Houston will soon have 50 new residential units for youth leaving the foster care system and entering adulthood. The Houston Alumni and Youth (HAY) Center has broken ground on its 59,000-sf campus, with completion expected by July 2024. The HAY Center is a nonprofit program of Harris County Resources for Children and Adults and for foster youth ages 14-25 transitioning to adulthood in the Houston community.
Designed by Gensler to feel like a college campus, The HAY Center includes 50 efficiency-style apartment units with full kitchens as well as washers and dryers.Five of the units can house a single parent and one child. Connecting the apartments, a community space also offers a full kitchen, plus a flexible area that can be used for studying and for movie nights.
Input from The HAY Center’s youth informed the design of the two-building campus. Their input indicated the design should focus on five themes: home, empowerment, community, wellness, and security. Here’s a quick rundown of how Gensler’s design addresses each theme:
- Home: All activities take place in an environment that feels like home. To that end, the center features community kitchens, small and large meeting spaces, comfortable furnishings, and entrances that make everyone feel welcome.
- Empowerment: Youth are empowered by signing a lease, receiving a key, and having a place of their own.
- Community: The center is part of an established community with public transportation access, employment opportunities, and green spaces that promote a sense of belonging.
- Wellness: The design promotes physical and mental wellness. Onsite services include case workers and mental health services and other facilities available to all HAY Center youth, not only those who live on campus.
- Security: Hay Center youth do not have to depend on someone else for a place to live, and they have control of their own space. Campus security features have been based on input from the youth and industry professionals.
The project is targeting LEED Silver certification.
On the Building Team:
Owner: Harris County
Design architect and architect of record: Gensler
MEP engineer: Wylie
Structural engineer: Dally + Associates
General contractor: Arch-Con Corporation
Related Stories
Senior Living Design | May 16, 2024
Healthy senior living campus ‘redefines the experience of aging’
MBH Architects, in collaboration with Eden Housing and Van Meter Williams Pollack LLP, announces the completion of Vivalon’s Healthy Aging Campus, a forward-looking project designed to redefine the experience of aging in Marin County.
Affordable Housing | May 14, 2024
Brooklyn's colorful new affordable housing project includes retail, public spaces
A new affordable housing development located in the fastest growing section of Brooklyn, N.Y., where over half the population lives below the poverty line, transformed a long vacant lot into a community asset. The Van Sinderen Plaza project consists of a newly constructed pair of seven-story buildings totaling 193,665 sf, including 130 affordable units.
Mass Timber | May 8, 2024
Portland's Timberview VIII mass timber multifamily development will offer more than 100 affordable units
An eight-story, 72,000-sf mass timber apartment building in Portland, Ore., topped out this winter and will soon offer over 100 affordable units. The structure is the tallest affordable housing mass timber building and the first Type IV-C affordable housing building in the city.
Senior Living Design | May 7, 2024
Living community opens for seniors seeking affordable housing
San Diego-based nonprofit affordable housing developer Community HousingWorks (CHW) celebrates the opening of Puesta del Sol Apartments, a new development with 59 apartments for adults 55 years and older.
MFPRO+ Special Reports | May 6, 2024
Top 10 trends in affordable housing
Among affordable housing developers today, there’s one commonality tying projects together: uncertainty. AEC firms share their latest insights and philosophies on the future of affordable housing in BD+C's 2023 Multifamily Annual Report.
MFPRO+ News | Apr 29, 2024
World’s largest 3D printer could create entire neighborhoods
The University of Maine recently unveiled the world’s largest 3D printer said to be able to create entire neighborhoods. The machine is four times larger than a preceding model that was first tested in 2019. The older model was used to create a 600 sf single-family home made of recyclable wood fiber and bio-resin materials.
MFPRO+ New Projects | Apr 16, 2024
Marvel-designed Gowanus Green will offer 955 affordable rental units in Brooklyn
The community consists of approximately 955 units of 100% affordable housing, 28,000 sf of neighborhood service retail and community space, a site for a new public school, and a new 1.5-acre public park.
MFPRO+ News | Apr 10, 2024
5 key design trends shaping tomorrow’s rental apartments
The multifamily landscape is ever-evolving as changing demographics, health concerns, and work patterns shape what tenants are looking for in their next home.
Multifamily Housing | Apr 9, 2024
March reports record gains in multifamily rent growth in 20 months
Asking rents for multifamily units increased $8 during the month to $1,721; year-over-year growth grew 30 basis points to 0.9 percent—a normal seasonal growth pattern according to Yardi Matrix.
Sustainability | Apr 8, 2024
3 sustainable design decisions to make early
In her experience as an architect, Megan Valentine AIA, LEED AP, NCARB, WELL AP, Fitwel, Director of Sustainability, KTGY has found three impactful sustainable design decisions: site selection, massing and orientation, and proper window-to-wall ratios.