+ONE Housing Report

Dallas’ housing challenges are not going away, and It is imperative that the institutions, businesses, and residents of this city begin to seriously address our growing population, rising housing costs, and our need for a greater variety of housing. As we make those changes, let us not forget the historical housing inequity that got us to this point.

There is no simple solution, instead we will need a combination of City-wide, place-based, and population specific solutions. To aid in that conversation, we explored the idea of adding just one additional unit to existing single family lots, or +ONE housing.

We believe that +ONE is potentially one piece of our city’s affordable housing puzzle. Why focus on +ONE? The reasons are simple: +ONE allows us to make better use of what we have, it empowers existing and potential homeowners, and it has the potential for a significant number of units due to the sheer number of existing single family neighborhoods in Dallas.

The scale of +ONE housing means that all of us can play a role in this effort - whether you’re a lender, city council member, a builder, a designer, or a homeowner.

State of Dallas Housing - 5 Year Comparison Report

buildingcommunityWORKSHOP is excited to share our State of Dallas Housing - 5 Year Comparison Report! This report focuses on how Dallas’ housing landscape has changed over five years. Using our State of Dallas Housing 2017 report as a baseline, this year’s report shows how the data changed from 2016 to 2021.

You can also learn more about the current state of Dallas’ rental housing market by checking out Child Poverty Action Lab’s recently released Rental Housing Needs Assessment.

We hope this report, along with all the other great work happening in Dallas around housing, will lead to tangible outcomes for those in need of attainable housing. Learn how you can support attainable housing in Dallas by visiting Dallas Housing Coalition’s website

Levee Street Triplex in Brownsville Complete

In partnership with cdcb, we recently completed work at the Triplex on 325 W. Levee St. in Brownsville. We are pleased to have wrapped up this project to add to the rental housing available near downtown Brownsville.

Check out the before and after images below!

3318 Beall St Design/Build Complete

Construction is complete at 3318 Beall Street in the Dolphin Heights neighborhood of Dallas! Designed to accommodate a mixture of owner and renter occupied space to house people at different income levels and stages of life, we were fortunate to work with a client that values the interconnectedness of home as financial refuge, financial generator, and architectural expression of a commitment to place.

This project was a partnership with the University of Texas at Arlington Design/Build Studio. To read more about the home’s innovative design and how a house can support life cycle changes, click here.

Photos by Chad Davis

Hotel Miramar Conversion

In partnership with CitySquare Housing, [bc] has been working on the conversion of the Hotel Miramar at 1950 Fort Worth Ave in Dallas into permanent supportive housing.

Built around 1953, the design is typical of the motels that were popular during that era. When this project is complete, it will comprise at least 40 units, each with a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchenette. Services will also be provided on-site, including case management, substance abuse assessment and support and employment assistance. Staff on-site will include a property manager, program manager, substance use specialist, employment specialist, outreach coordinator, and case manager.

Stay tuned for more from this project!

Miramar Motel in its heyday

Hotel Miramar at 1950 Fort Worth Ave

Progress at the Good Neighbor Settlement House

We recently wrapped up construction drawings for the interior remodeling of the Good Neighbor Settlement House kitchen and addition of a clinic consult and check up rooms. 

This work is phase one of our three-phase remodel master site plan we developed for the downtown nonprofit agency serving Brownsville men, women, and children in need as part of our 2020 Brownsville City Design Studio. The partnership with GNSH began when [bc] developed the BCDS 2019 homelessness research initiative, “Restoring Dignity for the Homeless,” in which the GNSH participated as a crucial partner. 

Phases two and three will involve the remodel of the two-story historic building which will serve as office space for the outreach GNSH staff and a new computer lab. Phase three will involve remodeling existing flatwork and ramps to be ADA compliant and making landscape improvements to beautify the site. Stay tuned for more!

Current conditions for remodeling:

Phase 1 Render

Samano Update

Along with cdcb, we recently had a pre-construction tour of Samano Studios & Armand's Grocery in Brownsville. This renovation is transforming the turn-of-the-century Samano Building in historic downtown Brownsville into permanent supportive housing studio apartments, office spaces, a grocery store and a coffee shop.

Folks at the pre-construction tour got a sneak peek of the current state of the building as well as what’s in store for the historic structure. Check out these renderings that Alison designed of the future space:

Samano exterior

View of grocery store corner entry for Samano Building from E 12th Street.

Grocery Store

The grocery store design focuses on highlighting the historic architecture of the building while providing an essential amenity to the community.

