLEASE CHOOSE:

5 LET ME GUESS, ONE BATHROOM FOR ALL OF YOU?

I OWN A BIKE I OWN A CAR I DON’T HAVE A BIKE OR A CAR

YES NO

WHAT HAVE WE HEARD ? SO FAR...

235 RESULTS

76%

RENTER

3%

24%

AGE 65+

OWNER

235

RESULTS

40%

24%

57%

24%

AGE 35-64

AGE 20-34 HOW OFTEN DOES THE CORE USE TRANSIT?

RENT VS OWN

OWNER

24%

OWNER

OWNER

WHERE ARE THE COMMUTERS?

CAR OWNERSHIP

61% ALWAYS 32% SOMETIMES 7% RARELY

BS

RO UND ING METRO TH

PROMOTE CARSHARE! IMPROVE TRANSIT

CO RE TH

52%

30%

43%

R BU 24%

5%

R SU 46%

HOW DO THE BURBS COMMUTE?

TH

80

RO

SHARING! ES MAT OM

RENTERS WITH ROOMMATES WILL CONTINUE TO SHARE A BATHROOM IF...

34/58

CHEAPER RENT

NSFORMABLE O TRA PT IO

47/58

WHAT DO PEOPLE DESIRE?

GOOD LOCATION

COULD YOU LIVE IN 300SF?

THIS IS SMALL LIVING [300SF]

THIS GROUP CARES MORE ABOUT AFFORDABILITY THAN LOCATION

GREAT AMENITIES

49% 22% 51% 78%

ARE OPEN TO TRANSFORMABLE OPTIONS

NS

AGES 20 - 34 Check out Area 3 for transformable spaces!

$1,200

$1,800

PER MONTH ALTHOUGH SOME ARE WILLING TO PAY A PREMIUM FOR AMENITIES, MOST WOULD RATHER HAVE THEIR OWN PLACE THEY CAN AFFORD, EVEN IT IF IT MEANS THEY HAVE TO COMMUTE A BIT FURTHER.

DESIGN FEEDBACK

6%

AFFORDABILITY

75 53 26 23

25

MORE POPULAR

ES MAT OM

47%

PAY 25% OF INCOME TO RENT IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOUR CURRENT LIVING SITUATION IS, AFFORDABILITY IS HIGHLY DESIRED ACROSS THE BOARD

7

5

GOOD OVERALL FOR BOTH!

PER MONTH

I PREFER LIVING IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THE ACTION WITH A KILLER VIEW.

43%

RO

YES YES NO NO

0%

YES NO YES NO

51%

5%

LOFT

$2,200

PER MONTH

IT’S EXPENSIVE BUT THE URBAN AMENITY IS WORTH THE EXTRA SPEND.

I DON’T MIND THE COMMUTE AS LONG AS I GET MY OWN SPACE THAT I CAN AFFORD.

%

PATIO

AGES 35 - 65 YOUNGER PEOPLE ARE MORE LIKELY TO ADOPT SMALL LIVING, CLOSE TO HALF! IT’S A GOOD NUMBER.

42% HAVE ROOMMATES

SMALL LIVING NEEDS TO ACCOMODATE...

TO HELP WITH COST

AMENITY SPACE IS IMPORTANT!

NO TO 300 SF? 40/109 SAID OK IF THERE ARE AMENITIES.

26/67 WOULD CONSIDER SMALL LIVING

STILL NOT FOR YOU? HOW ABOUT:

3 8

9 17

LARGE PETS

MOST OF THIS GROUP CARES MORE ABOUT RENT. duh!

ENTERTAINING

23

PRIVACY W/ SPOUSE

35

$1,800 $1,200

WANT 52% ACTUALLY ANSWERED $1,200 RENT? LOCATION OVER COST PRIOR

STORAGE

WHY ARE PEOPLE HESITANT TO MOVE TO THE CITY? FOR THOSE WHO LIVE IN THE BURBS, HERE ARE THE REASONS FOR NOT MOVING TO THE CITY:

http://architecture.about.com/of/building plans/ss/Mid-20th-Century-Cape-Cod-House-Plans.htm

32

COST OF HOUSING

3 32

DISLIKE CITY

PUTTING A PRICE TAG ON THINGS REALLY CHANGES YOUR PERSPECTIVE

FAMILY

81

82 C

Joseph Ferraro Photography

ABX 2015 URBAN LIVING LAB

WHAT’S IN generated a large collection of research in 2015, and to capture it all, the team designed and constructed a new exhibit, the Urban Living Lab. The exhibit structure is composed of 17 bays of L-Shape 2x4 lumber pieces connected on hinges. When each bay is expanded and placed at 3 foot apart, the structure takes shape of a series of truss-like gable pavilions. The display boards, painted on the exterior and laminated with our graphics on the interior, acts as a rigid diaphragm for the structure. Overall, each pavilion is themed with a research topic and is turned open on plan to allow entrance into the interior.

Each of the four pavilions took on a speciÀc topic from WHAT’S IN design research. Pavilion one asked “how to address growing housing demands by year 2030”, revealing the dire shortage of housing stock in Boston and the rapid increase in rental prices. Pavilion two proposed using “small-living” as a model for more affordable urban living, surveying exiting projects and proposing new designs in this relatively new typology. This pavilion also included the studio work from the Roger Williams University students on their designs for a small-urban living project in South Boston. Pavilion three looked for technology solutions to make small living spaces feel larger, showcasing the Architecture Robotics project from MIT Media Lab, and the Multi-wall product that could be customized with a variety of purposes. Pavilion four investigated solutions to building more small-living for affordable workforce housing in Boston, including policy changes proposed by the Mayor’s Housing Innovation Lab, prefab and modular construction methods comparisons, as well as a discussion on the appropriate scale and structural system for this new housing typology.

