335 west 8th street (“The Ellis”)

new build 60-unit multifamily development in a tight urban context

After already being fully designed once, it was discovered that the relocation of an underground drainage culvert would be an order of magnitude more expensive than previously estimated, which upended the project budget, and took us back to the drawing board. What was already an efficient project that maximized available space in every dimension - became further constrained to an even smaller and more awkwardly shaped footprint. 

What had previously been nearly a half acre of buildable area was cut by a third. By wringing every bit of efficiency out of the project, we were able to limit residential unit losses to only dropping 2 out of the previous iteration’s 62.

As the primary (and pretty much only) production architect for the project, I learned and grew a great deal from the experience of coordinating all consultants across the full range of the project timeline. After a pause in 2022 for the owner to resolve logistical hurdles, construction commenced in the second half of 2023, and is targeting completion prior to the beginning of the fall academic semester of 2024.