2019 AIA Blueprint for Better Housing

At the halfway point of the charrette

This year AIA Las Vegas put a call out to our professional community to coordinate a Blueprint for Better Housing.  This is our local chapter's response to a national project Blueprint for Better that challenges architects to work closely with community leaders to "...tackle key issues from rising water levels and more frequent natural disasters, to diverse housing needs and the increased urgency for sustainable design."

After coordination with community stakeholders, the AIA identified three housing categories: Multi-family Mixed Use, Workforce Housing, and Micro Housing.  Key locations within the city were targeted as virtual project sites, and an all-day visioning charrette was held in late August.  Happily, our design teams, six total, consisted of a mix of non-architects like business owners, bankers, government employees, developers--and a few architects and landscape architects too.  This event was just the start of weeks of accelerated research, proposals, number-crunching, and designing.

Anne was invited to lead a Multi-family Mixed Use group, and has been actively continuing the efforts for our site with the charrette participants, members of the local community, and our office team.  Sparkflight Studios is invigorated by this experience of listening and learning, and shaping form in response to community needs.  It's what we love to do!

• Can a mixed use development be a catalyst for local business incubation? Yes!
• Can urban housing have access to green space and fresh produce? Yes!
• Can a triple bottom line* for sustainability drive a development? Yes!

* Triple bottom line is people, planet, and profit.  

The AIA Las Vegas will present the groups' conclusions in late October.

Look for additional posts with the developing project!

Preparing our presentation after a 12-hour day