A part of the New Communities Initiative for Washington DC, the project was an urban design competition for 1100 housing units using mixed-use, mixed income development as prescribed in the HUD HOPE IV model. The area known as Barry Farm Dwellings, originally built in 1943, is an historic area home ton Frederik Douglas and where the first emancipated slaves were given the right to homestead in 1867. Through time, the area was to become physically isolated between infrastructure projects- railroad tracks and two major freeways- leaving behind a distressed predominantly African American community.
At the invitation of the Deputy mayors office of Washington DC, a development team, underwritten by The Netherlands Embassy and the Dutch Ministry of Housing and the Environment and the BNA, engaged with a multi-disaplined approach- high density Dutch style urbanism, a mix of housing typologies and social scientist to fully investigate the roots of this community in decline.
After countless weeks of working with civic and clergy leaders, as well a individual citizens groups, a concensus of ideas was established and transformed into an urban toolbox/ housing concept, which would provide a holistic 1:1 replacement housing for the long term residents of Barry Farm to thrive again. The concept featured stamp zones with as many as 10 different typologies- from rowhouses, to mid-rise mixed use, providing unique architecture within each block, with so-called defensible interstitial green space, to assure safe, engaged and healthy common spaces.