Multipurpose Space

The second floor is designed to support residents through community spaces that create opportunities for thoughtful programming. This multi purpose flex space is where the residents and the staff can come together as a community for events and informal gatherings.

Residential Unit

Residential units are designed to be both cozy and durable.

Exploring Affordable Housing Options in Dallas

We’re excited to announce that we have a new project starting up in Dallas! 

With funding from the Truist Foundation and the MUFG Union Bank Foundation, we have begun a partnership with East Dallas Christian Church (EDCC) in their effort to repurpose existing assets in the Peak's Addition neighborhood of Dallas and explore the reprogramming of existing facilities as well as affordable housing options for their vacant property. Church Cartographers, a mission-based consulting firm specializing in reimagining underutilized church assets, and East Dallas Development Organization (EDCO) are also key project partners joining in this effort.

When the project is complete, EDCC will have a vision for community programming of an unused building as well as a report on their vacant land detailing: 

• Number of units that could be built

• What percentage of AMI could be served at each price point

• Preliminary development proforma

• Potential cash flow resulting from project, should EDCC wish to pursue it

The research produced through this project will add to [bc]’s ongoing efforts to push innovative solutions for affordable housing in Dallas. Like so many other cities, Dallas faces major housing affordability issues,with low-income communities of color being most at-risk of displacement and losing the rich historic character of their neighborhoods. The aim is to approach the concept of the Missing Middle - an industry term for the lack of quality low rise medium density housing options) to meet the demands of affordable housing, equitable opportunities for home ownership, and healthy neighborhoods. See image below, courtesy of missingmiddlehousing.com.

We have been engaged in research and mapping to understand existing neighborhood assets and opportunities and will begin the community engaged design process in the weeks to come. Stay tuned for more from this exciting project!

Celebrating at 3318 Beall Street

Over the past two months, [bc] has been honored to partner with UTA Design/Build Professor Julia Lindgren and her fantastic students in the construction over at 3318 Beall Street, our latest design/build project in Dallas.

Since mid-March, this class made amazing progress on the house. Now that their semester has wrapped up, we all gathered onsite for a celebration of their work yesterday. It was a great time to check out all the work the students have done and to celebrate their contribution! We look forward to keeping in touch with the students and know amazing things are in store for them as they continue their education.

Check out the photos from the celebration!

Professor Julia Lindgren, former [bc] member, speaks about the process and learnings from the project

Words of appreciation for the students’ hard work

Students pose on the front porch

UTRGV StoryMap Nears Completion

The Rio Grande region lies on the US border between Texas and Mexico and is served by the University of Texas at the Rio Grande Valley, a Hispanic Serving University (HSI) where over 25 percent of students are Hispanic/Latinx. 

The UTRGV Department of Science reached out to [bc] last year to help adjust one of their projects that had been disrupted by COVID. Funded by a National Science Foundation grant, the aim of this project is to provide the faculty with a deeper understanding of the RGV and by extension their students, then measure how this training affects curriculum and student outcomes. Normally, this training would take place at a 3-day retreat -- but due to COVID, the department had to shift gears to a virtual option. In talking through their objectives and audience, [bc] recommended recreating the content of the retreat through a StoryMap.

The StoryMap recreates the storytelling and highlighting of local places and culture within the RGV, connecting this context to methods of teaching Latinx communities. 

The StoryMap will cover four categories:

1. Place - What is the RGV? What is the history, what are its significant places, the ecology and history of development? 

2. Culture - What are the key essences of the RGV? This section explores the role of family and children as well as water in the RGV. 

3. Pedagogy - This section will focus on the history of education in the RGV, acknowledging the history of children being reprimanded for speaking Spanish at school and the trauma associated with this history.

4. University as an institution and how it’s seeking to better serve its Latinx population through curriculum development, campus offerings, and more. 

This project is set to wrap in the next couple of months. We look forward to learning the results from the study to understand how this type of resource can be used to benefit educators and students of HSIs. 

Check out some of these historic images of the RGV that are featured in the StoryMap!

Photo courtesy Museum of South Texas History

Photo courtesy Museum of South Texas History

Photo courtesy Museum of South Texas History

Samano Building: Historic Adaptive Reuse in Brownsville

In late 2020, we began work with our partner cdcb on an exciting historic adaptive reuse of the Samano Building in downtown Brownsville. Located at 1158 E. Elizabeth Street, the property consists of five stories, each approximately 5,775 square feet, with a basement. Originally built as a bank in 1925, the Samano building most recently was a Payless Shoe Store, followed by a period of vacancy until cdcb acquired the building.

