Affordable Housing Rehabilitation for Codman Square NDC – Boston, MA
Sorensen Partners is Architect for the $13M rehabilitation of fifty-nine units of affordable housing in the Dorchester and Mattapan neighborhoods of Boston, MA for CSNDC (Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation). The Walando Homes development includes six masonry structures dating from the late nineteenth century and the 1960s, on two sites. The project began construction in 2021 with Groom Construction as general contractor.
Renovating affordable housing for vulnerable populations is a high-priority measure to address the housing shortage in the Commonwealth and a high degree of need for these populations in particular.
As Architect for the project, Sorensen Partners designed site, public space, and kitchen and bath improvements, and added and improved laundry and mechanical rooms. We are coordinating and managing the design and installation of new plumbing, fire protection, plumbing, and electrical systems with our Northeast-based AE team of CSE (Structural Engineer); DTC (MEP & FP Engineers); and DeVellis Zrein (Civil Engineer & Landscape Architect).
For a discussion of Sustanability aspects of the project, see this post.
See end of post for discussion of Stakeholder Engagement conducted for the project.
Completed Waldeck Street Site Buildings, Summer 2023:
Completed Orlando Street Site Buildings, Summer 2023:
Construction Progress Images Spring-Summer 2023:
Construction Progress Images Fall 2021-Spring 2023:
Images of the Unrenovated Buildings and Spaces follow:
Stakeholder Engagement:
Sorensen Partners designed and led interactive stakeholder engagement meetings for the two different sites to solicit input from residents about the environmental qualities of the exteriors and interiors of their buildings that affect their health.
Health was defined broadly to include sound impacts, air quality, psychological wellbeing as a result of adequate security, availability of daylight and good quality interior light, access to nature and views of nature, and access to exercise opportunities and walkable/bikeable community resources.
Residents participated in roundtable discussions and recorded their input to prompts on 5X5-inch cards that were then viewed and voted on in a blind-vote wrap-up work session involving the entire group.
The stakeholder engagement was conducted in 2018 and 2019, through two grants from Enterprise Community Partners. Our ability to fulfill the community engagement aspects of the Enterprise grant was an element of CSNDC’s selection of Sorensen Partners as Architect for the rehabilitation of the 59 affordable housing units comprising Walando Homes. Sorensen Partners designed the event such that members of the CSNDC resident services staff, Enterprise health experts, and members of the local and regional medical community (Codman Square Health Center and Boston Medical Center) participated as co-conveners of the stakeholder engagement. Sorensen Partners tabulated the community engagement results and developed a list of specific architectural schematic design recommendations for the rehabilitation project leading from the participants’ input.
