A 1980s-era shopping mall turned mixed-use housing and a mid-rise multifamily tower with unusual rowhomes highlight the innovative multifamily developments to debut recently.
1. Art Installation Creates a ‘Digital Sky’
The lobby ceiling of Kirin Apartments, in Seattle’s Uptown Arts District, features a permanent art installation of a thousand translucent flags by Resolute and installed with LEDs by Sina Electronics. The 95-unit rental enterprise was designed by Johnston Architects for developer Hycroft Investment. Robin Chell Design (interiors), CT Engineering (SE), LPD Engineering (CE), PanGEO (geotech), Terrane (surveyor), Sider + Byers (M/P), AWA Electrical Consultants (EE), Karen Kiest Landscape Architects, and R|Miller Inc. (GC) contributed. “Kirin” is a chimerical creature in Chinese mythology.
PHOTO: RAFAEL SOLDI
2. 224-Unit Apartment Community Enlivens LA’s Koreatown
Sawyer, a new seven-story residential complex down the street from Los Angeles’s historic Korean Methodist Church, offers studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments, some with an extra den, and two double-height penthouses with mezzanines. Withee Malcolm Architects, a BSB Design Studio, led the project team for developers 411 Normandie LP and Airport Holdings LP: Nadia Geller Designs (interiors), VCA Structural (SE), Structure Six Engineers (CE), MNS Engineering (mechanical/plumbing/T-24 engineer), Amelect (EE), Pacific Geotech (soils engineer), Environmental Science Associates (historical consultant), and DSK Landscape Architects.
PHOTO: JIM SIMMONS
3. Salt Lake City Property Just a Hop-Skip-Jump to Light-Rail Transit
A two-story green wall sets off the lobby at Dixon Place (https://bit.ly/3sQ5MYC), a 59-unit Class A development in the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah. A five-minute walk to the S-line light rail stop, the 49,039-sf boutique property offers 35 one-bedroom and 24 two-bedroom units for its human occupants and a bark park for its canine ones. EV charging stations, too. MVE + Partners (architect, interior design), Loft Six Four (landscape architect), and Kier Construction (GC) delivered the project for Lowe Property Group.
PHOTO: RICHER IMAGES
4. Mix of Residents Strengthens This D.C. Community
Fifty-eight of the 194 apartments at 555 (at 555 E Street, SW) have been reserved for seniors 62+ (30-50% AMI); seven of the 58 serve seniors in transition from homelessness. All tenants—market-rate and seniors—share the high-end amenities, notably a rooftop pool and well-equipped fitness center. “Here, you see people in wheelchairs. That’s real life and part of what makes this a community,” said senior resident Andrew Evans. The team for developer CityPartners: FXCollaborative (architect), Rottet Studio (interior design), SK&A (SE), Integral Group (MEP), and Donohoe Construction (GC).
PHOTO: RICHARD POWERS
5. Suburban Boston Mall Reimagined As a Massive Mixed-Use Complex
Architecture/interior design firm PCA master planned Arsenal Yards, a seven-building, million-sf initiative on the site of a 1980s-era shopping mall in Watertown, Mass., 10 miles west of Boston. Boylston Properties and The Wilder Group were the developers for a 146-room hotel, a 10-story lab building, 50 retail shops and restaurants, and the 300-unit Blvd & Bond apartments. Two historic brick buildings, part of the landmark U.S. army arsenal (1813), were restored. On PCA’s team: Veitas & Veitas Engineers (SE), RJO’Connell & Associates (CE), R.W. Sullivan Engineering (MEP), RDH Building Science (envelope), Acentech (acoustics), IBI Group (landscape architect), Cranshaw Construction (CM/GC), and Plumb House (GC).
PHOTO: ANTON GRASSL
6. Luxe Megacomplex Just Bursting with Amenities
Apex at CityPlace, Overland Park, Kan., spans 693,000 sf in 13 buildings, including two office buildings, 18,000 sf of retail, and 366 luxury apartments and penthouse units with gourmet kitchens, quartz countertops, deep soaking tubs, and covered balconies and patios. Developer Block Real Estate Services provided an outdoor game center, a massage salon, an indoor movie theater, a dog spa, a Zen garden, and a swim-up hot tub bar. Hoefer Welker (designer, AOR, interiors) coordinated with MG2 (interior design), Bob D. Campbell & Co. (SE), Smith & Boucher (MEP), LAND3 Studio (landscape design), and Titan Built (GC).
