Housing Innovation
How can architects respond to the region’s housing crisis?
From rising costs to lack of affordable homes, architects are working to find sustainable solutions: piloting models for innovative housing typologies and developing creative initiatives with the potential to improve the quality and quantity of housing in the region.
Housing is about much more than buildings—it is about home, community, health, resilience and equity. The BSA has focused on housing to ensure an adequate supply of housing for people up and down the socio-economic ladder—a critical element to the health of our cities. Working with partners in government, business, civic institutions, and community organizations, the BSA has worked on a robust array of solutions to meet the challenge of housing affordability. These initiatives cover a broad range of issues, from design and construction to planning and zoning to help increase the supply of housing, particularly for low and middle-income households.
We invite you to learn more about this work and how to get involved below.
Request for Proposals: Co-Creating Boston's Future-Decker
A virtual showcase of the proposals submitted as part of the second phase of the Future-Decker initiative. Responses addressed the opportunities and challenges of design innovation, including the use of innovative materials and methods of construction. Visit this storymap to learn more.
Through storytelling and design, this exhibition aimed to explore the ways we imagine home and how housing can be a tool to build long lasting, sustainable communities. The 2021 Co-Creating Boston's Future-Decker RFI submissions were featured in Imaginations of Home as the exhibition explored the future of affordable housing through a variety of perspectives.
Request for Ideas: Co-Creating Boston's Future-Decker
Envisioning the future of multifamily housing in Boston’s neighborhoods. View past meeting recordings here.
The RFI closed on Friday, July 30, with a total of 20 submissions. Participants were invited to share ideas for multifamily housing in Boston’s neighborhoods with a focus on affordability, sustainability and community. During the fall and winter of 2021, the BSA and Housing iLab will continue to engage with community members, sharing RFI ideas and soliciting more ideas. The RFI responses will inform the second phase of the competition, which will include a request for innovative proposals for a yet-to-be-selected city-owned lot.
Future-Decker Exhibition: Past, Present, and Future-Decker
The triple decker is an important physical manifestation of the generations of residents who have called Boston home. As we explored its history, the project itself looked to the future for the next iteration of the triple-decker. We aim to unlock ideas and visions to help tackle our housing crisis.
The exhibition and its related conversation series explores people's experiences with triple-deckers in the city from the perspective of environmental, financial, and social values of the triple-deckers.
A team from the City of Boston iLab, BSA, and MIT came together to workshop solutions to housing affordability. The previous two workshops, Developing Differently (2017) and Innovative Materials and Methods (2018) had proved to be invaluable in providing a space to innovatively address the challenges of housing affordability in the City of Boston. Thus, we knew that we wanted to once again bring together a group of dedicated participants to explore new housing ideas, this time on ways to facilitate the production of middle-scale multifamily housing in the city.
