What makes a great home? For architects French 2D, the process is rooted in dialogue — and lots of it. After all, the answer varies depending on who you ask, which leaves designers with the task of translating the client’s needs and aspirations into a bespoke environment, all while balancing climate, site context, building code and budget. It’s a challenge familiar to architects the world over; beauty emerges through careful listening, as well as attention to detail and sensitivity to local culture. But Anda and Jenny French weren’t designing a luxurious single-family home; the Boston-based sisters were bringing their thoughtful, collaborative ethos to a striking three-storey residential complex for an intentional community of 30 households.
Recently completed, their collective ownership project in Malden, Massachusetts, integrates playfulness, personality and an elegant dose of density. In its eye-catching form and vivid hues, the Bay State Cohousing development riffs on the peaked roofs and painted facades of the Victorian homes adjacent its prominent urban site (which connects to the Boston-area subway system) to introduce a vibrant neighbourhood presence. Just as its envelope hints at a single-family home gracefully stretched to urban proportions, the design process was guided by close collaboration with the clients, who range from millennial couples and young families to baby boomers.
“On any given day, there’d be up to 50 people together in a room, keeping each other in check,” says Jenny, describing a process grounded in “consensus decision-making.” For the architects, realizing the community’s desires for shared space, urban connection and intergenerational living entailed rethinking the norms of American mass housing: “How do we not just make a double-loaded corridor where everyone rushes out the door, hoping they don’t see anyone in the elevator?”
In lieu of double-loaded corridors, the individual homes of Bay State are accessed via the mint-green outdoor staircases that encircle the pink-hued, C-shaped courtyard. Evoking the fire escapes that double as impromptu gathering spots, these staircases face south to create more comfortable year-round conditions; their landings, together with the other balconies that contour the courtyard, mediate privacy and conviviality, deftly facilitating the collective supervision of children at play. A distinct counterpoint to the
