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By David P. Parish
Increasingly, good business depends upon good design.
A strong business climate relies upon opportunities for growth
and development, but many people now associate growth and development
with a loss of control and quality of life values such as privacy
and open space. The time has passed when underwriters could confine
their concern to the short-term profitability of a proposal. To
preserve the opportunity to do business in the future, funders need
to consider the long-term impact of current proposals.
Good design can enhance both an institution's collateral and the
overall business climate. As a major funder of affordable housing
and community development throughout New England, the Federal Home
Loan Bank of Boston (the Bank) has an established interest in the
quality of the built environment.
In 1990, the Bank began to offer both the Affordable Housing Program
(AHP), which provides support for member-assisted affordable housing
developments, and the Community Investment Program (now the Community
Development advance) designed to support both moderate-income housing
and community economic development. It soon became obvious that
one of the major impediments to the development of such initiatives
was local opposition to their construction.
Although the reasons for such opposition are many and complex,
two major factors are economic fears and loss of current amenities.
These fears are legitimate, but they may be mitigated — if
not overcome — by good physical and programmatic design.
In the past, poor public policy and misguided assumptions about
the purpose and function of subsidized housing and other development
initiatives often led to designs that were a threat both to neighbors
and the people they served. However, developers now have access
to a set of tools to help them understand how to build and manage
housing that provides economic and social benefits to communities
and residents.
The Design Advisor
In 1999, the Bank joined with representatives of the American Institute
of Architects, the Enterprise Foundation, the Local Initiatives
Support Corporation, the National Congress for Community Economic
Development, and the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation to form
the Advisory Group for the Affordable Housing Design Advisor.
Originally sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, the Design Advisor was meant to serve as a tool for
considering and improving design decisions related to affordable
housing. The
Design Advisor (www.designadvisor.org)
has since grown into a web-based tool for accessing resources related
to the design of affordable housing.
The intent of the Design Advisor is to recommend processes that
lead to good design rather than provide specific design guidelines.
As the Design Advisor states, "Design means many things to
many people, and good design is often different from one 'eye of
the beholder' to the next. Nonetheless, for the purposes of the
Design Advisor, we can say that a project is well designed if it
meets user needs, understands and responds to its context, enhances
its neighborhood, and is built to last. These four basic criteria
form the backbone of the Affordable Housing Design Advisor."
The Design Advisor goes on to state, "An affordable housing
project can be resisted by the community every step of the way,
or welcomed. It can be a problem that gets progressively worse,
or an asset for its neighborhood for decades. It can be a constant
source of discomfort and resentment for everyone who lives in and
around it, or it can provide the people who live there with everything
we all expect from our home: comfort, security, an atmosphere to
thrive and do our best in. More than anything else, the difference
is design."
The Design Advisor contains a variety of tools, resources and examples,
all focused upon achieving design quality. Recently, the Advisory
Group of the Design Advisor has initiated the national Campaign
for Excellence in Affordable Housing Design to raise awareness of
the benefits associated with good design. As part of the campaign,
a series of monthly design updates are being added to the Design
Advisor site. Each update deals with a specific design issue, such
as "Adding value without adding cost," or "Designing
porches and balconies that work for you and your neighbors."
It is possible to subscribe to the updates by sending contact information
to jbeck@njit.edu, or the updates may be viewed on the Design Advisor
web page at www.designadvisor.org.
The design of a development cannot be considered outside of its
location. Under the broad title of "smart growth," increased
attention is being paid to the context of development. If we are
to preserve the ability to grow, we need to acknowledge the need
to conserve. In a world characterized by diminishing resources,
enhancing efficiencies and protecting amenities become increasingly
important.
To help developers address these concerns, the Bank has developed
a Community
Development Checklist in the housing section of its web site
(www.fhlbboston.com) to raise questions related to the location
and efficiency of a proposed development. By reviewing the answers
to the community-development checklist, a developer or funder can
arrive at a much better understanding of the likely impact —
and acceptance — of a proposed development.
Design Evaluation
While checklists and guidelines are useful tools in judging the
appropriateness and long-term value of a development, there are
three truly indispensable steps that cannot be overlooked: visit
the building site, think critically about what is being proposed
for the site, and ask questions. A design may be appealing and built
from the best materials, but if it does not fit within its physical
context, its ultimate value is severely compromised.
The first questions are: Should the site be developed? Is the site
of such ecological, historical, or aesthetic value to the larger
community that it should remain undeveloped? If so, there are many
organizations that may be able to assist in its preservation.
Next: Should the development be built as proposed? This question
has programmatic and aesthetic components. Who will use the development?
Are the setting and context appropriate for the population being
served? How does the proposed design fit within the physical context?
Does it honor and advance the existing landscape, the surrounding
buildings, and the overall feel and style of the area? The test
here is simple: Once built, will people take delight in the development?
Will they go out of their way to see it, or will they go out of
their way to avoid it?
Questions of aesthetics are not within the traditional realm of
funders, but they need to be. Careful thought and honest dialogue
can lead to developments that enhance the quality of life and the
general economic well-being of a community. Who better to ask the
questions that need to be asked than those who are providing the
funds?
Although use of these tools is likely to lead to more acceptable
development, mere acceptance cannot be the final goal. If we are
to foster economic growth within the region, we must strive for
delight in what is built — and what is preserved. Attention
to good design can lead to vital, energized communities that look
to growth for solutions.
David P. Parish is member services representative at the Federal
Home Loan Bank of Boston.
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