Affordable Housing Gets Sexier

5 August 2008 - 9:00am

In Boston, architecture firm Utile and non-profit developer Urban Edge bring a new, stylish look to affordable housing.

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"Among the humble brick and vinyl suburban-style houses along Hyde Park Avenue in Roslindale, the Hyde-Blakemore Condominiums stand out.

There are the mahogany-louvered fences, the solar panels, and the flying-V roof line on the main building, which besides looking cool, channels rainwater into a landscaped rock garden.

Such modern flourishes are rare in a city that cleaves to architectural convention, but they are especially striking considering that Hyde-Blakemore was built for lower-income families. The newly completed buildings defy the tacky stereotype of government-subsidized housing, and for the architects and developers behind a new crop of affordable projects, this is the whole idea."

'Starting in the 1980s, after the big brick public housing model became invalid, these woodframe Easter egg-colored villages began appearing,' [the architect] said. 'Gradually they became more in synch with the adjacent neighborhood. What we're seeing now is a much better second generation of that.'"

Source: The Boston Globe, August 4, 2008