Practicing ArchitectureAwards

2010 AIA/HUD Secretary’s Award Recipient

Category 3: Community-Informed Design Award

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Notes of Interest

This project involves a narrow street of 17 single-family and duplex houses, all built before 1910. It is home to a tight-knit community of residents, all of whom expressed a desire to remain on the street, despite the need to redevelop these older homes. Therefore the challenge was how to redevelop without relying upon relocation, even temporarily, or incurring steep financial burden.

Through a series of conversations with the residents, a plan was developed to restore and/or reconstruct six owner-occupied homes. The idea is centered around the concept of creating a temporary home, or “holding house,” to house the family whose home was currently under renovation. Through staying in the holding house within the community, the home-owners are available to work with the team to reconstruct their home. In addition, each house that has been rebuilt incorporates materials salvaged from the existing home.

To date, three resident’s homes have been completed and the fourth is under construction. This concentrated effort to address homes in distressed neighborhoods changes the conversation about the current approach to urban housing development and sustainable design. The holding house model challenges the current scope of urban revitalization, which prior to this have taken the approach of slum clearance or urban infill, and gives new value to disadvantaged communities by bringing innovative ideas to their front porch.