Full article by Graham Womack at Sacramento News & Review
Across the street from one another in San Francisco, David Baker Architects created two housing complexes indistinguishable from one another — at least from exterior view.
One is 388 Fulton, with its units commanding up to $1 million each. The other is Richardson Apartments, providing supportive housing to people formerly experiencing homelessness, and demonstrating how the firm has rethought housing for people with low incomes, according to the firm’s new book, “9 Ways to Make Housing for People.”
“With its strong geometric forms, unabashed use of color and texture, high-quality materials, and private green spaces, it puts to rest the common though misguided theory that affordable housing should look affordable,” notes a foreword for the book, written by Allison Arieff, editorial director of print for MIT Technology Review.
On Feb. 23, the firm’s founder, David Baker, and one of its principals, Caroline Souza, gave a presentation on their book to about 50 people at the Warehouse Artist Lofts in Sacramento. They spoke as part of the desigNarrative Speaker Series for the Central Valley chapter of the American Institute of Architects, or AIA.