Case Studies

Unlike traditional housing communities where all tenants are charged mortgages or rent at a similar rate, mixed-income housing incorporates tenants with a range of income levels. In most cases, mixed-income neighborhoods include middle to lower-middle class tenants who are merged with Section 8 tenants (or lower-income occupants) who are charged only 30% of their income. Also unlike traditional housing communities, mixed-income housing is made up of diverse types of housing units such as apartments, town homes, and/or single-family homes.  Traditionally Section 8 housing communities are looked upon as blemishes of the city that prevents potential stakeholders or business owners from investing in the city. To alleviate this, the United States Department of Housing and Development created HOPE VI, a plan that is meant to revitalize the worst public housing projects in the United States into mixed-income developments in hopes to resemble housing communities of higher income rates.  However, mixed-income housing projects that are built through HOPE VI are mire buildings on the surface, but political underneath. The architectural design decisions of HOPE VI are fueled by aspirations to attract investors to the city, and not the wellbeing of existing tenants. Under HOPE VI, revitalizing a low-income neighborhood often leads to it being completely torn down, despite the buildings being habitable in most cases. In there place are not only new housing units, but schools, parks, or community centers. This new and expensive infrastructure is built even if the pre-existing community had these types of buildings previously. Consequently, hundreds or thousands of low-income tenants are forced to move to other low-income communities due to increased property values and rental fees. Despite the efforts of the United States Department of Housing and Development to revitalize communities through new architecture and urban development, many relocated tenants witness the negative aspects of gentrification such as being forced into unfamiliar living environments, while occupants who can afford to live in the revitalized neighborhood have no sense of connection the new community. HOPE VI also fuels the vicious cycle of gentrification by altering the number of housing units, the types of housing, building materials, and urban layout.  Thus exemplifying design power, or control over who gets housed and what resources are made available to them. Projects such as Boulevard Homes, now known as the Renaissance, in Charlotte, NC serve as examples. It is good to revitalizes a low-income community with new commercial spaces such as child care centers, schools, computer labs, and career centers. However, completely demolishing a community is not the only way to do so. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development should consider repurposing existing buildings within low-income housing communities into desired commercial buildings.

Public housing in the United States is managed by federal, state, and local organizations to provide subsidized or funded assistance for low-income households. The funding is provided by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HOPE VI is a plan by HUD to revitalize the worst low-income housing projects of the US into mixed-income housing communities. There are numerous HOPE VI projects in the US. Desire Projects, New Orleans, LA and Cabrini-Green, Chicago, IL are among the most popular. These communities were completely torn down with market-rate housing put in their place.

These HOPE VI projects are architectural on the surface, and yet political underneath, and the city of Charlotte, NC is no acceptation. Many projects have recently been completed within the past decade under HOPE VI. For instance, Neighboring Concepts, a Charlotte based urban and architectural design firm is leading the design of the Renaissance master plan for the Charlotte Housing Authority and Laurel Street Residential. 

Formally called Boulevard Homes, the Renaissance reached construction completion this year and is anticipated to become Charlotte’s first residential development to achieve LEED for Neighborhood Development Certification. Known as the “cradle–to-career” Educational Village vision, the master plan includes housing, a proposed primary school, and a community center at the main entrance of the site with afterschool facilities for children, followed by being adjacent to the Harris Campus of Central Piedmont Community College (pre-existing).  This will insure that academics is apart of the children’s living environment, and will influences their choice in career paths. In addition, the community center includes a childcare facility, computer labs, a laundry center, an outdoor playground, pool, and picnic facilities. Neighboring Concepts was involved in all planning stages of the project including relocating former Boulevard Homes residents who planned to return to live in Renaissance. 

The firm also assisted the Charlotte Housing Authority’s (CHA) initial zoning plan for the site which was presented to the city to get funding of $20.9 million from HOPE VI. The architects acted as a liaison between the CHA, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, and the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department to help generate multiple investors. The “cradle-to-career” vision plan takes advantage of the adjacent higher education institutes such as the Harris Campus of Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) and Charlotte Douglas International Airport, one of the regions largest employment centers. 