PHOTO: NICOLE BISSEY
7. Atlanta Residences High on Hospitality
Star Metal Residences is The Allen Morris Company’s first development in Atlanta. The nine-story, 409-unit rental complex occupies three acres in an old industrial site in West Midtown. Oppenheim Architects’ design emphasizes hospitality in the rooftop pool and terrace, clubroom, lounge, bar, library, theater, game room, and community garden and greenhouse. Other project members: Dwell Design Studio (AOR, interiors), Square Feet Studio (interior design), Ellinwood + Machado (SE), Eberly & Associates (CE), Jordan & Skala Engineers (MEP), Site Solutions (landscape design), and Juneau Construction (GC).
PHOTO: FLYWORX LLC
8. San Diego County Enterprise Features Unusual Rowhomes
Designed by The Miller Hull Partnership for co-developers Malick Infill Development and Protea Properties, Parco consists of 127 rental units in National City, Calif. An eight-story tower of 94 studios and 14 apartments, communal lounges and kitchens, and outdoor space transitions to a four-story edifice with seven two-bedroom and culminates in a dozen two-story “rowhomes” that sit over single-story units. Also contributing: Tecture Design & Fabrication (interior design), DCI Engineers (SE), SWS Engineering (CE), H+W Engineering (MEP), McCullough Landscape Architecture, and Cannon Constructors (GC).
PHOTO: CHIPPER HATTER
9. Patience Pays Off for Affordable Housing Team in Northern Virginia
It took 13 years for owner Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing and KDG Architecture to complete the redevelopment of Queens Court Apartments, turning 39 prewar garden apartments into 249 affordable rentals—studios and one- to three-bedroom units—in Arlington County, Va. The 12-story tower, which earned EarthCraft Gold status, is a 10-minute walk to the Rosslyn Metro station. KGD Architecture piloted the project team of Aumen Asner (interior design), Ehlert Bryan (SE), Bowman (CE), Summit Engineers (MEP), Oculus (landscape design), and Donohue Construction Co. (GC).
PHOTO: JOHN COLE PHOTOGRAPHY
Related Stories
| May 27, 2014
America's oldest federal public housing development gets a facelift
First opened in 1940, South Boston's Old Colony housing project had become a symbol of poor housing conditions. Now the revamped neighborhood serves as a national model for sustainable, affordable multifamily design.
| May 23, 2014
Big design, small package: AIA Chicago names 2014 Small Project Awards winners
Winning projects include an events center for Mies van der Rohe's landmark Farnsworth House and a new boathouse along the Chicago river.
| May 22, 2014
No time for a trip to Dubai? Team BlackSheep's drone flyover gives a bird's eye view [video]
Team BlackSheep—devotees of filmmaking with drones—has posted a fun video that takes viewers high over the city for spectacular vistas of a modern architectural showcase.
| May 22, 2014
NYC's High Line connects string of high-profile condo projects
The High Line, New York City's elevated park created from a conversion of rail lines, is the organizing principle for a series of luxury condo buildings designed by big names in architecture.
| May 20, 2014
Kinetic Architecture: New book explores innovations in active façades
The book, co-authored by Arup's Russell Fortmeyer, illustrates the various ways architects, consultants, and engineers approach energy and comfort by manipulating air, water, and light through the layers of passive and active building envelope systems.
| May 20, 2014
World's best new skyscrapers: Renzo Piano's The Shard, China's 'doughnut hotel' voted to Emporis list
Eight other high-rise projects were named Emporis Skyscraper Award winners, including DC Tower 1 by Dominique Perrault Architecture and Tour Carpe Diem by Robert A.M. Stern.
| May 16, 2014
BoA, USGBC to offer $25,000 grants for green affordable housing projects
The Affordable Green Neighborhoods Grant Program will offer 14 grants to developers of affordable housing in North America who are committed to building sustainable communities through the LEED for Neighborhood Development program.
| May 13, 2014
19 industry groups team to promote resilient planning and building materials
The industry associations, with more than 700,000 members generating almost $1 trillion in GDP, have issued a joint statement on resilience, pushing design and building solutions for disaster mitigation.
| May 12, 2014
The best of affordable housing: 4 projects honored with 2014 AIA/HUD Secretary Awards [slideshow]
The winners include two dramatic conversions of historic YMCA buildings into modern, affordable multifamily complexes.
| May 11, 2014
Final call for entries: 2014 Giants 300 survey
BD+C's 2014 Giants 300 survey forms are due Wednesday, May 21. Survey results will be published in our July 2014 issue. The annual Giants 300 Report ranks the top AEC firms in commercial construction, by revenue.