83

84

85 C

Joseph Ferraro Photography

86 C

Joseph Ferraro Photography

87 # C

Joseph Ferraro Photography

88 C

Joseph Ferraro Photography

89 # C

Joseph Ferraro Photography

90

UNIT 1

UNIT 2

UNIT 3

[LIVE/WORK STUDIO]

[STORAGE LOFT]

[MOVABLE WALLS]

325SF

305SF

355SF

Watch while Cassie displays Unit 1, the live/work studio, and then transforms the space from one option to the other.

Watch while Cassie displays Unit 2, the storage loft studio, and then adapt the hidden storage under the bedroom loft space.

Watch while Cassie displays Unit 3, the one-bedroom movable partition unit. The partition alters the size of living and sleeping spaces.

GOING VIRTUAL To show our design pro types generated throughout the year, we compiled them into an interactive media exhibit at the end of the Urban Living Lab, the images are render red into similar proportion of the exhibit structure, thus creating an immersive viewing experience. Five different compact living arrangements are included. Variations to each arrangement can be triggered via a voice command, thanks to the CastleHub Home Automation system.

UNIT 4

UNIT 5

[INDOOR/OUTDOOR]

[STORAGE DIVIDER]

350SF

345SF

Watch while Cassie displays Unit 4, the indoor/outdoor single studio.

Charlie will show open patio and closed patio options.

Watch while Cassie displays Unit 5,the single studio with a divider.

Watch the space adapt while the divider moves from in place to a hidden position.

91

92

93

2016

MEANINGFUL SOCIAL SPACES

96

MEANINGFUL SOCIAL SPACES

In the past exhibits, WHAT’S IN demonstrated how a well-designed 300 square foot apartment can be very livable through a full-scale mockup; we also investigated transit-oriented neighborhoods in Boston, and revealed their high potential for future compact living developments. The most recent exhibit, called “Urban Living Lab”, showcased new technoloies in robotic architecture and mobile apps to aid living in a small space. “Urban Living Lab” also made the case for compact living as a viable solution to affordable urban housing.

In order to balance the overal experience in a compact living setting, more design thoughts need to be given to shared social spaces. As housing demand in cities like Boston increase in future years, more high-density development will take place. As these projects rapidly take shape in our city skylines, we have to consider a few things, 1) the ability of our designs to truly create a sense of place, and contribute to positive shared living experiences 2) the affordability and feasibility of these shared spaces for our typical urban dwellers. 3) the progaming of these shared spaces to build stronger communities overtime.

This year, we took cues from sociologial theories and historical examples, and examined many successful open spaces in non-housing settings. We then studies many highly-regarded housing projects and how they succeeded at building a strong living communities. We hope to start a dialog among all who desire affordable urban living, and influence other designers, developers and policy makers to create more Meaningul Social Spaces in this emerging Urban Living Environment 97

as a Result of Smart Place Making

STRONG COMMUNITIES

Hi,

I am Natalia, I am interested in understanding the role of public spaces in shaping a sense of community, and as a contributor to oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment to a neighborhood. A better understanding of Psychological and sociological theories behind successful community building and public space design will help us identify the key factors of how certain shared living spaces design function better than others.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

THAT CREATE A SENSE OF COMMUNITY McMillan & Chavisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1986 theor y

WHO IS IT FOR? As a first step in the design process, this section provides an understanding of what defines a community, focusing on the experiences rather than its structure.

Membership: A spirit of belonging together

98

^

Which factors below do you think will be the most effective for social spaces design and operation in urban housing?

Influence: A structure that can be trusted

Integration & fulfillment of needs: A mutual benefit from being together

Shared emotional connection: Shared experiences preserved as art

^

THE POWER OF 10

WHAT TO CONSIDER?

IN PLACEMAKING

H Hi! We are Sabrina, and Susan, Steven Boston’s Third Space Lab! A collaboration between Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, the Third Lab focuses th on investigating and experimenting prototypes to experi understand and strengthen the network of spaces our residents and visitors interact, find solace, exchange, create, access goods and services, etc. Third Spaces function as a core leg between housing and work to the stool of a complete urban life. As the City continues to grow, we must focus on the function and services of each third space as well as the network of third spaces as they operate together to serve everyone across every season.

According to the Project for Public Spaces, “The

Project for Public Spaces

Power of 10” consists of Activating a place, a city or a region by providing 10 or more reasons for users to be there and interact with others.

SEATING

ART

MUSIC

PEOPLE

WATER

PLAY

LEARN

FOOD

NATURE

SHOPPING

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

HOW TO DESIGN?

FOR CREATING GREAT COMMUNITIES

Principles for creating communities around shared spaces and strengthening the

William Whyte - Project for Public Spaces

connection between patrons.

SOCIETAL PRINCIPLES

1

PHYSICAL PRINCIPLES

Community is the Expert:

Form Supports Function:

Have a Vision: Driven by each individual

A sense of community ownership can be generated by identifying and understanding the talents and assets within the community

Form is derived from community input, experimentation, understanding of other spaces, and overcoming obstacles

community, it should instill a sense of pride in the people who live and work in the area

4

Create a Place Not a Design:

Triangulate: External stimulus are implemented to provide a linkage between people and to prompt interaction among strangers

2

& 3

TACTICAL PRINCIPLES

5

Start With Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper: Experiment with short term

8

improvements that can be tested and refined over many years

Money is Not the Issue: Implement You Can See a Lot by Just Observing: Learning from case

Look for Partners: That are invaluable in providing support; such as local institutions, museums, schools, etc.

Incorporate elements that would make people welcomed and comfortable

7

9

low-cost strategies that represent a larger value to the community

studies’ successes and failures

You Are Never Finished: Be open and

6

resilient to the need for change

10 99

Which elements

should

Started as an expansion place holder for the BCEC, the Lawn on D was only supposed to exist for 18 months. Proving wildly popular however, the park has become a staple of the Seaport and the growing neighborhood RI WKH DUHD 6WUXJJOLQJ ÀQDQFLDOO\ DIWHU two years however, the park was faced with a serious question of how to continue operating. Financial partners can be an important factor for public space, Citizens was brought on as the corporate sponsor of the park and provided additional funding and support for the park to continue operating and providing the city with what has become a loved feature of the seaport.

be

considered when designing a public social space?

