ENVD 3300: Green Neighborhoods Praxis. Instructors: Michael Tavel + David Kahn.

Spring 2014

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Highlands Garden Village

From Difference to Diversity

Mixing Housing Types in a
High Density Neighborhood

Introduction
Historical Precedent
Contemporary Precedent
Design Project Influence

Introduction

For a variety of reasons,
many people of different incomes
generally choose to live apart. This
creates an economically unstable
environment that tends to segregate the concentrated families of
low-income. Difference is what creates a barrier between each neighborhood and makes it uneasy to
generate a healthy community.
Housing should encourage integration with residents of all types to improve social networks, offer opportunities and improve the economy

of a place. Making a dense community a healthier place to live can be

achieved through mixing housing
types within a neighborhood. Mixed
housing types can be defined by
the use of different styles of dwelling units, in a geospacial location,
as well as mixing income through
affordable housing and market-rate
units. There are several successful
historical and contemporary projects that have achieved a healthier
community through mixed housing.
Most of the precedents have features
of New Urbanism ideals, such as promoting walkable neighborhoods in
addition to having a wide range of
housing types in a compact space.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development was
formed in 1965 in order to solve
several urban housing problems
that were rising during that generation. Their mission was and is to:

DIVERSITY IN DENSTIY

Create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and qualify

affordable homes for
all. HUD is working to
strengthen the housing
market to bolster the
economy and protect
consumers; meet the
need for quality affordable rental homes;
utilize housing as a
platform for improving
quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable
communities free from
discrimination, and
transform the way HUD
does business.

New Columbia

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While this inclusive mission
statement should apply to every
housing development, in order
to obtain a healthy and happy
community, it is essential to consider how people will live in their
neighborhoods. Applying mixed
housing types could provide that
opportunity for residents of diverse
backgrounds to communicate and
create a community that cherish
and love the place they live.

HOPE VI program was developed in 1992 as a result of failed
public housing projects. The public
housing projects often isolated and

New Columbia

ENVD 3300: Green Neighborhoods Praxis. Instructors: Michael Tavel + David Kahn. Spring 2014

Historical
Harbor Point

concentrated minorities dependent on welfare, suffering from

high unemployment rates, teenage
pregnancy, single parenthood and
a climate of serious crime. HOPE VI
was meant to revitalize these areas
by incorporating mixed income developments or strategies and New
Urbanism concepts. Those concepts
included: dense, pedestrian friendly, transit accessible and buildings
directly interacting with the street.
This was meant to integrate residents into existing neighborhoods
to produce cohesion. However,
this method resulted in the displacement of families and the new
structures did not match the number of units that were previously
offered in the old housing building.
It was built for a different number
of tenants which meant a net loss of
housing.

ect included a transformation of an

all low income black public housing
into a safe and attractive urban
community. According to the article
by the Bruner Foundation, the
goal was to keep an even spread
of subsidized units throughout the
complex, so that there would be no
physical differences between the
market rate and subsidized buildings.

deliberate effort to
construct and/or own
a multifamily development that has the mixing of income groups
as a fundamental part
of its financial and operational plans. Must, at
a minimum, give poor
children an opportunity
to live close to families
that are not dependent
on welfare and instead
belong to the mainstream working culture.

By mixing housing types
within a community allows for a
mixture of incomes within blocks of
development. By a definition given
by Diane Levy, Zach McDade and
Kassie Dumlao in Effects from Living
in Mixed-Income Communities for
Low-Income Families, A mixed-income development is a

Historical Precedent
Harbor Point
Revitalization

Harbor Point

Although HOPE VI received
several criticisms, there were
positive results that benefited a
community through the revitalization process. Harbor Point, a
development progressed from a
former abandoned Columbia Point
during the early 1980s by a developer named Joe Corcoran and the
architecture firm Goody, Clancy
and Associates. The rehabilitation
project renovated the 1950s public housing area into a 1,283 unit
mixed race, mixed income community with integrated social services.
This development encouraged the
rich and poor to live side by side. A
large accomplishment of this proj-

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Thornton Place

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effective approach is to consider

how the new development will resonate with the current surroundings.
ENVD 3300: Green Neighborhoods Praxis. Instructors: Michael Tavel + David Kahn. Spring 2014

income properties also bring in

opportunities for a variety of businesses.

