Team MWA attended the Housing Oregon Conference and heard from groups that build, finance, and lend support to affordable housing. Housing Oregon is an association that is involved with organizations statewide that contribute to affordable housing. They advocate at the local and state levels to promote policies and programs that provide housing for all.
Team MWA participated in workshops, listened to presentations, and Principal Bill Lanning presented Broadleaf Arbor on a panel. After the conference, each attendee reflected on what they learned and how to implement this knowledge. Continue reading to hear what Bill, Shradhan, and Cara learned from Housing Oregon 2024.
Bill Lanning
Principal Bill Lanning was part of a panel that presented on Broadleaf Arbor in St. Helens, Oregon. The panel presentation, Developing a Community for All Ages – How Multigenerational Housing Can Be Affordable and Support the Greater Community, included Julia Doty and Wendy Klein of Community Development Partners, Laura Spidell of EngAGE NW, and Nina Reed of Northwest Oregon Housing Authority. Panelists were part of the development and supportive services programming team that contributed to Broadleaf Arbor, St. Helen’s first affordable housing project, being a success.
Bill presents with the panel
Site Design
The community was planned intentionally to foster intergenerational connection through the design and services. The campus-style project is made up of 75% family housing units and 25% senior housing units. The townhomes and the senior building are oriented around courtyards on the site’s southern end. The family apartment units encircle a large, centralized courtyard with a playground and community garden space to the north.
Broadleaf Arbor courtyards
Connections
The services and mail are set in the center of the campus in the Community Building, creating a hub for folks to gather and interact. The community building has a direct sightline into the grand, circular family housing area, and the narrower bar-shaped townhouse courtyard, which brings a visual connection as well. The entire site is surrounded by sidewalks, paved paths for exercise, and meandering through the greenery and buildings.
Broadleaf Arbor community building breezeway
What we learned: Bill’s intention for the presentation was to convey that architects are a resource for developing affordable housing beyond design. Team MWA is an ally in supporting and advocating for state and local changes to strengthen development projects. Connecting with industry partners allows us to share knowledge beyond the presentations and dig into details that benefit from different perspectives.
Shradhan Shrivastav
Designer Shradhan Shrivastav enjoyed attending a conference focused exclusively on housing. The conference dug deeper into the subjects that we, as designers, don’t always get to be a part of. Shradhan’s key takeaway was from a collaborative session focusing on resident engagement, as outlined below.
Journey Mapping for Equity
What we learned: In new construction, Journey Mapping might act similarly to a post-occupancy evaluation. Journey Mapping can be utilized as a community engagement tool in renovation work. The process helps define key stakeholders and challenges so resident engagement and communication can place the priority communities at the center of decision-making.
This process might be implemented after an architect designs a space. The session focused on guiding participants through case studies and “creating a visual map that delineates the touchpoints a resident experiences from initial engagement to ongoing outcomes. This mapping will…highlight key touchpoints, emotional experiences, pain points, and barriers that exacerbate disparities.” It had participants identify points where there could be improvements or interventions.
Why it matters: While Shradhan knows it might be a challenge to capture all the different paths and POVs for folks through the Journey Mapping process, it would allow people to see a wider set of problems and how to fix them where possible.
Photos from previous community engagement events
Cara Mitchell
Architect Cara Mitchell participated in the Conference and found it an exciting avenue for learning and sharing knowledge about the state of housing in Oregon. She also loved that the conference was a big gathering with many familiar faces. Attendees got to catch up with friends and meet new folks throughout the two days. Cara had some key takeaways from the sessions outlined below.
Can’t Respond if you Aren’t Prepared
What we learned: This session focused on disaster preparedness in rural areas and how preparedness might be implemented in affordable housing. It underlined the importance of a community being prepared with checklists, go bags, and emergency supplies.
Why it matters: As our climate becomes less predictable, we must consider emergency preparedness. As designers, we need to provide creative storage solutions for go bags or emergency supplies that are easily accessible to residents.
Post Occupancy Survey
What we learned: Continuing the trend of resident engagement, this session discussed post-occupancy evaluations and the value they hold for future development and design.
Why it matters: Post Occupancy surveys allow residents to voice their experiences. Listening to these experiences teaches us how to better provide for residents. Since many of our affordable housing client relationships are ongoing, post-occupancy surveys allow us to learn from residents and provide a better product for our clients on future projects.
Setting Your Sights
What we learned: This panel discussed site selection for housing and how to note all the things that might influence the project down the road. As an architecture firm, I found this session to be a reminder of site concerns that a developer might have predesigned.
Why it matters: It is our responsibility to create solutions that alleviate these concerns for our clients and work with neighbors meaningfully.
When asked about her experience, she said, “I loved revisiting topics I haven’t touched on in a while, like site selection, and seeing what new topics we can take forward in our work. It was great seeing former coworkers and friends throughout the conference and hearing about their work. There are so many careers related to housing, and it’s cool to see what paths people take.”
Cara with new friends, enjoying lunch at the conference
The conference takes housing beyond the context of how we see it as architects and widens the scope further to teach us about developing land, securing funding, managing the property, and caring for the folks who move in after the project is done. Attending makes us better designers because we get to see the bigger picture, what works and what doesn’t work, from folks experiencing it firsthand. We get to see what other architects are designing and how they solve design issues and solve construction questions. Overall, this knowledge helps us understand what hurdles owners face and what we can do to help. Having a space where housing is the focus reminds us how we can continue to be creative in design and supportive of policy for affordable housing.