As affordable housing evolves and challenges emerge, architects are rethinking traditional amenities to foster community, support lifestyles, and balance rising construction costs.
Representatives from three firms discuss the trends they are seeing.
1. Outdoor Spaces
Community gardens and other outdoor spaces have become important features at many affordable housing communities. In place of private balconies, several Hooker DeJong (HDJ) designs are incorporating community roof terraces, which provide shared outdoor venue for social interaction while reducing maintenance costs and management challenges, says HDJ president David Layman.
Outdoor areas have become common at mixed-use developments even in New York, where space is at a premium, adds Peter Bafitis, managing principal at RKTB Architects.
“Of course, outdoor space can be a part of 100% affordable housing developments, too,” he says. “At 700 Manida Street in the Bronx, we designed a residence with 108 affordable units for seniors and families, giving it an L-shaped plan and setting a ground floor community greenspace in the crook of the ‘L,’ large enough to set aside quiet space for seniors apart from where children play.”
2. Laundry Rooms
“One big trend in affordable housing is moving the laundry room out of the basement and into premium common spaces that enjoy natural daylight and views of outside,” says Bafitis. “This is true for other kinds of common spaces and shared amenities, too, as they are considered to be social hubs that foster community rather than mere add-ons or afterthoughts. We are seeing this in both mixed-income residences with market-rate units as well as 100% affordable developments.”
3. Package Lockers
With the rise of e-commerce, residents place high importance on secure and efficient parcel management solutions. As such, HDJ’s plan regularly call for package lockers or dedicated mailrooms, according to Layman.
4. Coworking Space
A space for people to work outside of their apartments remains important as many residents continue to do their jobs remotely.
“These spaces should offer robust Wi-Fi and a variety of seating options, as well as private meeting rooms and spaces for professionals to join virtual meetings, sometimes called ‘Zoom rooms,’” Bafitis says. “The size of these workspace amenities should be appropriate for the size of the residence and number of tenants.”
5. Flexibility and Costs
At a time of high interest rates and construction costs, architects are seeing a heightened focus on flexibility and adaptability of amenities.
“HDJ designs spaces to serve multiple functions such as community rooms that accommodate their traditional uses while also supporting many other functions such as remote work and faith-based assemblies,” Layman says.
Kevin Nivinskus, principal at GLO Architecture, also cites the difficulty of making deals pencil with rising insurance costs and other competing interests. To combat this, affordable housing developers are having to get more creative with structuring their deals while working to provide amenities.
“There are two specific situations where enhanced amenities are becoming necessary,” he says. “First, developers are inheriting market-rate ‘in lieu of’ affordable units, but as a result need to justify equivalent amenities similar to market-rate developments. This comes in the form of exercise areas, community gardens, or a pickleball court.”
A second example where enhanced amenities are being included is in developments where rents are getting closer to market rate, according to Nivinskus.
“This requires more enticement for renters and thus enhanced amenities need to be provided,” he says. “For example, on a larger site, one of our projects is providing a pool, and another project with less room is providing a splash pad.”