Which ones are application to housing design

Location: Boston, MA Opened: 1960’s/June 8 - Oct. Size: 5,000 sf

Location: Boston, MA

Program: Extaordinary Playscapes; Play Cubes

Opened: 2014

&

Chris

and I am interested in what makes a good public social space and

Size: 2.7 acres

Operator: Rose Kennedy Greenway

Program: Open Platform for art, music, and any entertainment

Sponsor: Design Museum Boston

Operator: Massachusetts Convention Center Authority

ÀQGLQJ H[DPSOHV DQG LGHDV WKDW

CHINATOWN PARK

Sponsor: Citizens Financial Group

could be utilized in current and future projects.

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n osto mB seu Mu

LAWN ON D n sto Bo by oto ph

be Glo

“Can offering wine and beer support, rather than undermine, a cultural experience for responsible adults? Amid a global competition for talent, will young adults gravitate to cities with a pleasant, varied lifestyle? Can a vacant lot become a catalyst for a neighborhood, or even the city as a whole?”

–Dante Ramos “At South Boston’s Lawn on D, A peek into parks’ future” Boston Globe, July 01, 2015

ph oto by Mi kyo ung Kim Des ign

in Public Social Spaces

Hi, I’m

^

SUCCESSFUL PLACEMAKING

Designed at the end of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, Chinatown Park draws its design and inspiration from the local neighborhood and culture of Boston’s Chinatown. The park however is often underutilized and is treated as a walkthrough space rather than a place to come and stay. This changed however when the Design Museum Boston, as part of its Extraordinary Playscapes exhibit, placed the Play Cubes within the barren space. These cubes enlivened the whole area by allowing kids and families a place to go and enjoy.

Though the exhibit ended earlier this year, there have been discussions from locals about wanting the cubes to stay or how to work with the space again to being this excitement back.

100

LEVINSON PLAZA This plaza just south of the Longwood Medical Area has been designed to provide a safe and convenient place for multitudes of activities.

Designed to replace the elevation changes of the previous plaza, this space now opens to the street and train stop, and becomes a completely accessible place to be. The planting also takes into account safety, separated but private feeling occurs in this space with the spacing of the trees allowing for visibility between. The design allows for a multitude of activities, from sitting in some shade or tanning on the grass on a hot summer day to hosting festivals and activities in the open space, there is always something happening.

PALEY PARK Paley Park is another Privately Owned Public Space (POPS) in Manhattan. This park features ivy covered walls and movable furniture that is tucked away off of the street to provide a small oasis in the dense urban fabric. One of the main features of this plaza is a water wall in the back that helps to create a steady background of white noise to offset the noisy street. Features like the entrance of greenery and noise as well as use of quality materials really makes this small park a loved and popular hangout spot within the city.

Location: Boston, MA Opened: 2008

590 MADISON

Location: Manhattan, NY Opened: May 23, 1967

This glass enclosed public space in Midtown Manhattan is Ă&#x20AC;OOHG ZLWK WUHHV PRYDEOH IXUQLWXUH DQG D URWDWLQJ JDOOHU\ DQG is a generally well regarded privately owned public space.

This space has been so well regarded that when a proposal to remove some of the bamboo trees and movable furniture came about in the early 90â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, the City Planning Commission and the community were concerned and entered into discussions with WKH RZQHU 7KH Ă&#x20AC;QDO UHVXOW HQGHG LQ WKH UHPRYDO RI OHVV WUHHV and furniture, and in place a rotating art gallery began. Now the space is still used and loved just as before, but has also become an art destination for the residents of the city.

Size: 4,200 sq ft Program: Urban Plaza, Privately owned public space Operator: Zion & Breen Sponsor: The Cultural Landscape Foundation

Size: 30,000 sq ft Program: Urban Grove, Central Gathering Place Operator: Roxbury Tenants of Harvard

Location: Manhattan, NY

&

Opened: 1983 Size: 2.7 acres Program: Urban Plaza/ Arcade Gallery Operator: Minskoff Sponsor: Newseum

101

I am Adam. I studied the history of housing architecture around the globe. I wanted to find out if there are common thread among cultures, which value multigenerational and communal experiences, in the way they design their living quarters. All the historical examples below not only functioned for daily living, but also created a visual/spatial foc

models around the world?

Shared Living Spaces Around the World

HISTORY OF

Hi,

historical communal living Could any of them be modified to adapt to modern day urban housing?

1000 BC - PRESENT

SI-HE-YUAN HOUSE The Siheyuan is the traditional, local-style dwelling of northern urban China. While the size of Siheyuans varies, the roof is built with the axis as the center. The family residence is situated in the north of the compound and faces south. The outer yard is horizontal and long with a main door that opens to the southeast corner, maintaining the privacy of the residence.

The principal room in the north is the largest, intended for family ceremonies and receiving distinguished guests. Both sides of the main yard have a wing room that served as a living room for younger generations. The houses social spaces are orientated around the central courtyard, making the courtyard an extension of the living spaces and the host of the families social and cultural activities.

1. Stables/ storage/ Servent Lodging 2. Courtyard 3.Bedrooms 4. Main Hall (Social Spaces) 5. Rear Courtyards 6. Bedrooms for unwed daughters

500 BC - 336 BC

GREEK HOUSE

Most Greek houses were modest in size, with only a few rooms surrounding a yard or walled garden. The side of the house facing the street usually only had one door, which led directly to the courtyard. Bigger KRXVHV KDG GR]HQV RI URRPV DQG PRUH WKDQ RQH Ă RRU 7KHVH rooms included bathing rooms, a dining room and a kitchen. %HGURRPV ZHUH ORFDWHG RQ WKH VHFRQG Ă RRU 2IWHQ PHQ DQG women lived in different parts of the house. Houses during this time were typically made of sun-hardened mud cut into bricks. Small windows were cut into the mud and adorned by plain wooden shutters that were closed during the afternoons to keep the temperatures down. The roofs were generally made of clay tiles.

