• Designing missing middle for a small infill site

    A balanced project with placemaking that meets the market and gets public approval requires patience and understanding of building types.
    Note: This is Part 2. In our previous post showing how we design Missing Middle Housing for small sites, we reviewed some initial steps, including conceptual studies for a small site master plan in Novato, California. Now, we’re going to look at the steps we took to refine the preferred alternative...Read more

  • Missing middle: Why form and scale matter

    The "missing middle" opens lines of communication about diverse housing choices that are compatible in form and scale with detached, single-family homes in walkable neighborhoods.
    Lately, we’ve noticed people using the term “ Missing Middle Housing ” solely in an economic sense, to refer to the lack of attainable housing for middle income households. And while Missing Middle Housing is an excellent solution for middle income households , form, scale and context are also...Read more

  • Thoughts on the Athens Charter

    A film depicting the famous 1933 voyage of modernist architect members of CIAM from Marseilles to Athens on the Patris II, reminds me of the good that new urbanists are doing today.
    As I watched this most extraordinary little film (see below) by Bauhaus professor László Moholy-Nagy, I really turned very emotional over it. It was so revealing to see the heroic figures of CIAM stripped down to their swimming suits, looking like regular human beings. Gathering, preaching,...Read more

  • A good place revisited

    Some of Seaside’s leading architects return to a town both blessed and stressed by a crush of visitors.
    Note: Seaside was influential as a walkable resort town built from scratch, starting in the 1980s. Similar developments were planned and built on the Florida Panhandle in the last three decades. This special report chronicles Seaside's changes from the perspective of early designers and a writer...Read more