Commendation Project name: Portland Front Street Phase I
Project overview: Building from a strategic plan to double the housing stock held by the Portland Housing Authority, Front Street Phase 1 revitalizes an existing property with 60 new units of family-focused housing. The project includes many three-, four-, and five-bedroom homes, specifically designed to address the needs of the area’s population of large families, including those who have immigrated from Somalia, providing for multigenerational living within a site plan that stitches the community into the surrounding neighborhood.
The project reorganizes the site with four buildings and a series of clearly defined open and community spaces. Buildings are aligned on street frontages, including a new street and pedestrian allée that cut through the site in scale with the adjacent neighborhood. The open spaces enhance connections to an adjacent park and transit artery. At the nexus point of the project, a community center provides a new neighborhood amenity. At the ground level, units open directly onto exterior patios where tenants raise their own gardens.
The project cleverly incorporates the large family units in a series of two-story duplex units accessed from the second floor of a double-loaded corridor building. While the project increases the unit density on site, the roof line modulation and articulation are sensitive to the zoning and scale of the surrounding neighborhood of single family homes and triple deckers.
Front Street Phase 1 is PHIUS + CORE certified through the Passive House Institute US, demonstrating a thoughtful attention to a robust thermal envelope, energy efficiency, and air-tight construction detailing.
Project location: Portland, Maine
Firm name: Utile, Inc.
Architect of Record: Utile, Inc.
Completion: 2023
Client: Portland Housing Authority
Jury comments: This affordable housing project accomplishes many design excellence strategies well. Achieving Passive House certification indicates that this project is well constructed and will perform for the inhabitants. As the landscape develops around these structures, the project will improve over time for the users. Design for affordable housing, built at an exceedingly low cost per square foot, making this a much-valued project. PHIUS ensures costs will remain low for operations.
Images/Photographer(s): Randy Crandon Developer: Front Street Redevelopment, LP – Jay Waterman Project Manager General Contractor: Zachau Construction, Project Manager Adam Routhier Civil Engineer: Ransom Consulting Specifications: Kalin Associates, Mark Kalin Structural: Thornton Tomasetti, Paul Becker Mechanical: Petersen Engineering, Sarah Carter Electrical: Petersen Engineering, Sarah Carter Plumbing: Petersen Engineering, Sarah Carter Landscaping: Carroll Associates, Matt Phillips PHIUS Verifier: Advanced Building Analysis, LLC (Mike)
