On the Boards: Aloha Affordable Housing
A four-story building being constructed in Aloha will have 82 affordable housing units. (courtesy of Scott Edwards Architecture)
Author
Alex Jensen
Date published
May 27, 2022
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A four-story, 82-unit apartment building on the rise in Aloha will be the tallest in the neighborhood when it’s finished. But it will soon have company.
The project team aimed to make the building simple, quiet, and light, Scott Edwards Architecture principal Lisa McClellan said. That will set the tone as other projects – such as a four-story, 90-room hotel – are built nearby.
The approximately $28 million affordable housing project is the second that Scott Edwards Architecture has designed for BRIDGE Housing, a nonprofit developer and property manager. The first was Cornelius Place, a mixed-use development featuring a public library and 45 apartments for low-income seniors in Cornelius.
The 78,000-square-foot building in Aloha will hold studios as well as apartments with one, two or three bedrooms. Units will be offered to people making no more than 30 percent or 60 percent of the area median income. The team is paying for the project in part with $10.23 million from the $652.8 million Metro affordable housing bond approved by voters inConstruction started in April at 3575 S.W. 174th Ave. The site is near the intersection with Tualatin Valley Highway.
The site’s dimensions presented a dilemma for the project team, McClellan said. The desire was for a C-shaped building with residential wings on the sides and a large common area in the middle. That would allow residents to enter the building and immediately be in the common area, with easy access to the courtyard.
“But the site is not square; it’s kind of a weird parallelogram,” McClellan said.
So, sticking with the same building plan, the project team had to push and pull the structure so it would fit within the property boundaries.
That adjustment ended up being a blessing. Instead of long interior corridors, the building will have hallways broken up into sections due to shifts in the massing. McClellan said this would create greater distinction of the areas around residents’ apartments.
Large windows outside the elevator and along the corridors will let in substantial natural light. The windows will be within 6 inches of the ceiling, allowing for greater light coverage.
“I think that is really unique about this particular building is we adjusted the form of the building to address the site constraints, but then it created a really wonderful experience within the circulation of the building,” McClellan said.
A traditional look is planned for the building’s exterior. Fiber-cement siding will have a light terra-cotta base color on the ground floor, and a white finish on floors above.
Outside there will be a courtyard with a playground, a patio area with tables and chairs, a barbecue grill, raised garden beds, and seating separate from the play area.
Earth Advantage gold certification is being targeted for the project. Relevant features will include enhanced insulation, low-flow plumbing fixtures, a ventilation system, materials with low amounts of volatile organic compounds, and LED lighting. The building will be solar-ready. Also, approximately 75 percent of the landscaping will have some level of drought tolerance.
Project plans initially drew pushback from neighborhood residents, McClellan said. However, the project team addressed concerns about motor vehicle traffic, and pulled the building back from a corner of the site to improve visibility of the intersection at Southwest 174th Avenue and Alexander Street.
