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MISSING MIDDLE HOUSING FOR RALEIGHThomas Barrie FAIA | Professor of ArchitectureAn NC State College of Design Publication2024

StudentsCeCe BoudwinKatherine BrooksDanytza CisnerosJack DaltonLakkshita IndrabanuEmily LewisPaige KanipeChelsea LelandJennifer MacDonaldShruthi ManivannanLindsay MedburyPurvij MunshiAlankrit Ganesh RajagopalanRoozbeh SalehiVeronica WyaResearch AssistantMarina MustakovaNC State University College of DesignCampus Box 7701, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27695-7701©2024 An NC State University College of Design PublicaonThomas Barrie FAIAMissing Middle Housing for RaleighThomas Barrie reserves all rights to this material in conjuncon with the College of Design at NC State University

ContentsIntroduconMissing Middle Housing TypesDemonstraon Projects• Duplexes, triplexes, quads, and townhouses• Mulplexes• Coage Courts• Live work and shop houses• Accessory Dwelling UnitsConclusionAppendix• Research

IntroduconRaleigh has recently updated the zoning code to allow for more missing middle housing. The “missing” in missing middle housing refers to the fact that zoning laws typically prohibit this type of housing. It includes historic housing types that provide choices between single family houses and large apartment buildings including duplexes, triplexes, quads, townhouses, mulplexes, coage courts, live work and shop houses, and accessory dwelling units. Missing-middle housing responds to the need for diverse housing preferences, ages, household sizes, and income levels. It can also create gentle density where it is most needed: in inner city and rst ring suburbs. Missing middle housing does not eliminate single family houses but simply provides a broader range of housing types in residenal districts. It can provide aordable housing opons to address a worsening naonal housing crisis. It also supports social stability and diversity and can increase the economic diversity of a community by allowing people to age in place and trade down without moving out. Duplexes, triplex-es, quads, and coage courts provide ownership and equity opons – live-work and shop-house units can support home employment. Missing middle housing is also essenal to a sustainable future. It is well estab-lished that buildings and transportaon are the most signicant contributors of CO2 emissions associated with global climate change. Housing density can migate sprawl and support public transportaon which, along with reducing household transportaon costs, can lessen an area’s carbon footprint. Smaller units and ones with shared party walls use less materials and require less energy to heat and cool, reducing ulity costs and carbon emissions. Missing middle housing is part of a naonal movement of zoning reform to create “complete communi-es” that are equitable, aordable, sustainable, and walkable. Proponents argue that reforms are needed to create diverse housing and transit-supporve, sustainable development. However, opponents cite fears of a loss of character and control of their communies. The ercest bales are oen in neighborhoods of single-family houses on large lots close to city centers, services, and public transportaon. This has rounely been the case in Raleigh.The studio focused on the research and design of missing middle housing for inner city neighborhoods in Raleigh. Inner city residenal neighborhoods are oen losing character, the result of the market economics of housing development. As land prices rise the only way developers can secure a return on investment is to build either a large house (if that is the only opon permied by zoning), or mulple missing middle hous-ing. Because missing middle units are smaller they can be the most eecve way to ensure development compable with neighborhood character. Team work included research on missing middle housing histories, policies, and precedents, and sustain-able, equitable development and community capacity building. Students worked individually to comprehen-sively design prototypical housing on a range of sites. The studio as a whole assembled a diverse knowledge base of housing choices that best serve 21st century Raleigh. A studio research assistant provided addional research and documentaon. The studio discovered that missing middle housing can capitalize on dicult sites. The students idened vacant inner-city sites, close to services, schools, and planned or exisng pub-lic transit and services. The studio collaboravely mapped all potenal sites to idenfy a diversity of sites appropriate to a full range of missing middle housing. The nal choices, all of which were in zoning types included in the enabling ordinances, provided specic planning and design challenges. The demonstraon projects that follow illustrate the power of design to solve complex planning and design issues and achieve diverse, equitable housing and communies that support transit and local businesses. The results also demonstrated that missing middle housing can also capitalize on sites in crical locaons that are missing housing choices necessary for a rapidly growing 21st century city.

