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Page 26 — Multifamily Properties Quarterly — May 2017
Design
We’re excited to introduce the
newest community Catamount
is working on in Colorado -
Westminster Promenade.
This new 4-story, 300-unit
multifamily project is located
near US 36 and Church Ranch
Boulevard and includes a
precast parking garage and
townhomes.
For 20 years, customers
nationwide have put their trust
in Catamount. We understand
the specialized requirements
of multifamily construction
and our team members have
the expertise and dedication
to meet your project’s unique
needs. We do what it takes to
make your project a success -
that’s the Catamount way.
WE’RE EXPERTS AT DELIVERING ON
COMPLEX REQUIREMENTS, SO YOU CAN
FOCUS ON BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS.
CONTACT CATAMOUNT FOR YOUR
NEXT MULTIFAMILY PROJECT.
Humphreys & Partners Architects
M ultifamily housing is a
perpetual challenge met
with a variety of strate-
gies, from postwar rent
control in New York
City to the mega projects of the
mid-20th century, and just about
everything in between. We have
gone through eras of centralizing
and decentralizing, of density and
sprawl. Heavy-handed systems
in the former U.S.S.R. and now in
China use housing as a form of col-
lective control, whereas the Ameri-
can objectives focused on the pur-
suit of individual happiness while
contending with the realities of
managing post-industrial revolution
migrations.
The historical examples tend to
trend with prevailing urban plan-
ning thinking, from prewar gar-
den communities to modernist
towers in a park. We are in a new
era of housing in cities, as cities
regain favor as places to work and
live. Multifamily housing projects
include everything from single-
lot prototypes and micro units, to
large developments that explore
new relationships with community.
While there is much history to draw
from, challenges continue to evolve
with the complexities and variables
of societies.
The architects’ goal for all hous-
ing – multifamily and otherwise
– should be to create quality living
environments. Healthy societies
grow from within and start with
the conditions of habitation. The
first priority in planning housing is
location. Cities serve as vital ame-
nities to individual neighborhoods
and connect us
as a community.
With mass trans-
portation making
a comeback, con-
nectivity is broadly
addressed. Urban
developments
should focus on
proximity to trans-
portation and
walkability.
Another critical
objective is demo-
graphic diversity
within housing
developments
and, by extension, within neighbor-
hoods. The intermingling of people
in different phases of life and in
alternate modes of living adds rich-
ness to our daily lives. Economic
diversity also is an objective –
avoiding the creation of ghettos for
singular economic categories helps
soften economic castes. Although
as a discipline, architecture has
at times overstepped its boundar-
ies regarding social engineering in
the modern era, it is an inevitable
component of social change, and
it is our obligation as architects to
inspire communities to move hous-
ing development in a positive direc-
tion.
As designers, we have a leader-
ship responsibility to work with
developers and municipalities to
locate development sites and cre-
ate housing that achieves these
goals. The most-effective way of
implementing change is through
example, so I have included the
recently completed Freight Resi-
dences project on the Taxi campus
in River North to illustrate the fol-
lowing points:
• Effective site planning should
connect housing to the broader
community as well as create col-
lective and private amenity spaces
within, such as private gardens.
Although the amenities of the Taxi
campus are extensive, a pedestrian
bridge over the Platte River will
provide access to The Source, The
Source Hotel and Market Hall, and
other business along the Brighton
Boulevard corridor.
• Environmental considerations,
such as sun and prevailing weather,
inform a project configuration and
enhance livability. Each unit fea-
tures an operable glass garage door
that opens the living spaces to the
gardens on the first floor, generous
private balconies on the fourth floor
and to mountain views to the west
from the third floor. In addition, the
utilization of day lighting and natu-
ral ventilation has positive health
benefits while reducing energy
costs.
• Amenity spaces and program-
ming play a key role in the social
environment of a housing project.
These spaces should go beyond the
standard communal gym to include
educational spaces with programs
for and by the residents, communi-
ty gardens with advisers to promote
healthy eating, communal kitchens
and outdoor cinemas. Unique to
Freight Residences is a community
recreation room, designed as a
learning and play space.
• Innovative building design con-
siders circulation strategies that go
beyond the standard double-loaded
corridors to create entry conditions
with individuality and a sense of
privacy, which can make an apart-
ment unit feel like a private home.
At Freight Residences, stacked,
Stephen Dynia,
FAIA
Principal, Dynia
Architects, Jackson,
Wyoming and
Denver Dynia Architects
Green space is a vital part of successful multifamily design. At Freight Residences, private garden
patios are featured on the ground floor.