5 4 3

1 2

102

^

What can we learn from

6

1. Courtyard 2. Storage/Workshop 3. Living Room 4. Bathroom 5. Kitchen 6. Dinning room

6

5 4 2 3

1

31 BC - 476 AD

ROMAN HOUSE The Roman society, like most other ancient societies, was GLYLGHG LQWR YDULRXV VRFLDO FODVVHV WKLV ZDV UHĂ HFWHG LQ WKH VW\OH RI KRXVHV $IĂ XHQW 5RPDQV DV ZHOO DV IUHHGPDQ UHVLGed in larger houses while the poor lived in small quarters or apartments. The Domus house typology, much like the Greek model, was centralized around a courtyard. The Domus housed several social spaces. The Vestibulum, Atrium, and Peristylum all acted as VRFLDO VSDFHV WR KRVW JXHVW )DPLO\ ZDV WKH SULPDU\ VRFLDO XQLW LQ DQcient Rome, thus the Atrium was the core social point for the house; the surrounding rooms such as the dining room. Kitchen and bedrooms faced inward, emphasizing the family structure. These centrally located social spaces may have been derived from the early conFHSW RI D VLQJOH FRPPXQDO VSDFH ZKHUH D Ă&#x20AC;UH EXUQHG WR NHHS SHRSOH warm.

4

5

6 3

1. Vestibulum 2. Atrium 3.Peristlyium 4. Kitchen 5. Living Room/Study 6. Dinning Room

2 1

1100AD - LATE 1600â&#x20AC;&#x2122;S

LONGHOUSE Tribes groups in the northeast of North America had traditions of building longhouses, or Haudenosaunee which means â&#x20AC;&#x153;people of the longhouse.â&#x20AC;? Longer than they were wide, the Iroquois longhouses had openings at both ends that served as doors and were covered with animal skins during the winter to keep out the cold. A typical longhouse was about 80 feet long by 20 feet wide with a height of about 20 feet.

4 3 2

These structures served as a multi-family dwelling, and could be extended as the family grew.

The longhouses were divided into sections for different families, who slept on raised platforms, VHYHUDO RI ZKRP VKDUHG D Ă&#x20AC;UH LQ WKH FHQWUDO DLVOH )RU HDFK WZR IDPLOLHV WKHUH ZRXOG EH D hearth, usually spaced at about 20 foot intervals. Enough room was left to store clothing, baggage, and food. Several longhouses constituted a village, which was usually located near water and surrounded by a palisade of tall walls made from sharpened logs for protection.

1. Entry 2. Main Hall +HDG RI )DPLO\ %HGURRP 4. Storage

1

1952 - PRESENT

UNITE Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; HABITATION

3 2

In 1947, Le Corbusier was commissioned to design a multi-family residential housing project for citizens displaced by the bombing Berlin. Completed in

4

WKH 8QLWH G¡ +DELWDWLRQ ZDV WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW RI D QHZ KRXVLQJ WKDW IRFXVHG RQ FRPPXQDO living; residents would come together in a â&#x20AC;&#x153;vertical garden city.â&#x20AC;? As a result, Le Corbusier designed the building to act as a community.

He allowed inhabitants to have their own private spaces, but also to incorporate communal social spaces. The majority of the communal spaces do not occur within the building; rather they are placed on the roof. The roof hosted a garden terrace, kindergarten, gym, and a shallow pool. Shops, medical facilities, and even a small hotel are also distributed throughout the interior of the building. The units special interlocking DUUDQJHPHQW SURYLGHV DQ HIĂ&#x20AC;FLHQW V\VWHP RI VSHFLDO SURJUDPLQJ $W HDFK HQG RI WKH XQLW there is a balcony protected by a brise-soleil that allows for cross ventilation throughout the unit

1

1. Apartment 2. Lounge 3.Pool, gym, Kindergarden 4. Roof Garden

WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEXT ?

103

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

trending in co-living and

current examples around the globe

CO-LIVING IN ACTION

^

Q:

which development types

Hi, we are Sara & Grace and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re interested in exploring community within affordable living solutions.

noun

1. Shared housing designed to support a purposedriven life.

2. A modern, urban lifestyle that values openness, sharing, and collaboration.

will prove to be long lasting

We found that co-living settings often unite enterprising individuals and

Synonyms: intentional living, intentional community, cohousing, modern nomad.

solutions?

create incubators for innovation.

source: www.coliving.com

photo Š WeLive

photo Š The Collective

photo Š citizenM

WeLive

Old Oak

citizenM hotels

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A new way of livingâ&#x20AC;? & â&#x20AC;&#x153;love your lifeâ&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A new way to live in Londonâ&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;affordable luxury in the heart of the cityâ&#x20AC;?

WeLive offers aptly designed individual living spaces complimented by a range of community-driven commons areas energized by engaging amenities accessible through a mobile app.

Old Oak is the first co-living building of The Collective, a 5 location residential brand in London focusing on high quality studios and well design shared living spaces.

'HVLJQHU :H:RUN WKH ODUJHVW VKDUHG RIĂ&#x20AC;FH FRPPXQLW\ founded in 2008

Designer: PLP/ARCHITECTURE Location: London, UK

The concept of the hotel chain is to cut out all hidden costs and remove all unnecessary items, in order to provide guests with a luxury feel for a budget price. The public area of the ground floor was designed to be a home-environment with several living rooms all decorated in Vitra furniture.

Location: Crystal City, Arlington, VA & New York City, New York Launch Date: Spring 2016 Units Include: living/sleeping areas, kitchen & bathroom Units Available: Studios, 1BR, 2BR & 3+ BRs (200 total rooms) Cost: 1 BR $1,200 Studio $1,640

photo Š Archihood WXY

Launch Date: 2016 Units Include: bedroom, kitchenette, en suite bathroom Units Available: small units, sizes vary (550 total rooms) Cost: ÂŁ220 - ÂŁ270 per week (about $270-$330)

ts phot hitec o Š Nar use Inokuma Arc

Designer: Concrete, a Dutch architecture firm Location: Amsterdam (2), Rotterdam, Glasgow, London (2), New York, Paris Launch Date: 2008 Units Include: luxurious bedding, shower, multilighting options Units Available: single rooms of 150 sf (230 rooms total) Cost: rooms from $79 Euros/night

photo Š Alexis Dornier

Gap House

ShareHouse

Roam

â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is a small gap which arises between WKH KRXVH DQG WKH YLOODJH ,W Ă&#x20AC;OOV ÂśWKH JDS¡ LQ between its peopleâ&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A shared house designed for unrelated strangersâ&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A place to create community.â&#x20AC;?

