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Slater Estates- Housing for the Elderly Webster, Massachusetts |
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TMA was retained by Rural Housing
Improvements, Inc. and Community Builders, Inc., co-sponsors for this $3.4
million residential project financed under the HUD 202 Program. The facility contains 70 units of housing for the elderly,
including 7units for physically handicapped residents, and community spaces. The project shares a site with the historic Slater House in
Webster, Massachusetts, and is surrounded by some fine examples of 18th
century mill-worker housing. Sensitive
to the historic nature of the site, TMA designed the building utilizing a
series of gabled dormers reflecting the rhythm of the nearby mill housing. Several design features were used to
visually reduce the scale of the building and give it a character more
appropriate to the surrounding neighborhood, yet still stay within the strict
federal cost containment guidelines of the HUD 202 Program. The height of the three story building was
reduced by lower the roof eave line and utilizing roof windows in the
bedrooms of the top floor; the middle portion of the roof was also flattened,
reducing unnecessary height, and providing a place for mounting rooftop HVAC
equipment out of normal sightlines.
The structural system takes advantage of the repetitive nature of the
design, utilizing modular wall panels and prefabricated floor and roof
trusses. The confines of an extremely tight site dictated the “T” shape
floor plan; this worked in the project’s favor by breaking up the mass of the
overall structure and providing a natural public/private space division
within the building. The site also
contains a meandering stone-dust pedestrian path, which doubles as an emergency
access road for fire trucks, landscaping and parking area.
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