A principal from David Baker + Partners Architects looks at what strategies work—and which ones don't—when it comes to making affordable housing more efficient.
This 60-unit affordable apartment building anchors a LEED-ND Gol…
This 60-unit affordable apartment building anchors a LEED-ND Gold neighborhood bridigng industrial and residential parts of Oakland, Calif.
Brian Rose
This supporting housing with an on-site clinic at Tassafaronga V…
This supporting housing with an on-site clinic at Tassafaronga Village is an adaptive reuse of an abandoned pasta factory. Ninety-three percent of the original building was reused and 94 percent of the construction waste was diverted from landfill.
Brian Rose
In April 2007, Folsom + Dore Supportive Apartments became the fi…
In April 2007, Folsom + Dore Supportive Apartments became the first LEED Silver-certified building in Northern California.
Bruce Damonte
Compact units with low- and no-VOC interiors make for healthy, a…
Compact units with low- and no-VOC interiors make for healthy, affordable units at Richardsoon Apartments.
Brian Rose
Transit-oriented urban infill projects, such as Armstrong Place …
Transit-oriented urban infill projects, such as Armstrong Place Senior and Family Housing, support the principles of sustainable urbanism.
David Baker + Partners
Solar domestic hot water is an effective environmental measure i…
Solar domestic hot water is an effective environmental measure in affordable housing.
Brian Rose
Armstrong Senior and Family Housing has small, efficient units s…
Armstrong Senior and Family Housing has small, efficient units supplemented with shared common spaces and amentities.
Brian Rose
Through a series of complementary strategies, Ironhorse at Centr…
Through a series of complementary strategies, Ironhorse at Central Station, a 99-unit affordable family development in Oakland, Calif., eanred nearly three times the points required for a GreenPoint rating.
Bruce Damonte
Rising on an urban infill site freed by the collapse of a freewa…
Rising on an urban infill site freed by the collapse of a freeway, Richardson Apartments provides studios for formerly homeless residents.
Brian Rose
Curran House, in San Francisco's Tenderloin District, has no par…
Curran House, in San Francisco's Tenderloin District, has no parking, which frees up space and money for additional homes and office space for the nonprofit developer.
Steve Proehl
Armstrong Place Senior and Family Housing fills a former industr…
Armstrong Place Senior and Family Housing fills a former industrial city block with affordable family townhouses and adjacent senior apartments.
What May Not Work
Other sustainable strategies make less sense for the affordable housing developer. Photovoltaic systems, while they do provide clean energy, require such a large initial capital investment that the payback period can be too long for the affordable housing sector. Technologies that require complicated maintenance or operations might also be inappropriate for affordable housing, where resources are at a minimum.
Still, the technology of sustainable solutions is always improving, and over time many previously inappropriate options will become more viable. The challenge then is to change perceptions. We can learn from other building types that have higher budgets and more sophisticated operations staff, watching to see which technologies are widely adopted to find those that have matured enough to be applied in affordable housing. For example, first-generation condensing boilers required far too much maintenance and might have acquired a bad reputation with any developer that tried them, but now they can be a smart choice.