Archihood WXY focused on a design that created a balance between the common and private spaces, coordinated by the outdoor space which is defined to â&#x20AC;&#x2122;The Gapâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an element which helps bring in nature to the residents and encourages interaction and mingling amongst housemates.

Designer: Archihood WXY Location: Seoul, South Korea Launch Date: 2015 Units Include: bedroom, private balcony, kitchenette, laundry Units Available: Studios (24 total rooms) Cost: area averages $700 - $1200 USD per month

104

Co-liv-ing

ShareHouse is based on principles of communal living and explores to the idea of complete strangers comfortably sharing spaces with one another.

Designer: Naruse Inokuma Architects Location: Nagoya-shi, Aichi, Japan Launch Date: 2013 Units Include: sleeping/sitting area Units Available: 8â&#x20AC;&#x2122; x 10â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Studios (13 identical rooms) Cost: area averages $280 - $765 USD per month

Roam is an experimental co-living and co-working community testing the boundaries between work, travel and life adventure. It is the gathering place for people on all kinds of journeys.

Designer: Alexis Dornier Location: Bali, Miami, Madrid, San Francisco, Tokyo, London, Buenos Aires Launch Date: 2015 Units Include: sitting/sleeping areas, private patio & bathroom Units Available: studios (24 total rooms) Cost: starting at $500 USD per week

✳

✳ ✳ ✳

✳ ✳ ✳ ✳ ✳ ✳ ✳ ✳

✳

✳

shared bathroom

shared bathroom

storage storage

rooftop terrace/balconies rooftop terrace / balconies restaurant/bar restaurant/bar yogastudio studio yoga

coworking co-workingrooms

✳ ✳

largeevent eventarea area large

laundry laundryroom laundry laundryservice service concierge concierge parking parking communityevents community

✳

✳ ✳ ✳ ✳ ✳ ✳

✳ ✳ ✳ ✳ ✳

✳

✳ ✳ ✳ ✳ ✳

Roam

✳ ✳

ShareHouse

citizenM

✳ ✳ ✳

Gap House

Old Oak

✳ ✳ ✳

✳ ✳ ✳ ✳ ✳ ✳ ✳ ✳ ✳

How do the amenities stack up?

living room sharedkitchen/dining kitchen /dining shared

WeLive super-fastwiÀ wifi super-fast

shared lounge-living room/ shared lounge

✳ 105

of city homes in Hayes Valley, CA. Designed

by San Francisco’s David Baker Architects, the project combines smaller living units with casual and highly functional social spaces.

Which W recent

AMENITIES: Rooftop Retreat with Panoramic Views, Social Seating, Outdoor Grill, Communal Table, Film Screening Area and Sun Deck.

Lush Private Courtyard, Styled WorkLounge Space, Boutique Sidewalk, Retail Collection, Indoor Bike Parking and Bike Work Station, WiFi in Common Areas, & Secured Entry.

when designing successful social spaces?

Hi,

we are Eric & Alexa, we examined public living spaces in recent residential SURMHFWV ZH ZDQWHG WR ÀQG RXW ZKDW amenity spaces are often provided, and how people experiences these spaces after living there for a while.

With global population growth and an increase in city migration, cities are becoming increasingly more expensive. Resources are strained and lannd to develop becomes PRUH GLIÀFXOW WR ÀQG $GMXVWLQJ expectations and extending our homes beyond four walls is key the future of life in the city.

We also investigated two unique projects and talked to their designers and residents to learn why they have been so well-received.

388 Fulton Photo Credits: David Baker Architecs

Amit Price Patel,

2

AIA, AICP, LEED AP Principal, David Baker Architects

2_JP CO-HOUSING,

A mixedincome, multi-generational, urban cohousing condominium within walking distance to public transportation in Jamaica Plain, MA, The project was developed by WKH UHVLGHQWV WKHPVHOYHV WR ÀW WKHLU H[DFW

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from Recent Urban Housing Designs

projects can we learn from

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LESSONS LEARNED

1_ 388 Fulton is a new collection

1

living needs, and to cut the overall cost.

AMENITIES: Public Kitchen, Communal Dinning Areas, Social Seating, Outdoor Grill, Recreational Spaces, Parking, Storage for Outdoor Equipment, Raised Bed Gardens, On-Site Compost, Laundry Room, Handicap Units, Several Social Events, Clubs & Services; Elderly Care, Day Care, Carpooling.

We gathered many post-occupancy user feedbacks from recent market-rate multi-family housing projects.

We found out that, although overall, people enjoy the well-designed high-end amenities, many also complain that, while paying a premium, the spaces are not operated to their expectations.

Learning from these feedbacks, we think many of the communal elements can be translated to a lessJP Cohousing Photo Credits: JP Cohousing & Aeron Hodges

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of our homes.”

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chitecture, photo by G c Ar re g

Jonas Parker JP-Cohousing resident and Co-Housing developer

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My friends and I like to use the public grills for summer season cookouts

“We’ve lived at JP Cohousing for about 4 years;One of my most rewarding experiences was on our ÀUVW QLJKW LQ FRPPXQLW\ , WRRN D break from unpacking boxes and walked over to the community kitchen around 11pm. Standing around the giant butcher block were 4 or 5 neighbors, chatting and eating birthday cake from a celebration earlier that evening. I felt like it was home. The kitchen is often the place where people gather to share stories and bond, and this experience represents how the community kitchen becomes apart of our homes.”

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some people are not cleaning after their pets again! that’s irresponsible!!

