How to Get Good Design?

	Introduction
	Steps to Design Quality

Good sized trees provide shade and a central focus to the courtyard of this Philadelphia townhouse project. Raised curbs separate plantings from circulation areas in this Boston courtyard. Entry porches in this Sacramento project provide shaded, private open spaces for each unit. See Gallery or Design Considerations Checklist for more Examples.

Introduction

Steps to Design Quality

The principles of good design are the same for every project, no matter its cost, but designing affordable housing presents unique challenges. Good design can make a world of difference for the people who will live there and the neighborhood surrounding it. The Affordable Housing Design Advisor brings together experience and ideas from successful affordable housing projects all over the country and the people who developed, designed and built them.

From start to finish, here is a step by step guide to thinking it through and getting it done, based on real world experience. The Steps include a Design Consideration Checklist that summarizes key points where design can make a difference. So you can consider the possibilities—all of them.

Use the tools and information here at every step of the affordable housing project, from the first concepts, throughout the planning and design process, during construction, and for years afterwards as the project is operated and maintained during its long useful life.