Missing Middle Housing TypesDuplexes, triplexes, quads, and townhouses provide opons for smaller units with limited maintenance and landscaping tasks that are aracve to the young and old. They can also create gentle density that supports public transportaon and local businesses. They can be designed to be compable with residen-al communies through form-based codes. They can also provide equity opons. For example, a duplex can be owned by one family who rent the second unit to supplement their mortgage or household costs. Mulplexes are housing with up to twenty units that can maximize sites too big for other missing middle housing but too small for the ubiquitous mulfamily housing wrapped around parking. They can also be the most appropriate housing for small or challenging sites that are in higher density and mixed-use dis-tricts. Coage Courts are mulple units clustered around common green spaces, typically with parking located at the perimeter. They are an increasingly popular means to achieve gentle density, which can support neighborhood retail and services and public transportaon. They are also aracve to those who want to live in car free environments. Coage courts can make use of innovave equity and ownership opons to reduce housing costs, such as Community Land Trusts (CLT). A CLT owns the land of the coage court and residents either buy or rent the units. Because CLTs are always the result of community organizing they oen retain their advocacy roles and communitarian framework. They can reduce the price of housing because one only buys or rents the unit itself, not the land. (There is typically a minimal maintenance fee.) Housing aordability of CLTs is maintained through deed restricons that limit sale prices while owners of a house in a CLT can sll build equity.Live work and shop houses are another ownership and use model that has enjoyed a long history in US cies and towns. A tradional shop house has a street-level retail space with a living unit above. Contem-porary uses include home businesses such as beauty salons, accountants, or small retail, and also creave spaces for arsts and crasmen. The building is typically owned by one family, who either uses or rents the shop space. They can reintroduce neighborhood businesses that were once prevalent and create in-come for homeowners.Accessory Dwelling Units (also known as backyard coages, granny ats, etc.) are a historical housing type that used to be common but beginning in the mid-20th c. increasingly were zoned out and thus in many cies are illegal. They are second, smaller living units typically placed in the backyards of single-fam-ily homes. Like other forms of missing middle housing, ADU’s can be a low-impact means of creang housing diversity, parcularly in inner city and rst ring suburbs. ADU’s can also provide rental income to homeowners to subsidize their household costs making housing they might have been priced out of af-fordable. ADU’s can also provide stable adaptable housing as family needs and make-up change over me, including: rental income when starng out, housing for a parent or boomerang kid, or a unit for a caregiv-er allowing the homeowner to age in place. The homeowner can also live in the ADU as empty nesters, and rent the primary unit, allowing them to trade down without moving out.

Duplexes Jack DaltonThe site is adjacent to the Tarboro Recreaon Center and the future New Bern Avenue Bus Rapid Transit Line. The project opmizes the small site by a compact plan of duplexes and Accessory Dwelling Units. Even though there is a densiity of housing the project also in-cludes community spaces and a common building. The laer includes a bike shelter for BRT riders.

Site context and plansAerial View

Accessory Dwelling Unit

Duplexes + TriplexesLakkshita IndrabanuThis project transforms a dicult site in the Mordecai neighborhood into a community of duplexes, triplexes and live-work units, and a welcoming courtyard on the street. The site plan retains sucient open space to qualify as Conservaon Development, thus maximizing the number of units allowed on the site.

Duplexes + Accessory Dwelling UnitsPurvij MunshiIn the Mordecai neighborhood most undeveloped propores are small or challenging sites. More oen, older, smaller houses are being replaced by larger ones, This project joins two small sites and demonstrates how missing middle housing can eecvely add gentle density in residenal areas. The outcome is 6 units in an R-10 zone. An array of sustainability strategies increase their aordability.

Interior of ADU

TownhousesRoozbeh SalehiThis 1.1 acre ag lot on Oberlin Road provides a potent opportunity for inl housing in a rapidly growing area of Raleigh. Clusters of townhouses create an urban street and green courtyards. Parking is limited and located at the periphery. The compact units open to the exterior and include rooop paos.

