Special Housing

The Special Housing award recognizes outstanding design of housing that meets the unique needs of other specialized housing types such as single room occupancy residences (SROs), independent living for the disabled, residential rehabilitation programs, domestic violence shelters, and other special housing.

Haven for Hope, San Antonio
Overland Partners Architects

Photo © Paul Heste

The stakeholders’ goal was to not only provide services that treated the causes of homelessness but to create a flexible campus that would allow for the expansion of programs and the development of new ones.  Architects and stakeholders also held design charrettes and progress meetings with service providers, interest groups, law enforcement, and neighborhood associations. As a result of this state-of-the-art facility, city-based agencies such as University Health Systems and the Center for Health Care Services have become intimately involved in the operations, and volunteers are an integral part of the campus.

Northeastern University Building F, Boston
William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc.

Photo © Alan Karchmer

This 140,000 square foot mixed-use building completes the build-out of the 1.2 million square foot master plan.  Creating a vibrant, high-density environment that is active at all hours of the day, the building embodies the spirit of “living & learning.”  It includes three significant components: Freshman Honors Housing, a Cultural Center, and an Academic Center.  The Honors Housing, with 230 beds in six-person apartments, celebrates academic excellence at the heart of this new mixed-use precinct.  A two-story, four-part lounge encourages interaction among residents while simultaneously offering places for group/individual study.

The Schermerhorn, Brooklyn, New York
Ennead Architects LLP

Photo © David Sundberg/Esto

The Schermerhorn seeks to define a new paradigm for subsidized housing in New York City.  Rising from a transparent glass base, five channel glass tower elements define the primary facade.  Within the building’s base are four steel trusses, which cantilever the building over subway tunnels crossing directly below.  The south facade’s horizontal banding of glass and cement board panels hovers above a roof terrace on the second level which provides a transition to the low-scale residential neighborhood beyond.  Above the second level, the building accommodates 216 residents on 9 floors.