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My favorite place to hangout is the pool deck, it’s nice to dip into the cool water

Why is the pool not open for 24 hours?

Why is so small?

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Shared Lounge area is very beautiful, it’s easy to relax there.

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The shared kitchen is closed for private events again!!

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kitchen around 11pm. Standing around the giant butcher block were 4 or 5 neighbors, chatting and eating birthday cake from a celebration earlier that evening. I felt like it was home. The kitchen is often the place where people gather to share stories and bond, and this experience represents how the community kitchen becomes apart of our homes.”

I am so happy there is a dog wash station and free dog treats!

Basketball court for the win!!

Nice Yoga classes. good selection of gym equipments.

10 1 107 07

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ABX 2016 QUAD

A DESIGN COMPETITION TO CREATE A SOCIAL SPACE

“Quad”, short for “Quadrangle”, is one term for the public square at the center of a college campus. It’s a space to take naps in the grass on a sunny day, throw a Frisbee with friends, or where inspirational lectures are given on a warm spring afternoon. The experience of the quad is one of vibrancy, playfulness, and connectivity. In our increasingly dense urban habitats, city dwellers seek to discover similar environments in the places they live, work, and play.

This year we took a different route and hosted “The Quad Competition”an international call for a social space installation which evoked playfulness and connectivity without sacriÀcing cost or feasibility of construction. This competition was open internationally to design professionals, installation artists, and students. No professional qualiÀcation was required; however, submitters were required to demonstrate experience producing large-format installations.

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CALL FOR ENTRIES

Canada

Belgium

USA

Japan

China

Vietnam Indonesia

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Australia

Kevin Erickson

THE JUDGING PANEL

Principal of KNE Studio, Assoc.

Professor at University Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Program Leadership Council of the Van Alen Institute

Tamara Roy AIA, LEED AP, Principal at Stantec, President of the Boston Society of Architects

Billy Craig Managing Director, Operations, Boston Society of Architects

Aeron Hodges AIA, Co-founder of WHAT’S IN

Jess Garnitz Competition Manager

Ian Carney Architect & Project Manager at Radlab

Georgie Friedman Installation / Media Artist, Faculty of Boston College Fine Arts

Anton Germishuzien

Shauna Gilles-Smith

Senior VP, BL Buildings, Stantec

ASLA, BA, BArch, MAUD, Principal & Founder of Ground Inc

Grace Easton Marketing & PR Lead

Chris Bonarrigo

WHAT’S IN

Innovation Programs Manager

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FINALIST

RUNNER UP Pallet Bench Leonard Yui, Sahoko Yui, Rhode Island, USA

Diamond Dance Nathan Hume, Andy Kim, Abigail Cover, NY, USA

Bench as Landscape: We offer a very large bench to activate public participation. A bench is a universal gathering place, temporary, conjures intimate and semi-private moments, an inviting edge as well as an agreeable border. A bench Ă exes depending on occasion, weather or event.

This project expands the bench to a landscape scale to spur, reĂ ect and share dialog and ideas gathered at the convention. arch!

L.A.W.N. David Emmons, Illinois, USA

HONORABLE MENTION Sonoscape Merge Architects, Boston, USA As a gathering space, just like the town square or the public park, it encourages collective leisure. It invites visitors to tread across its lawn, sit on its edges and perch on its rolling bumps. From the apex it provides a vantage point and a landmark within a large disorienting space.

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Micro-Quad Victoria Michael, Tahlia Woo, Australia

SELECTION OF FINALISTS

Our judging panel selected six entries from around the globe to proceed to the second phase of the Quad Competition based on the following criteria: • • • • • •

Round 1 Judging

Runner Up: Pallet Bench Mock-Up

Conceptual design and spatial quality Program and research content display Site context, connection to convention Áoor Past experience Materials, fabrication and feasibility Utillization of award money Diamond Dance Presentation

Winner Presentation

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FOLDING PAPER PROCESS

MAKING CREASE

FOLD IN HALF

MAKING HOLES BY PUNCHER AND TEMPLATE

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Fabrication process in collaboration with:

FOLD IN HALF AGAIN

BRING RIGHT TIP TO LEFT FOLLOWING THE CREASE

INSERT CARDBOARD TUBE AND FIX BY BAND

COMPETITION WINNER

KIKI ARCHI + KOHJI KAWABATA

DESIGN CONCEPT KiKi ARCHi, a Tokyo-based architecture design Àrm led by Yoshihiko Seki, and their collaborator, Kohji Kawabata, a New York City-based interior designer, was selected as the Ànal winner among 6 Ànalists. The judging panel was impressed by the proposal’s inventive use of a light-weight material, the thoughtful integration of research display, and the spatial quality the design is able to create. it is an elegant solution that’s both sophisticated architecturally, and simple to fabricate.

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2016

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE

TRADITIONAL HOUSING CONSTRUCTION

$

AMENITY NOT SHARED AMONG RESIDENTS

HEARTH HOUSE

$ BELOW GRADE PARKING

STEEL/ CONCRETE, OR WOOD ON PODIUM

SHARED AMENITY, LESS TO BUILD FOR EACH UNIT

PARKING OFF SITE OR ON GRADE

CITY-OWNED SITE

Hearth House reduces construction/ development cost through many innovative approaches.

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Save construction cost by providing shared amenities like laundry, play areas, storage and living rooms. Residents do not have to bear the cost of these spaces individually. This also encourages social interactions among residents.

AFFORDABLE CONSTRUCTION Build wood frame structure, keep it small scale, and avoid “high-rise”.

MINIMIZING SITE WORK WOOD FRAME

SITE ACQUISITION

SHARED RESOURCES

Provide parking on grade or off-site, leverage Zipcar and shared parking with commercial establishments in the neighborhood. Avoid below-grade /above grade garage structure.

DISCOUNTED SITE PRICE Explore under-utilized sites in non-urban core locations, more savings if sold at a discount rate from the city.

