9 minute read
What’s Missing from Missing-Middle Housing Solutions
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by By Joshua Zinder, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP Managing Partner, JZA+D
How do people want to live? This is the question that professionals in the housing sector grapple with daily. Some of the answers to this question come easily: affordably, comfortably, safely. The real issues arise when we attempt to produce new housing and upgrade the existing stock within the current regulatory and economic frameworks. Compromises are made, and certain essential answers to the “how” question remain unaddressed.
After presenting virtually on the topic “Finding the Missing
Middle” as part of the most recent AIA Tri-State Conference, the discussions that followed began to suggest that we as architects, however well-intentioned, can be too focused on the wrong measures of outcomes. The efforts of all housing sector professionals—developers, planners, lenders, everyone—tend toward missing-middle housing solutions that deliver X number of units, within monthly rental range Y, for location Z. While meeting targets for X, Y, and Z is important, what’s missing in the middle is not just affordable units—it’s community.
The pandemic has thrown the need for a sense of community into sharp relief. Residents in mid-rise and high-rise developments might pass two dozen identical doors between the elevator and their apartment and never see another face—and now, for many, the prospect of meeting a neighbor in that hallway evokes fear of infection and illness. Likewise, suburban homeowners shuttle between home and work without even cursory social interaction—if they leave home at all. This was the reality before, to some degree, which COVID has intensified.
Filling the missing middle appropriately addresses this issue, introducing opportunities for social interaction by increasing density in walkable locations. Some solutions will create new walkable neighborhoods from the ground up, while others will enhance existing ones. The best designs and development strategies will include open spaces or amenities, or both, to create or enhance socially dynamic settings that appeal to so many, which we refer to in our practice as “pockets of urbanity.” These communal, social settings are indeed widely desired. Both millennials and the emergent Generation Z, long believed to be hyper-focused on living and working in urban centers, turn out to be primarily interested in a socially dynamic location and will happily trade an expensive apartment in New York for a walkable, and culturally and economically diverse neighborhood in Princeton, for example, with entertainment, shopping, dining, and needed amenities steps away from home. The problem, of course, is that few such places currently exist. Demand is high, which means rentals are often unattainable for entry-level residents. Everyone benefits when folks like teachers, nurses, firefighters, and other such community linchpins can live in the same neighborhood as more affluent professionals. This kind of diversity is itself a desirable outcome, strengthening the ties that undergird our social contract, and it also counteracts the potential for economic and cultural stagnation that many communities face. It’s natural for people to resist change, but some towns face an uncertain future unless they begin to evolve. Grassroots residential organizations focused on preserving the status quo would do well to pivot to partnering with housing professionals, planning officials, and develop-
30 Maclean Street | In a walkable, historic African American neighborhood near the center of Princeton University’s campus, a masonry and timber frame structure has a new future as a LEED-designed, multi-family residence. The ten new apartments range from 500-1000 sf studios, 1-and 2-bedroom units. In conformance with the municipality’s 20% affordable housing requirements, two of the apartments will be priced accordingly. In a “small city” town where space is scarce and increasingly expensive, the existing infrastructure has been efficiently refurbished to add to the fabric of the community. The character of the building has been preserved with original brick, stucco, and wood exposed where possible. The exterior gains a new stair and elevator tower addition. Photo Credit: Michael Slack Photography
ment experts to explore opportunities in which both longtime residents and families new to the area can flourish. Done appropriately and wisely, filling the missing middle should create opportunities for a more sustainable future for everyone. In Princeton, a historic college town whose citizens tend to be preservation-minded, recent activity offers reasons to be optimistic. New projects are increasing density in affordable ways within a ten-minute walking distance radius of the central Nassau Street district, with its various retail, dining and other offerings – and some of these projects are adding new amenities. At the former location of Nelson Glass & Aluminum Co., for example, the new six-unit mixed-income residence rising up from the original commercial structure is nearing completion. The floors containing apartments feature a massing that steps back at each level, reducing its profile to preserve the feel of this residential street. The project will convert the first floor, previously a family-owned commercial fabrication shop, into retail or restaurant use that will activate the neighborhood with a new social hub. In the town center itself, developers are exploring opportunities for converting existing space in the floors above street-level retail into new affordable dwellings, which combined with other efforts at new construction on underdeveloped lots will boost density and enhance local economic activity by enhancing the area’s foot traffic among locals so that retailers are less dependent on Nassau Street’s image as a destination. For one neighborhood adjacent to the town center, solutions under discussion for a multi-block development project are modeled on campus quadrangle-style plans with multiple entry points and outdoor spaces. To achieve a permeable plan that fosters walkability and established visual connections from street to street, the development will comprise numerous small multifamily structures conceived to harmonize with nearby residential districts, and avoiding the pitfalls of large-scale midrise apartment blocks. As architects we have a responsibility to provide creativity and leadership, especially where we live and work. Happily it’s a responsibility that, once fulfilled, redounds to our own benefit through fostering diverse, socially constructive neighborhoods. Engaging with peers and colleagues in development, planning, and capital investment to promote true missing-middle housing solutions results in closely knit communities and sustainable local economies – in other words, places where social discourse and engagement are the norm. l
Joshua Zinder, AIA is managing partner of JZA+D, which he founded 15 years ago, and current president of AIA-New Jersey. His career spans more than 25 years, with a design portfolio of structures and interiors in the commercial, high-end hospitality, academic, worship, and private and multi-family residential sectors.
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