A place to call home: Design strategies shaping multifamily housing in Boston

The urgent need of urban areas today is to add to our housing stock to alleviate the housing affordability crisis.

“From 2010 to 2020, the number of households in Greater Boston increased by 10.7% while the number of housing units rose only 7.9%,” states a 2024 Pioneer Institute study.

At Hacin, we believe great design is key to making new construction a welcome addition to existing neighborhoods and an attractive home for future residents. The elements of success sound simple—understanding neighborhood scale, recognizing local character, providing a sense of community, and creating livable spaces. But realizing meaningful design responses to these fundamental drivers requires diligence and attention to the big idea in each project.

At Hacin, an interdisciplinary architecture and design firm based on Boston’s South End, we think of our buildings on a continuum between existing places with their characteristic and sometimes historic structures and a future in which our work becomes context for ongoing evolution.

Housing is the fundamental building block of neighborhoods, creating the fabric of identity. Every unit of multifamily housing is someone’s home. In the following examples, the key design decisions supported the integration of the building into the neighborhood and the creation of a meaningful place to live.

Design Strategies for Revitalizing Multifamily Housing in Established Boston Neighborhoods

Integrating Multifamily Housing into Allston’s Urban Fabric

Two projects in the Packard Crossing neighborhood of Allston, 83 Gardner and 55 Brighton, knit together a break in the city block pattern that had been created by parking lots and single-story retail. Although 55 Brighton sits on a larger than typical parcel and exceeds both the density and height precedents of the surrounding neighborhood, a few simple design moves allow it to both fit in and enhance the local context.

A repeating red brick bay structure follows the rhythm of the existing scale and continues the four-story street wall, with the two top floors setting back from the street. Rather than repeating the traditional projecting bay shapes, the geometry of the façade flares outward in a nod to another neighborhood reference, the styling of historic Packard automobiles which were manufactured nearby. The effect is to create a unique identity to the address while rooting it in its place.

Preserving Historic Character in 83 Gardner

83 Gardner, located at the back of the block on a lower scale street, also integrates greater density by retaining an existing historic Victorian house and wrapping taller residential building around it. This scale modulation, as well as stone walls and the preservation of mature trees on site, all ground the building in its location.

The main lobby of the complex is a uniquely updated renovation of the existing Victorian house which provide residents a direct sense of “home.” Using the historic residence also adds a sense of timelessness to the composition.

Community Connections Through Shared Pedestrian Spaces

55 Brighton introduces its own sense of community through its generous daylit corridors with flared unit entries recalling the building exterior. Both 83 Gardner and 55 Brighton share a newly created through block pedestrian alley connection, further tying the neighborhood together. 

Architecture Approaches for Building Multifamily Housing in Evolving Urban Contexts

Activating Mission Hill Streets with Mixed-Use Design

In the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, two projects have been part of the transformation of a low density mixed-use street into a vibrant urban residential neighborhood.

In the first, The Tremont at 1478-1494 Tremont Street, retail spaces reinforce an active street front while the masonry structure strikes a pedestrian friendly, three-story datum line with a fourth story set back above. Buff-colored (rather than traditional red) brick gives the building a lighter presence and enhances the mixed materials of the street. A central court breaks the building mass into an appropriately residential scaled street rhythm and splits the building entrance into two distinct addresses.

This makes for a more intimate sense of community for building residents. The living units are designed to feel bright and spacious as well as reflect the character of the building, with tall, loft like windows enhancing the connections to the street.

Contemporary Design Meets Historic Structures at Longwood Row

The second project, Longwood Row, weaves a new five-story building between two historic puddingstone structures, re-using one of the structures for unique split level living units. The new building spills out to the street corner and utilizes exterior brick patterning that is distinctly articulated and contemporary, creating a contrast to the rustic historic stone and giving the building a specific and fresh identity.

The contemporary twist continues to the building interior, with high-contrast gloss paint and pixelated historic neighborhood images lining the shared corridors, further acknowledging and anchoring the building in the surrounding neighborhood.

Designing Bright, Spacious Living Units for Residents

Both projects emphasize interiors that feel bright, open, and connected to the street, reinforcing a sense of community and comfort for residents.

How Architecture Can Improve Resident Experience and Community in Multifamily Homes

Daylit Corridors and Interactive Spaces

One final project, 150 Camden Street in Lower Roxbury, sits adjacent to the Piano Craft Guild building, a historic piano factory converted to loft-style apartments in the 1980s. Over time, additional long, bar shaped buildings have filled in the neighborhood, echoing this industrial scale.

150 Camden follows the simplicity of these bar shaped buildings while introducing projecting bays and large contemporary windows for spacious apartments. To help with wayfinding and orientation, the corridor is daylit at each end by virtue of double hold-open doors to the fire stairs which have open-grille risers. This technique draws daylight in to make the corridors feel bright and welcoming, encouraging residents to use the stairs where they are more likely to meet for spontaneous conversation.

Thoughtful Interior Design for a Sense of Home

In all of these residences, the progression from street to lobby to unit entry door is contemplated as an integral sequence of arriving "home." Each of these thresholds is part of the overall design story and a thoughtfully composed moment.

On entering their apartment, residents are greeted with natural materials, carefully composed kitchen layouts, and unique moments like creative tile work and light fixtures, as well as ample natural light. This attention to design detail and weaving the main idea throughout is what creates a sense of place to each of these projects and closes the loop of respectful consideration for the new residents of the neighborhood.

The need for housing has become acute, but it is more than just a question of quantity or density. We need housing that creates connected neighborhoods and that people actually want to live in. And we need to design buildings with the long view in mind—today’s new structures will be tomorrow’s urban fabric and history.

The key to success is an investment in design guided by an awareness of scale, context, community, and livability. Most importantly, through thoughtful design we must continually strive to create places that feel like home