When complete, the Samano Building will include a small grocery store and coffee shop on the ground floor (filling the gap in nutritious grocery access left when HEB moved from its downtown location), coworking/office spaces on the middle floor, and 34 units of affordable housing on the top floors with set-asides for citizens in transition. 

Check out these photos of Samano - including what it looked like in its heyday and a rendering of what the building will look like when work is complete!

Samano soon after construction at 1158 E. Elizabeth Street

The building as it stands today

The future Samano Building - rendering by Donald Hickman

Fair Park Community Park Project Underway

In December 2020, [bc] was selected as part of a team led by Studio-MLA along with AGWms_studio and local landscape architecture firm studioOutside to design a new community park at Fair Park, the 277-acre National Historic Landmark in Dallas that's home to the State Fair of Texas.

Replacing over one thousand parking spaces, the project will feature an 11-acre park with free programming for children, adults, and seniors. The planned Community Park design will be co-created with residents and could include features like a large lawn, a children's play area, naturalized plantings, remembrance gardens, a pavilion for gatherings, movable tables and chairs, and more. 

As part of the core design team, [bc] will rely on an interdisciplinary process of co-creation to provide architectural services related to the overall park vision, pavilion, and supporting facilities of the new Community Park. We are excited to help envision a transformative and just public space for Dallas. 

Design meetings are beginning now with residents of the Fair Park area. Sign up to receive updates on the project here! 

Program ideas generated through the Fair Park Master Plan engagement process. Image courtesy fairparkfirst.org

Design engagement for the Fair Park Master Plan. Images courtesy fairparkfirst.org

MiCASiTA Update

Along with Enterprise Green Communities and cdcb | come dream. come build., [bc] has been at work refining core module options for MiCASiTA, our innovative grow-home model that allows families to purchase a home that is designed to grow as their family and finances do. 

Over the last few months, our team has gotten together for several report and design charrette meetings to review required and optional categories for Enterprise Green Communities Certification. This certification allows us to act on an integrative design process and set specific goals. The criteria checklist is a useful guide as we design the MiCASiTA grow-home model and seek to tap into economic, health, and environmental benefits.

Each MiCASiTA module will come prefabricated and will feature a main array of amenities and necessities. For example, our “Smart Box” options include a KITCHEN + BATHROOM + LAUNDRY or BEDROOM + LIVING ROOM. These two core options will then create our main starting point to the MiCASiTA grow home model. After the initial core is created and placed onsite for the family to move into, separate modules that can be added onto the home over time may feature an “Office Box” that has a BEDROOM + OFFICE + BATHROOM, a “Kids Box” featuring 2 BEDROOM + BATHROOM, or a “Flex Box” with GARDEN / GARAGE / STORAGE.

The graphic below represents the L core diagram, with the two “Smart Boxes” coming together to illustrate the process of the grow-home model. The top shows Gable Roof and the bottom shows a Shed Roof.

Our next steps as the design team are to come up with a thoughtful façade design and wrap up to begin the permitting process.

Core massing option graphic by Oscar Olvera.

Community History Exhibits Published

We recently wrapped up our Dallas Neighborhood Stories project in partnership with the Dallas Public Library (DPL) with three digital Community History exhibits published to DPL’s blog, Booked Solid. The communities in focus were West Dallas, South Dallas, and Red Bird.

We began each community history effort in late 2019 with one full day of archiving at the local library branch, which led to multiple follow-up interviews and one and one meetings with longtime community members. This project is a small piece of a process that will take years, even generations of Dallasites, to truly give justice to each neighborhood’s robust history. 

Check the exhibits out at each link below - and be sure to share with folks who might be interested!

West Dallas Community History 

South Dallas Community History

Red Bird Community History

The contributions, which range from documentation of West Dallas residents’ struggle against lead contaminated soil to memorabilia from Carter High School in Red Bird, will help to reshape a narrative that has long been dominated by the history of white Dallasites. This work is an effort to strengthen awareness of our city, celebrate the diverse places that give it character and texture, and create platforms for active dialogue about its history and future. 

The West Dallas portion of the project was featured in KERA News.

With these small exhibitions, we hope to encourage more people to record their personal history with the Library and help expand the collection.

See a preview from each neighborhood below:

This project was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and Humanities Texas. 

Welcome Back, Alison!

