JZA+D Design Adds Needed Housing to Historic Neighborhood

”Missing middle approaches are also seen as adding appropriate density to existing residential areas while strengthening their appeal for current residents, according to groups such as the National League of Cities. As jurisdictions around the country strive to address the shortfall in available and attainable housing, experts in the field including Zinder are advocating for more effective missing middle solutions rather than large-scale midrise housing developments.

A Historic Residence, Reimagined

JZA+D’s solution for 166 John Street starts with an addition to the historic two-family home that expands the footprint of its two existing apartments, which have been completely redesigned inside. Below those units, a former unfinished basement has been converted into a new ground-floor apartment. Then, taking advantage of the site’s ample area, JZA+D’s team designed a new three-family residence, 168 John Street, set back from the roadway to maintain the historic streetscape. The site’s landscape design creates a new parking court wrapped by stone walls, minimizing impact on neighborhood streetside parking while harmonizing with the cultured stone veneer façades of the property’s two buildings, according to project architect Taylor Kinsey Toms, AIA, an Associate with JZA+D. At grade with the parking court, both ground floor apartments are fully accessible units and feature small patios.

For the existing structure, the JZA+D team updated the exterior by replacing original exposed concrete block and stucco on the lower levels with stone veneer, and the wood siding above with more resilient fiber cement painted clapboard, to visually softens the architecture. A folded surface formed from metal panels creates outdoor rooms and slips out of the plane of the parking façade to create a green roof covered entry for the ground floor apartment.

This aesthetic is reflected on the new building, 168 John Street, its simple gabled form sitting atop the stone wall wrapping the parking court and harmonizing elegantly with the surrounding vernacular homes. The front balcony creates a covered entry for the lower apartment, and the same folded metal forms seen on 166 John cap the stairways to the upper apartments, helping to visually tie the buildings together.

Inside, the mostly open-plan living spaces within the larger upper-floor units in each building are laid out with a great room feel to emphasize their spaciousness. For the reimagined existing home, rear outdoor rooms accessed through full-height glass doors provide additional seasonal living space.  Designed with sustainability in mind, all units feature ductless mini-split units for efficient zoned heating and cooling.