Cool within reach: Studio E rewrites the rules of affordable housing

Residential Architect, Nov-Dec, 2002 by Meghan Drueding

Studio E Architects did its very first affordable housing presentation in crayon on brown packing paper. While part of the stunt's aim was to introduce some humor into the dry process of choosing an architect, the members of the San Diego-based firm also wanted to show the developer their respect for the agricultural past of the project's Riverside, Calif., site. "We wanted the presentation drawings to look like the packaging on old-fashioned orange crates," says principal Eric Naslund, AIA.

They got the job. And in the 15 years between then and now, they've gotten many more. Studio E's work has changed the way people look at affordable housing. Their three AIA National Honor Awards for Architecture lend credence to their design skills for those developers and NIMBYs who haven't seen their projects in person. Those who have need no additional proof.

deep roots

The firm named itself after its first office space, a tiny studio in San Diego's now-gentrifying East Village. Back then, in 1987, Studio E consisted of just two employees: Brad Burke and Naslund. Burke, an Orange County, Calif., native and graduate of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, had spent five years as head of the housing division at a large local firm, Austin Veum Robbins Parshalle. Naslund graduated from the same school four years later and worked under Burke at AVRP. Most of their clients were merchant builders, and both architects felt a growing sense of frustration at the sales and marketing constraints that bind production housing. "There was definitely a need for standard tract housing," says Burke. "But the architect was at the bottom of the food chain."

So they broke off and started Studio E. In 1989 John Sheehan, a friend of Naslund's from Cal Poly, moved back west from Boston and joined them. The three made their living designing mostly remodels and the occasional new house--until they entered, and won, the competition for the Riverside project, called Casa Blanca. The difficult program--17 single-family houses ranging from 1,000 to 1,600 square feet on 2.3 acres--proved an intoxicating challenge. "We took the kit of parts from merchant builders and tried to use it in a different way," Naslund says. "The nonprofit developers were excited about that. That's what drew us into this."

Casa Blanca led to two more affordable commissions on which Studio E acted as the architect of record and then to one they designed outright. That project, Orange Place Cooperative Housing in Escondido, Calif., won them their first AIA National Honor Award in 1998. (The other two are also affordable projects: Indian Wells Senior Housing in Indian Wells, Calif., won in 2000, and Eleventh Avenue Townhomes in Escondido, Calif., won in 2001.)

Their early developer clients were small, private nonprofits who still team with Studio E today. "They designed one of my first affordable communities, Mission Terrace," says Matt Jumper, executive director of nonprofit San Diego Interfaith Housing. "I just fell in love with those guys. They think about the open space, the parking, everything--not just the buildings. They're my architect of choice." Working with local organizations that finance their developments with state money is an important part of the formula. "There's no HUD involvement in the projects we do," says Naslund. "Our projects are under local control, which means they're usually smaller and more fine-grained. It's a gentler way to build housing."

turning a profit

Studio E now employs 10 designers in addition to Burke, Naslund, and Sheehan, and each partner has a family to support. They're constantly surprised that their peers around the country assume designing affordable housing requires a vast financial sacrifice. "People don't realize you can make money doing affordable housing," says Sheehan. "The fees are comparable," adds Naslund. "The only thing that might be different is the fluidity of the money. It sometimes takes a little longer to get paid by a nonprofit because they don't have the cash reserves that a regular developer has."

The firm's dexterity at working with California's tax credit system also comes in handy. Every year, the state allots a fixed amount of funding in the form of tax credits for affordable housing. Proposals compete for points based on their fulfillment of certain criteria (energy efficiency, land conservation, and affordability, for example), and the ones that win the highest number of points are the ones that obtain funding. Studio E's projects consistently receive the maximum number of points available. Therefore, its proposals usually get built, which generally makes for a higher profit margin than projects that never get off the ground. This also increases the pool of developers clamoring for its services, which enables the firm to choose the projects it wants to do.

Aside from the fact that they can make a living at it, the partners and their staff all crave the excitement of solving the puzzles that affordable housing presents. "The merchant-built world was always asking 'Did it sell yesterday?' rather than 'Is it right for tomorrow?'" explains Naslund. With affordable housing, there are no sales quotas or market fluctuations to worry about--just thousands of low-income workers hungering for a decent place to live. The median price of a home in San Diego County (which includes the cities of San Diego; Poway, Calif.; and Escondido) has surpassed $330,000--a cost just one-fifth of the market can actually afford.