Florida Atlantic: Building A Better Solution

Millions of Americans are considered rent- burdened, meaning they spend at least 30% of their income on rent, utilities and other housing-related costs. And half of all renters are challenged to find a place to rent that they can afford. In Florida, the statistics are particularly alarming as the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that there are only 25 affordable rental homes available for every 100 low-income renters.

No single solution will solve these problems. But Florida Atlantic University’s School of Architecture is hoping to address the shortage through a partnership with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)/Healthy Housing Foundation, the largest global HIV/ AIDS organization and a longtime advocate for affordable housing. In collaboration with the award-winning Glavovic Studio, a Fort Lauderdale-based architecture firm, the partnership is the first of its kind, bringing together a leading academic institution, a global nonprofit organization, and a for-profit architecture studio to advance innovative solutions to the affordable housing problem. Approaching the crisis from different perspectives, the three partners are working to identify adaptive reuse opportunities and amplify the voices of the next generation in solving generational problems.

“As a school we embrace pragmatic constraints as poetic design opportunities, while we tackle the most challenging problems of our time,” said Joseph Choma, Ph.D., director of Florida Atlantic’s School of Architecture. “In order to advance the built environment, our school believes that we need to blend innovative research- based methods with professional practice conventions. This unique collaboration directly aligns and resonates with our school’s vision and ethos.”

Jeffrey Huber, professor of architecture, was involved in the design studio and sponsored research partnership.

“The studio went ahead and challenged the students to think about how we think through existing structures. How do we think about the hardest challenges within our community right now? And that’s affordable housing,” Huber said. “The students looked at challenges of urban design, landscape architecture, architectural ideas, interiors, materiality and what kind of lifestyles and typologies can emerge on these design proposals.”

Through the partnership, Florida Atlantic students have developed a guidebook to help identify which kinds of existing vacant properties may be most viable for affordable housing projects, putting adaptive reuse into practice. The students also unveiled comprehensive architectural designs on specific sites in South Florida, taking advantage of the state’s new Live Local Act that allows certain properties to be rezoned for housing. Over time, the Florida Atlantic student design proposals will become new models for adaptive reuse and sustainable living in Florida and beyond.

“This was an amazing experience for our students. Architecture students are often taught how to talk, but rarely are they taught how to listen. By having a real client, students learned how to ask questions and carefully listen,” Choma said. “It is especially incredible to have a client, such as AHF, who genuinely wants to help the world by tackling affordable housing.”