2023 Spring Issue - 64

ul10
Infill Housing
Ten infill residential
developments help
strengthen the urban fabric
and add density where it is
needed most.
Infill housing can transform
the existing urban environment,
increasing pedestrian activity,
replacing neglected buildings that
have reached the end of their
useful life, filling empty gaps on
the street, and giving people places
to live close to public transit and
other essential infrastructure.
Many infill opportunities involve
constrained or oddly shaped sites,
requiring creative approaches
to make the new housing cohere
with its surroundings while fulfilling
the essential functions of residential
uses.
The following 10 projects-all
completed during the past five
years-include a seven-unit apartment
building on an 11-foot-wide
(3 m) strip of land, multifamily
structures that occupy irregular
sites across the street from transit
stations, a tower that replaces 39
apartments from the 1940s with
249 affordable apartments, a
cross-laminated timber (CLT) co-op
apartment building, and a pair of
mixed-use residential towers that
incorporate large-scale terrariums.
RON NYREN is a freelance architecture and urban
design writer based in the San Francisco Bay area.
RON NYREN
1. A.O. Flats at Forest Hills
JAMAICA PLAINS, MASSACHUSETTS
Across the street from the Forest Hills transit station in Jamaica Plains,
Massachusetts, lay a narrow, steeply sloping slice of land that once
housed the commonwealth transit authority's maintenance and train
shed. The Boston office of developer Community Builders worked with
the Architectural Team of Chelsea, Massachusetts, and associate architect
Stephen Chung of Boston to configure a linear building containing 78
units of affordable and workforce housing as well as commercial space.
The five-story structure's rhythm of sawtooth bays and direct entries
along the street reference the forms of nearby triple-decker apartment
buildings. Directly opposite the transit station's parking lot, the building
presents a larger volume with a bulkier massing and a ground-level storefront
system.
Deeply excavating the foundation enabled the project to avoid having
any impact on the adjacent railway infrastructure. Completed in 2020 as
the third phase of a larger master-planned project, the building has 38
workforce housing units and 40 affordable units for households earning
at or below 60 percent of the area median income (AMI). A.O. Flats also
includes a new, publicly accessible pocket park.
64
URBAN LAND SPRING 2023
BRUCE MARTIN, COURTESY OF THE ARCHITECTURAL TEAM
BRUCE MARTIN, COURTESY OF THE ARCHITECTURAL TEAM

2023 Spring Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2023 Spring Issue

2023 Spring Issue - Cover1
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2023 Spring Issue - Cover3
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https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/2024-fall-issue-of-urban-land
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/2024-spring-issue-of-urban-land
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/2024-winter-issue-of-urban-land
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/2023-fall-issue-of-urban-land
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/2023-summer-issue-of-urban-land
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/2023-spring-issue
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/2022-winter-issue
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/2022FallIssue
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/2022-summer-issue
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/2022-spring-issue
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/ulm-winter-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/summer-issue-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/uli-spring-2021-issue
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/ULIWinter2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/URBANLANDFALL2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/URBANLANDSUMMER2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/urbanlandinstitute/UrbanLand/URBANLANDSPRING2020
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