The New Columbia contemporary development near downtown
Portland uses a similar technique as
discussed by Condon. This housing
project, by Mithun Architects, includes 854 units of mixed housing
types ranging from multifamily rental housing, apartments, townhomes,
affordable housing, single family detached residential and senior
housing. All the different types are
patterned together instead of sectioning them into their own community. With community centers
that provide recreational and educational services, New Columbia
is home to a mix of residents who
represent a variety of cultures,
age groups and income levels.

Patrick M. Condon states in Chapter 6 of Seven Rules for Sustainable

Communities: Design Strategies for
the Post-Carbon World, that a good
model for adding housing diversity
to existing residential districts consists of building new higher density,
low-rise buildings that are compatible with lower density neighborhoods and by learning how to convert existing single family homes
into multiple dwelling structures.
Through this type of model development, architects and planners
were able to understand that residents are not intimidated by density itself but instead are objective
when they can see and feel the
impact of density. Therefore, it is
important to consider the appearance of mixed neighborhoods. An

Another contemporary precedent of dense mixed housing development is the Highlands Garden Village by Calthorpe Associates in local
Denver, Colorado. This former Elitch
Gardens Amusement Park urban infill project consists of 291 homes with
a variety of housing choices: single
family detached homes, townhouses, carriage homes, garden-style
apartments, senior housing and
a co-housing community. Twenty
percent of the apartments and forty percent of the senior housing are
affordably priced. Highlands Garden
Village uses Smart Growth Principles
of compact building design and a
range of housing choices that is designed for a community to interact
without dividing boundaries and
subtly integrate the use of density.

New Columbia

Mixed
incomes
spread
throughout the mixed housing
types can affect residents abilities to
bridge differences. It creates places
where communication is encouraged and social interactions occur.

Contemporary Precedents

Thornton Place located in
a town center for North Seattle is
a contemporary model of mixed
income development. The housing
structures are built atop two levels
of ground parking and it includes
55 low-income apartments, 224
market-rate apartments and 109
condominiums, all within a compact site. This walkable neighborhood also includes diverse services
that reflect the residents needs
such as retail, entertainment and
medical facilities. As seen in this
project as well as others, mixed

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Design Project Influence

For the design project, it is
important to create a community
that can value social interactions.
Economic stability is another vital aspect that will be integrated
through the design. Each housing
structure will be fused with different
types of dwelling units. An example
of this would be to have multi-family
apartments and studios in the same
building as townhomes. The townhouses are aligned on both ends of
the structure while studio spaces fill
the top floor. Similar to the Highlands Garden Village and New Columbia Neighborhood, these buildings will be dense at a lower height
such as three to four stories. The
townhomes will also feature a private front yard space of fifteen feet.
Rental and market rate apartments
occupy the space between the
townhomes. Two to three bedroom
units are suggested on ground floor
and second floor while the third or
fourth floor is dedicated to single
room units. By having the multi-family units closer to the ground floor,

ENVD 3300: Green Neighborhoods Praxis. Instructors: Michael Tavel + David Kahn. Spring 2014

Proposed Mixed Housing Development

it creates an environment where

families with children can easily access the outdoor space. It also allows parents to keep a closer eye on
their children playing outside. Especially those families on the ground
floor will be able to see their children within a couple feet playing in
the grass fields. Children would be in
close proximity to their friends. The
studio and single room apartments
are suggested to graduate students.
Mixing housing types of both physical attributes and income levels have
positive socio- economic effects for
their residents. Incorporating a variety of housing from single family detached units to multi-family affordable apartments to townhomes and
senior housing, it creates an inclusive community where residents are
meshed into a diverse culture. This
strategy also cancels out the widely
spread suburban trend that is somewhat segregated by neighborhoods.
According to the Metropolitan Housing and Community Center article,

children also are assumed to benefit from

living in mixed-income
environments in ways
similar to adults because they are expected
to benefit from interactions with positive role
models and from exposure to socially or culturally diverse people.

change difference into diversity and

residents are able create an identity or culture that does not gentrify
and displace low income families.

Thornton Place

It is important to create relationships
with people, especially for children.
Therefore housing design must consist of a flow that allows residents
to easily communicate with each
other. Having a mixture of housing types allow neighborhoods to

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