Gehry's Test: Affordable Housing

"R1 building that can be constructed for $126 per square foot. That's 20 percent more than the average construction budget for other Housing Authority of Portland projects but a fraction of the estimated $700-plus-per-square-foot spent on such Gehry projects as the Experience Music Project... Many questions remain to be answered: Can the Childpeace school afford the building? Can the housing authority privately raise the extra 20 percent over what the basic housing project would normally cost? No doubt some will argue that's money better spent not on Frank Gehry's architecture but more housing."