Insights
Nov 21, 2022 _ insights
Prefab + Affordable Infill: Building Homes, Saving Carbon
There is no easy fix to the affordable housing crisis. With cities facing affordable housing shortages of tens of thousands of units, any strategy must be multi-pronged.
We recently conducted a study that explores the potential of prefabrication to help overcome that deficit while recreating lost density within the fabric of existing neighborhoods. It seeks to define opportunities to foster community, enhance neighborhood identity, and build generational wealth with prefabricated, single-family homes.
Intended to be executed at a large scale within vacant lots of existing neighborhoods, a modular affordable housing strategy has the potential to:
An especially exciting possibility is that at the appropriate scale, a modular approach to affordable housing can be combined with Passive House design strategies to reduce long term energy consumption and costs by 70% while remaining economically viable.
Our study envisions the use of prefabricated, single-family homes as part of a larger infill strategy that would bring a diversity of housing options to empty plots within established neighborhoods.
With renewed investment in affordable housing and home ownership at the federal, state, and local level, now is the time to embrace bold, new designs.
Learn more about the potential of this strategy
in our Prefab + Affordable Infill brochure.
Amanda Markovic is a Principal and Market Design Leader in GBBN’s Community Development Market, AIA Pittsburgh Board Member and Blueprint for Better Champion, and a frequent presenter at regional and national community design conferences. Her recent work includes Fifth & Dinwiddie West and East, Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library’s Deer Park Branch, and Baldwin Burrough Public Library.