Townhouses + Aached Accessory Dwelling UnitsDanytza CisnerosThis site on Church Street behind Ligon MIddle School is in an area that tradionally had a diversity of housing types. The design transforms convenonal townhouse planning to create expressive forms and residenal scale. The spaally-complex units include townhouses and aached accessory dwelling units and mulple rooop terraces.

Site Context

Site Plan

Adaptable Duplex + Accessory Dwelling UnitVeronica WyaThis ag lot on Harge Street adjacent to New Bern Avenue provides adaptable housing close to public transit. The panelized construcon system is designed to be incrementally built and adaptable to respond to changing family needs. The assembly systems would be premanufac-tured reducing construcon me, costs and waste.

Incremental ConstruconPanelized System

TownhousesJennifer MacDonaldThis 1.17 acre site on East Lane Street at Idlewild Avenue is in the New Bern - Idlewild NCOD district. It deploys convenonal townhouse organizaon and site planning while providing generous, light-lled interior spaces with rooop terraces. The compact townhouses line the streets of the corner lot to crerate ample community spaces. Parking is on the interior and city streets.

The steeply-sloped site at 416 East Cabarrus Street is zoned RX3-UL, commercial mixed use. This project demonstrates the suitability of mulplexs for challenging sites in higher density ar-eas. It also illustrates how neighborhood retail, social spaces, and sustainability strategies can be eecvely incorporated into this type of housing.MulplexLIndsay MedburySite and Context

MulplexPaige KanipeThe site at 115 Wakeeld Avenue is zoned RX-3 and located between large scale apartment buildings and a single family neighborhood. Four clusters of housing are arranged around courtyards. The project demonstrates the advantages of mulplex housing including a variety of unit types, gentle density, community and retails spaces, and a range of sustainability strate-gies. Site and Context

Site Plan

The .96 acre site at 606 Rock Quarry Road is zoned R-10 and is located on a frequent transit corridor adjacent to a small-scale residenal neighborhood. 30 duplex and tripex units ring a central courtyard. The coage court housing type was chosen for its capacity to provide social spaces, including a community house, and a range of housing types. A community land trust is also propsed as a means to achieve aordability while providing gracious, generous living.Coage CourtCeCe Boudwin

Coage CourtChelsea LelandTwo deep lots that together comprise 1.49 acres is adjacent to the Lile Rock greenway and Chavis Park and on a frequent transit corridor. The project demonstrates how coage courts can eecvely ulize dicult sites to achieve transit-supporve density and create local iden-ty and sense of place. Twenty stacked or side-by-side duplex units with porches line a central street allowing the rest of the site to be preserved as greenspace.

Transverse secon showing stacked and side-by-side units.

Longitudinal secon showing connecon to the greenway.

This project illustrates how parcular sites can oer unique opportunies for missing middle housing. The .5 acre site is zoned R-10 and located at 310 East South Street adjacent to Shaw University. Four two bedroom units are located above a variety of retail and work spaces that form a series of community courtyards. The mix of uses and community spaces are designed to serve the Shaw University and neighboring communies. Live Work + Shop HousesAlankrit Ganesh Rajagopalan

Material Palee

Live Work + Shop HousesShruthi ManivannanThe site on South Wilmington Street is located in a transional zone between downtown and residenal neighborhoods. It responds to this condion by providing a variety of housing and retail and work spaces. Four live work units create a series of public community spaces and private courtyards and roof terraces and are designed to provide services to an area severed by busy roads and infrastructure. View from Wilmington Street showing retail and co-working spaces.

Accessory Dwelling UnitsEmily LewisAccessory dwelling units provide housing opons and transit-supporve density where it is oen most needed – in inner city and rst ring residenal neighborhoods. Too oen, however, design and construcon costs and lengthy, complicated approval processes have been imped-iments. This project proposes to solve this problem by preapproved kit houses that oer a full range of living space, levels, materials and nishes.

Unit TypesStudio One Bedroom Two Bedroom

Accessory Dwelling UnitsKatherine BrooksHousing is well-suited for modular or panelized pre-manufactured construcon systems. Con-temporary architects and builders have demonstrated that Accessory Dwellings units provide potent opportunies for standardized, aordable, and sustainable units. This project proposes panelized systems that provide a range of unit types, material choices, and sustainability strat-egies.