By definition, a renaissance is a revival of intellectual or artistic achievement, an explosion of art, education, and enlightenment. This was the premise of revitalizing the site. Design power refers to a design decision having a major impact on the lives of occupants. For instance, many homes can be demolished if a city planner decides to delete a group of homes on his/her computer screen to make way for a shopping mall.  The Renaissance housing complex replaces the former Boulevard Homes site of 301 apartments with 334 dwellings, a proposed primary school, a child development center, a community center, a neighborhood park, and open areas. There are approximately 250 multifamily apartment units and 84 independent living senior units, and small sections with single-family housing. There are only 33 additional apartments; expanding the dwellings by those additional units misses the opening to transform available space into job agencies, retail spaces, and markets to provide opportunities for employment on site, instead of solely Charlotte Douglas Airport.  

What many fail to mention is that Boulevard Homes also had a community center, central park, and play space. Like the Renaissance, Boulevard Homes also included single and multi-story units with a community center and park. A neighboring primary school, higher quality transit stops, and solar panels could have been placed with the pre-existing buildings. However, in order to convince organizations such as HOPE VI to fund the project, Neighboring Concepts had to get additional organizations involved such as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department. These design decisions influenced an overlooked side effect of gentrification. Having a school on site can alleviate the harsh reputation of the site and influence other business owners and vendors to bring business to the vacant West Charlotte Corridor. But couldn’t these new commercial spaces have been built within Boulevard Homes initially. Why demolish an entire community and use the “if we build it, they will come” technique, when there was an opportunity to incorporate retail, markets, or job agencies within the buildings of Boulevard Homes to generate jobs and fuel the economy of the area. There is nothing wrong with have a school in the area. It attracts developers to build more housing communities in the area, which will attract more businesses to the corridor.  However, completely demolishing a community to do so was avoidable.

Unlike the former Boulevard Homes, the Renaissance proposal includes several new streets with names such as Innovation Drive, Ascension Way, and Achievement Drive. These street names are not corrupt, but they contribute to design power, by expressive what city officials want the site to become. The names deliberately eliminate the history of the community.  These words also indicate that there was no drive for achievement, innovation, or ascension in Boulevard Homes. The proposed K-8 primary school is linked to a neighboring low-income community called Little Rock Apartments through Achievement Drive. To create ample square footage for the school, all of the pre-existing structures were torn down and replaced with 2-4 leveled multi-unit buildings. Lastly there is greenway that begins at the West Boulevard and proceeds along the southern edge of the Renaissance, passing Taggart Creek along Billy Graham Parkway. Not only does it provide space for recreational purposes, but also it is a buffer between the housing complex, a FEMA Floodplain, and the Billy Graham. The greenway continues through a park within the Renaissance and towards the Southview Recreation Center, also located at the Little Rock Apartments. 

Both Boulevard Homes and the Renaissance are multi-family complexes with community centers that are linked to parks within the communities. Brick and siding are primary building materials for both neighborhoods. However, the units of the Renaissance have corrugated steel roof panels and multicolored siding that resemble contemporary market-rate housing. Unlike the Renaissance, a significant amount of housing units in Boulevard Homes were low-rise buildings, which allowed tenants to have a direct connection with the landscape. The 4 story units of the Renaissance disconnect tenants from the landscape. In fact, the greenway could have been adapted into the pre-existing site. The community center of Boulevard Homes could have been renovated with additions for outreach facilities like a childcare center, computer lab, or a gym. 

Crime was the only reason that Boulevard Homes was targeted as a HOPE VI project. Even Charlotte news networks such as Channel 3, emphasize the issue of crime as being the only reason for the urban renewal. However, it was city investments and partnerships that truly fueled the project, not concerns for the tenants, proving that HOPE VI is a politically driven process. According to the CHA website, crime was not the primary reason for the demolition of Boulevard Homes. HOPE VI chose the housing complex for the following reasons:

1.     There was significant crime

2.     There was disinvestment in the neighborhood

3.     The site has the highest investment needs

4.     There’s potential for innovative partnerships with the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation, Thompson’s Child and Family Focus, and CPCC

The Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation will manage the school’s recreation space, community space, and Southview Recreation Center, a connection to greenway/trial systems. The Thompson’s Child and Family Focus will operate the children education center in the community center to insure that children will enter kindergarten. Lastly CPCC will serve as an opportunity for Middle/High School and adult education enrichment.