ACHIEVING AFFORDABILITY

ME TH O DS TO LOWER C OST

COMPACT UNITS Provide higher density without larger building mass. As WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S IN demonstrated through our design research, well-designed small units are a delight to live in and they are cheaper to rent overall. Small units promote a lifestyle with less carbon footprint. Taking up less space also means more communal spaces for everyone.

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RESEARCH & OUTREACH WHAT’S IN @ 2016 UHU road show.

The WHAT’S IN team designed a series of neighborhood outreach activities with the Housing Innovation Lab and the BSA during the UHU roadshow. We interviewed about 2,000 residents in multiple Boston neighborhoods, including Roxbury. We heard people’s excitement for a more affordable housing approach as well as concerns about gentriÀcation. Many of these conversations inspired our team to create Hearth House, an intergenerational community that sustains and enriches a diverse urban living experience.

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK ON UHU

DISPLACEMENT

SPATIAL QUALITY

We heard a lot of concerned voices on gentriÀcation and displacement, Roxbury has a strong community, and our proposal strives preserve that.

In Roxbury, residents praised the efÀcient use of space and bright open living space of the UHU

PRIORITIES

SHARED SPACES

We developed a board game called “Micropoly”: residents were given WHAT’S IN bank notes based on household sizes, and were asked to spend them on either compact living or traditional house sizes, whatever money remained can be spent on urban amenities like public transit, open spaces, access to grocery, parking and storage.

Many residents asked about open spaces, play areas for children, and access to storage. Many liked the idea of communal living and dining rooms, but were concerned about routine maintenance

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HEARTH HOUSE

The partnership of Corcoran Jennison Associates and WHAT’S IN created its response for the design and development of the parcel at 24 Westminster Avenue as part of the Garrison Trotter Housing Innovation Competition. The design rooted in the longstanding tradition of community living that is the trademark of Roxbury. In the triple decker units that housed the city’s 20th century working-class families, smaller living quarters was a relatively new concept, and resources were shared among the residents. The plan presented herein was designed as a modern-day interpretation of the triple decker, as the city seeks yet again to Ànd the most efÀcient way to house its growing population.

Boston’s households in 2016 are remarkably different from those for which triple deckers were built, and the ways in which society has changed discourages interconnectedness in many ways. The lifestyle promoted by this plan seeks to ameliorate this disconnect by encouraging communal living and social interaction in a variety of ways; unit square footages are kept comfortably compact, with larger “parlor” areas dedicated for socializing and entertaining. A co-working space is included in the ground Áoor program, and due to the rise in popularity of cycling, ride sharing and car sharing services, off-street parking was omitted from the development in favor of a community courtyard, which we call the “hearth”.

The Hearth is a key component for many traditional houses around the world: it is a place for cooking, and it provides heating for the house; it’s also a place where people gather and share their stories. This design embraces this concept and prioritize spaces where communities are formed, and residents can gain a sense of belonging. With 33 units in nine different unit conÀgurations, this plan will attract a diverse set of residents who realize that the value of urban living relies very little on material objects and personal space, and more on the richness of daily interactions.

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HEARTH The hearth is a key component for many traditional houses around the world: it is a place for cooking, and it provides heating for the house; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also a place where people gather and share their stories. We want to embrace this concept and prioritize spaces where communities are formed, and residents can gain a sense of belonging.

In our proposal, the courtyard is the hearth.

BUILDING MASSING

The building is organized into front and back halves, creating a courtyard (the hearth) in the center. The front facade is divided into two shapes with sloped roofs, to reduce the perceived massing on Westminster Ave.

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LAYOUT 1st FLOOR HUB

BRIDGE

On the ground Áoor of the project, you will Ànd the main social space for the entire building.

In addition to accessible and family 3br units, residents will gather at the central living room, cook meals together at the large communal kitchen, store their bikes and bring their children to play. The ground Áoor also has direct access to the front yard, playground, and the hearth courtyard. A co-working space is located at front of the building. The ground Áoor will also be available to the Garrison Trotter neighborhood for community events.

The bridge is the hub of social activities on each Áoor. The programs at the bridge, including laundry, storage, lounge and shared kitchen, is repeated on each Áoor, and are designed to provide additional living spaces for both the family units and the bedroom suites. Residents going to their units will pass by or through the bridge, thus encouraging them to socialize with their neighbors.

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CONCEPT DIAGRAM

The massing of the building supports the â&#x20AC;&#x153;intergeneration householdâ&#x20AC;? concept. The front half of the building has larger family units, and back half is designed for singles (or some couples). The bridge connecting the two parts is a social space including lounges, dining, laundry and storage rooms.

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veranda

Parlor

chamber

living

chamber

chamber

dining

3 BEDROOM 1BR - ACCESSIBLE UNIT WALKWAY

GAS SERVICE

DOMESTIC WATER INTAKE

WALKWAY RESTROOMS ELECTRICAL

TRASH

PLAY AREA

MECH

13' - 0 1/2"

FP LOUNGE

PLAYGROUND AREA BIKE AREA 3BR

1BR - ACCESSIBLE LOBBY / PARLOR

MAIL BOXES ENTRY WAY

ENTRY VEST.

6' - 0"

3' - 6" 1' - 6"

C COMMUNAL DINING

HEARTH FRONT LAWN

CO-WORKING SPACE

STUDIO - ACCESSIBLE STORAGE TEL/DATA

STUDIO - ACCESSIBLE UNIT

CO-WORKING

WORKS LIKE A TRIPLE DECKER The triple decker was built in large numbers to provide work force housing during the population surge in the late 1800s and early 1900s in the New England area. Taking cues from the housing heritage of the triple decker, the ground Áoor layout is analogous to the traditional organization of the porch, parlor living room and dining room, typically found in a triple decker house.

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WALKWAY

GAS SERVICE

DOMESTIC WATER INTAKE

WALKWAY RESTROOMS ELECTRICAL

TRASH

PLAY AREA

MECH

13' - 0 1/2"

FP LOUNGE

PLAYGROUND AREA BIKE AREA 3BR

1BR - ACCESSIBLE LOBBY / PARLOR

MAIL BOXES ENTRY VEST.

