Missing Middle Housing

CHICAGO, IL

TBDA has been working with developers on Chicago’s South and West sides to create both individual multifamily projects, and in the case of Blacks In Green, bigger picture solutions that can revitalize historically disinvested neighborhoods. At the neighborhood level, in neighborhoods with many empty lots, our proposed greenways provide sustainable infrastructure while cutting the long blocks in half, creating walking paths, community gardens, and gathering and play spaces.

At the building scale, community space is built into larger multifamily projects (6 to 10 units). Larger common rooms are provided for classes, meetings, day care, and other events, while spaces for storage, gardening tools, and workshops support independence while keeping individual units right-sized. It’s a similar model to co-housing, with their proven social benefits.

Financially, two innovations keep wealth in the neighborhood: first, a community land trust controls the cost of the land, allowing for permanent affordability; secondly, in 6 to 10 unit buildings, the intention is that a group of 3 to 5 owners own their units and rent the rest, providing wealth-building opportunities at a smaller, neighborhood-oriented scale.

Finally, all these buildings are super energy-efficient Phius buildings, meeting Architecture 2030 targets, with outdoor spaces for all units, fully accessible, with a mix of units from 1-br to 4-br to accommodate different ages, abilities, and family structures. Plantings are optimized via vertical gardens, and the roofs feature BioVoltaic systems. With backup batteries, these buildings can also be local resilience hubs, at the neighborhood scale as is appropriate.

Instead of just putting buildings back in and perpetuating the old patterns, we can have something better!