In essence, the reasons listed above have little to do with concerns for the safety of tenants. Instead, they are aspirations of city officials. Boulevard Homes was chosen because it was one of the first housing complexes seen as travelers arrived to the city from the Charlotte Douglas Airport. The site marks a gateway, or the West Boulevard Corridor, to the central city. The building project is an attempt to clear the perceived urban blemish and attract potential investors or businesses that will help fuel the city’s economy. Clearing the sight of young minorities of low-income to make way for families and the elderly is what the CHA desires potential investors to see. Tearing buildings down and creating new ones does not stop crime, and Section 8 tenants are not criminals, but have low paying jobs. The Renaissance project is an example of design power, and gentrification is one of the many consequences. Design power is not only about what the development looks like, but the type of program that is included (or not included), but also how a complex is constructed, the number of units, the size of those units, and how they are configured. When a housing authority emphasizes 1 or 2 bedroom apartments and not 4 bedroom units, it is design politics. The number and types of units promotes a certain type of community, one of primarily seniors and families, not young adults. Evidently, deciding how to house people determines who gets housed.

Changing the type of building units, from being solely Section 8 to mixed-income and elderly housing determines who is able to live in the complex and benefit from the new resources. People’s environments are altered to the point of no recognition. Does a community have to be torn down and rebuilt to create a rebirth of knowledge and enlightenment? Boulevard Homes could have connected to central piedmont with its existing buildings. The pre-existing complex had a community center that could have been expanded to include computer labs or a childcare center. Some of the pre-existing buildings could have been renovated and transformed into commercial buildings with markets or job adjacencies that help fuel the economy and provide employment within the site. The primary school could have been built adjacent to the site.  The materials of the roofing and siding of the apartment buildings could have been changed to resemble contemporary housing, and the landscape could have been redesigned to emphasize public space and pedestrian paths. These changes could have provided a renaissance, while keeping a sense of familiarity for tenants and not adding to the gentrification of the neighborhood. 

Deciding to clear a site and “start over” is an aesthetic issue and political act, but not a tabula rasa. The consequence of projects such as the Renaissance under HOPE VI is that there will be a vicious cycle.  Many tenants who could utilize spaces like the community center, the primary school, or career centers are not present. Instead they are relocated into other low-income communities and the issue of low-income housing moved out of sight to continue. Many young adults are not being “enlightened” because they have been removed and replaced with the elderly.  As a result, there will be many unenlightened families in other low-income areas of the Charlotte community. ///

 Uptown New York Apartment of Whoopie Goldberg

I believe that the design of buildings and interior spaces should reflect the owner's character and lifestyle. It is okay to gather design inspiration from outside sources such as this blog, other designers, magazines, television, friends, or family. However, only you (or your family) will experience your home on a daily basis. Only you will eat, sleep, and be influenced by all of the design decisions made. Therefore, it is important that what you have in your home (furniture, color schemes, art, etc.) is who you are and what you want to become.

A great example of a home reflecting one's personality and lifestyle is the NYC apartment of Oscar winning actress, Whoopi Goldberg.

Whoopi is very eclectic and eccentric. Career-wise, she avoids putting herself in a box and is open to many acting roles. Here are a few quotes from her followed by example photos of the apartment:

Quotes courtesy of brainyquote.com

"An actress can only play a woman. I'm an actor, I can play anything."

"And I don't believe that I have to stay on one side of the fence or the other. I don't believe that there is any good career move or bad career move. I believe there are only the things that make me happy. "

"I used my imagination to make the grass whatever color I wanted it to be."

"Normal is in the eye of the beholder."

If you are eclectic, using a variety of materials in a space is a great way to express yourself. For instance, there are many different types of wood used in this kitchen and dining space shown above. Just take a look at the floor, dining table, island, and cabinets.

Notice that Whoopi's washer and dryer are located in her kitchenette and open seating area. This is very unusual in the average home, but it fits with her lifestyle. Who knows, Whoopi may want to stop folding her clothes to make a sandwich or two.In the average residence, sprinkler systems are hidden, however; in this apartment the sprinklers are exposed from the ceiling. I believe this reflects Whoopi's liberal personality.

There are different light fixtures and works of art placed in the hallway and bedroom shown above. The picture frames along the wall differ in size/material and are placed randomly, but still work together to form pattern.

End Note:
Take time to explore and understand your design personality before decorating your home or seeking help from a professional. This may seem like a homework assignment on your part, but believe me it's worth it. You owe it to yourself! Great designers and consultants will help you to unravel and use your esthetic as a design tool, however; taking time before working with them to discover it for yourself is an empowering experience...not to mention, a time and money saver;o)

Related Post:
Discover Your Aesthetic: easy tips