Context/Significance
The revitalization of inner city neighborhoods is a long and arduous process that can only be achieved through multiple initiatives. This 20-unit project was built on vacant lots and fills a decades-old gap in the urban fabric.
It provides an opportunity for families of moderate incomes to take a stake in their community by investing in affordable homeownership. It is one more initiative that helps to complete the transformation of a neighborhood that began more than a decade earlier with the HOPE VI program for the revitalization of the Orchard Park public housing development.
Description
Twenty at Luma includes 16 two-family homes and 4 town houses designed to help re-establish the lost urban fabric on three sides of a city block. Townhouses hug the edge of the site, reinforcing the street wall and animating it with large windows, doors, stoops, gables, porches and cornices – architectural features that bespeak the presence of a revitalized residential community.
Special Features
Sustainability was a key goal and the buildings meet LEED Silver standards for energy efficiency with features that include photovoltaic solar panels on the roofs.