ENTRY WAY

6' - 0"

3' - 6" 1' - 6"

COMMUNAL DINING FRONT LAWN

FRONT POR CH

CO-WORKING SPACE

STUDIO - ACCESSIBLE STORAGE TEL/DATA

GROUND FLOOR The triple decker was built in large numbers to provide work force housing during the population surge in the late 1800s and early 1900s in the New England area. Taking cues from the housing heritage of the triple decker, the ground Áoor layout is analogous to the traditional organization of the porch, parlor living room and dining room, typically found in a triple decker house.

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3' - 8"

3' - 8"

5' - 0 1/4"

LOUNGE STUDIO

ELECTRICAL 22' - 1 5/8"

LOUNGE

19' - 2 1/8"

2BR

17' - 9 1/2"

STORAGE LOCKERS

LAUNDRY MECH STUDIO STUDIO STUDIO

STUDIO

1BR

9' - 8 1/2"

JUNIOR 2BR

9' - 8 1/2"

24' - 1 1/8"

30' - 9 1/4"

STUDIO LOUNGE

STUDIO

17' - 9 1/8"

5' - 1"

TYPICAL FLOOR We designed the typical Áoor to include units for inter-generational living. During our community outreach, we heard a strong desire to keep young people and family in the neighborhood, as well as providing housing for the elderly. By generating diversity in unit types, we also encourage diversity in resident demographics.

We have carefully reviewed the DND unit design guidelines, and we believe that, although our unit sizes are smaller than the guideline, our designs follow the general intent of providing high-quality living spaces.

The required percentage of accessible units (2) are provided on the ground Áoor, and no elevator is provided in the building. This will save construction cost signiÀcantly, and it will also exempt the building from the FHA and MAAB requirements to provide larger kitchens and bathrooms in upper Áoor units. Please refer to the full code assessment report included in the Design Submission Documents.

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1 BEDROOM

This 1-bedroom facing the hearth is about 450 sf, and it has all the space necessary for a couple. It has a full kitchen, large living room, a separate space for dining, and two closet spaces.

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2 BEDROOM If the junior 2-bedroom is not large enough for a large family, this 2-bedroom facing the street is a big upgrade. The main living and dining space is south facing, gaining ample natural light. It has a large kitchen, two full bathrooms and three storage closets.

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3 BEDROOM This large 3-bedroom unit on the ground Ă oor provides enough space for a large family. The living and dining space faces south and opens up to the front yard playground area. This unit is easy to access from the main building entrance, and could potentially be a for-sale unit.

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BEDROOM SUITE Although these interlocking units averages at only 325 square feet, they are outÀtted with all the essentials: sleeping alcove to tuck away the bed, separate spaces for dining, living, and storage. Each room is also equipped with a micro kitchen including a sink, an under-counter fridge, a convection microwave oven, and a two-burner cook top. Each unit also gets an additional 4’x4’ storage room just down the hallway.

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ARTIST LOFT In response to Boston Mayor Walshâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s artist housing initiatives, Hearth House has two artist loft units on the 4th Ă oor. Each has the main living space on the lower level, and a workshop space on the upper level facing north with diffused lighting suitable for artwork production.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

SPECIAL THANKS TO

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PAST COLLABORATORS Andrew Lafosse Animish Kudalkar Ben Stracco Bk Boley Blake Goodwin Brain Sawyer Brain Vester Brent Leslie Brett Eksuzian Brien Tal-Baker Carey Walker Chris Neukamm Conner Flisnik Dan Conolly David Linhart Derrick Nickerson Devon Fromm Elaine Hoffman Fred Kramer Holly Arnold Jaspar Hamilton Jess Garnitz Jill Rothenberg Joe Meucci Kate Lux Kimberly Cullen

Laura Reigel Lisa Walden Marcus Hamblin Melanie Digregorio Melissa Miranda Meredith Powell Michael Decoulos Michael Winston Michelle Kim Mika Gilmore Nick Caruso Pasu Charusiri Patricia Smirnoudis Pawel Honc Pilar Botana Quniton Kerns Radu Rus Rebecca Ayerst Ruthie Kuhlman Sara Kurda Stacey Rollins Stratton Coffman Sumath Sok Tamara Roy Teo Boley Zach Pursley Zhen Wu

3 Form Altec Plastics Archimedia Assa Abloy Axomic Bernhardt Design Build Smart Castle Operating Systems Cubiq David Baker Architects Davis Furniture Environments at Work Haworth HBF Funiture Jamacia Plain Co-Housing Kaplan University Kennedy & Violich Construction Kiki Archi + Kohji Kaqabata Live Light Loewenstein Incorporated Massachusetts College of Art and Design Milliken & Company Multiwall Systems Research + Design Lab Roger Williams University See Saw Stone Source Suffolk Construction Wentworth Institute of Technology WSP Flack + Kurtz 149

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FORWARD_THINK_IN A ROADMAP FOR TOMORROW

Many are willing and can afford to pay over $2,000 for a small studio, but the majority can’t, especially if one is trying to raise a family in the city.

The research content that WHAT’S IN created in these four years is a result of a unique blend of experiences from its team, and a new mode of design practice built on a socially relevant cause. In concluding this phase of research, installations, and outreach, we’ve only taken the very Àrst step of a very long journey. Boston alone needs over 53,000 new residential units by 2030, ranging across market rate, workforce housing, and affordable housing, the need for housing is dire not only in America, but across the globe.

We believe that compact living could serve to alleviate this need. It is not only an efÀcient solution, but also one that is environmentally responsible, and enriches the experience of social living. Looking forward, WHAT’S IN will continue to advocate for urban density and inÁuence policy makers to reduce minimum area allowed for units. WHAT’S IN will also continue to inÁuence the design community to think and design responsibility.

Affordability does not have to take on its stigmatized looks of “beige sidings”. Compact living, when design with users in mind, and combined with well-thought-out social spaces, will create new homes for many generations to come.

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ISBN 978-1-365-90090-7

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9 781365 900907