We are happy to announce that Alison Katz is back at [bc]! In 2018, Alison was a bcINTERN in the Houston office where she found her passion for housing while working on the Houston RAPIDO Prototype. This interest continued in Pittsburgh where Alison joined the Urban Design Build Studio to develop a replicable housing model called RE_CON designed to redistribute equity to low-income residents of gentrifying neighborhoods.

Alison is joining Donald Hickman in our Houston office, where she will support design efforts across all [bc] offices. Read more about her here.

Aside from her work, Alison loves punk music and is looking forward to checking out the scene in Houston. Help us give her a warm welcome back to [bc]!

Jackson Street Cottages

The Jackson Street Cottages are located at the intersection of E Jackson and 16th Street in Brownsville, Texas. After being held by the same owner for decades, the residences went on the market in 2020 and  were at risk of being purchased by a commercial buyer.

In an effort to preserve rental units close to downtown and to maintain the historic character of the development, the City of Brownsville approached [bc]’s partner, come dream. come build. cdcb, to request that they purchase the property to save it from being demolished and converted into commercial use. cdcb agreed and has brought [bc] on as lead architect.

There are three buildings on the property, with five units total. All units are in a deteriorated condition, both interior and exterior. Two of the buildings are historically significant. The project will involve rehabilitating the historic doors, windows, and siding for 2 structures on Lot 1, which are on the list of Texas Historic Sites. The two contributing structures are at  1026-1030 E Jackson St in Brownsville.  

Records show that the buildings were located on site between 1930 and 1957. The vernacular building is a contributing structure and provides historic character and a sense of place to the immediate surrounding thanks to its location on the corner.

We are set to break ground in March 2021. Look out for more updates from this exciting project!

How to Be a Housing Advocate

Everyone deserves a safe, healthy, affordable place to live. Every neighborhood deserves housing that meets the diverse needs of our community. But unfortunately, the housing reality in most cities is far from perfect. Housing segregation persists due to a legacy of racist housing policies like redlining. Today, misconceptions about affordable housing persist among many residents — but housing diversity strengthens our economy, improves commuting times, and provides a number of other benefits.

If you would like to help promote housing diversity in your own neighborhood or city, [bc] has put together a guide on how to be a housing advocate that covers the following topics:

• What housing diversity is and why it’s a good thing

• Why the city of Dallas doesn’t have housing diversity

• Why it’s hard to find affordable housing

• Misconceptions surrounding affordable housing

• What YOU can do to be a housing advocate

The report features a case study of Dallas, but it applies to cities across the USA. To learn how you can be a Housing Advocate and promote housing diversity in EVERY neighborhood, read the full report here.

Design/Build: Innovation in Dolphin Heights

[bc] has been working on a design/build project in the Dolphin Heights neighborhood of Dallas. We have worked with a client to design a 1500 square foot affordable house. We are acting as the designer and builder, focusing on sustainability by maximizing the use of pre- and post-consumer recyclable materials in construction and pursuing a LEED certifiable design. When complete, this project will be an example for a new way forward in affordable home delivery and ownership for the city of Dallas. 

We are currently wrapping up with the permitting process, after which construction will begin. We’re looking to have it finished by May/June. We have already identified a buyer, and she and her family can’t wait to move into their new home!   

WHY WE’RE DOING IT

Housing costs are skyrocketing in cities across the country, including Dallas. The median rent in Dallas is $1,250, a rate which is out of reach for Dallas’s homeless and low income residents earning less than 0-31% of the Dallas AMI, which equals an income of $1617.8 per month. Unfortunately, recent housing production in Dallas has not met the need for low-income families. The majority of new housing in the City of Dallas has been concentrated in just a few of its wealthier neighborhoods, despite widespread growth across the city’s nearly 400 neighborhoods. Approaching this problem requires innovative solutions in design and construction. Focusing on the design-build approach, which reduces costs and expedites the construction process while allowing for maximum input from the homebuyer, results in both time and dollars saved -- money that can then be put toward developing more affordable housing or directly into the client’s pocket. 

This project was funded in part by a generous contribution from the Truist Foundation. 

Welcome, Oscar!

We are excited to welcome Oscar Olvera to [bc]! Oscar is originally from the Rio Grande region and grew up volunteering, learning, and working for local museums and grassroots organizations. Throughout his career as an architecture student, he grew an interest in city growth, city edges, and urbanism. With his education and work, Oscar seeks to improve the livability of communities across cities.

In his spare time, Oscar enjoys . Read more about him and what he’ll be working on at [bc] here!