By Christine Doherty, Project Architect at STUDIO Architecture
When our team at STUDIO decided to take on the Buildner Denver Affordable Housing Challenge, an international ideas competition supported by AIA Colorado and the City of Denver, we saw it as an opportunity to explore what “design excellence” means for our city, and to do that together, outside of our day-to-day project work.
At STUDIO, we believe everyone deserves thoughtful, high-quality design that prioritizes dignity, comfort and community. This competition gave us the freedom to pursue that belief through pure exploration and to ask how affordable housing can elevate lived experience while staying grounded in real-world constraints.
Grounded in Denver
The competition allowed us to select our own site, so we chose Park Hill, a neighborhood rich with history and character, but also facing challenges around access and affordability. Our concept, titled “Rooted in Park Hill,” centered on connection to housing, to food and to community.
We began by mapping the intersection of three key factors that shape opportunity in Denver: poverty rates, access to grocery stores, and access to vehicles. Park Hill stood out as a place where all three overlap. It’s also an area with growing access to public transit and emerging investment in green space, making it an ideal testing ground for new ideas in equitable urban living.
Our design proposed affordable, passive housing that takes advantage of existing public transit and integrates with the neighborhood’s expanding network of parks and trails. By reimagining the mid-block infill model, we created a walkable community anchored by green infrastructure and shared outdoor space (and one that can intentionally be replicated across similar urban neighborhoods).
Balancing Idealism and Practical Ingenuity
One of the most rewarding parts of this process was the collaboration. We don’t always get to work so closely across disciplines within the studio, and seeing everyone’s strengths come together was inspiring.
Each of us took on a role that reflected our individual strengths. Evan shaped the narrative and overall board composition, weaving the story of our concept together. Sydney focused on building design and collage graphics, translating our ideas into visual form. Josh dove into hydroponic research and developed the systems graphic that tied our sustainability approach together. April, our interior designer, brought the interiors to life through furniture layouts that made each unit feel livable and real. I managed our efforts as the team lead, coordinating unit types, refining the exploded axon, and keeping the work cohesive as the vision evolved.
All of us at STUDIO are creative thinkers, but we’re also deeply grounded in constructability. It’s what we call practical ingenuity. We all bring the ability to think big while also designing something that can be built efficiently, beautifully and within budget. The competition brief encouraged us to explore that balance, to test new ideas without losing sight of the realities that define successful housing, and I’m so proud of how it turned out.
Designing Systems That Build Equity
At the heart of “Rooted in Park Hill” is a question: What if affordable housing could address some of the other key hurdles facing Denver? To that end, our proposal wove together a series of green systems designed to lower costs, improve resilience, and strengthen community connection.
Hydroponic farms were integrated vertically within the building to provide fresh produce for residents and nearby neighborhoods, reducing food insecurity while creating opportunities for education and skill-building.
The building also featured modular construction and a single-stair typology, taking advantage of Denver’s recent zoning updates to create more flexible, efficient housing forms. Prefabricated units and an on-site exoskeleton system reduced construction waste, while graywater reclamation, cross-ventilation, and green roofs supported energy efficiency and long-term sustainability.
Each element served multiple purposes: reducing cost, conserving resources, and creating meaningful opportunities for residents to engage with their environment. By layering those systems, we aimed to show how design can be both technically smart and socially responsive.
A Shared Creative Process
The process itself reminded me why I love what our team does here at STUDIO. Every step of the way, we were supported with the time and resources to take this on, but it was really driven by our shared curiosity. We sketched over lunch, debated design moves after hours, and pushed each other to think about how our work can extend beyond the drawing set and into real stewardship.
Even though we’re a relatively small team, everyone brings an impressive skill set to the table, and that collective capability lets us deliver exceptional results.
Looking Forward
This experience was ultimately about growth, both as designers and as a team. With jury members from the City of Denver and AIA Colorado, it felt meaningful to contribute locally to a dialogue we’re engaged in on a daily basis nationally.
We’re still waiting to hear the official results, but for us, the real value was in the process. Pushing ourselves creatively, thinking beyond the everyday constraints of projects, and doing it together as a team made this effort feel like a success in its own right.
It also reinforced something that’s central to how we practice at STUDIO: that design is both imaginative and deeply human. That balance is what gives our projects lasting impact and what makes this work so rewarding.
