How many units of affordable housing can you fit into Shepley Bulfinch’s Boston office? The answer is 429, in a manner of speaking – or at least that was the case on the evening of May 4.
That’s when Shepley hosted the 11th annual Greater Boston Affordable Housing Development Competition awards ceremony. Sponsors of the design competition include the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), and the Boston Society of Architects.
Eight teams of graduate students in architecture, planning, business, and law, who partnered with developers and design and financial mentors, presented proposals for affordable housing projects in Bay Village, Brighton, Chinatown, Dorchester, Cambridge, Somerville, Waltham, and Providence. Their designs, in total proposed the creation of more than 400 units of affordable housing.
Four Shepley architects – Kelly Brubaker, Jim Chambers, Elaine Garrett, and Kim Markert – were design mentors for two of the projects.
A proposal to re-envision the Fields Corner Library in Dorchester as the hub of an affordable housing complex took top honors. Taking second place was the Firehouse Commons project in Somerville, while the Linkage at Brighton, with Elaine and Kim as design mentors, came in third.
Event details – Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston
