affordable housing apartments architecture

Multi-family apartment over concrete podium


Stuart Street Apartments

stuart street apartments

The Stuart Street Apartments is a Multi-family Apartment in Denver. This building is 3 stories of wood-frame over concrete podium. The topography of the site proposed a unique design challenge. The property is only about 7,000 square feet. It is located at the south end of a dead-end street, near a gulch. It’s also a very steep site. Which turned out to be a blessing.

site challenges of Multi-Family Apartment in Denver

This property has nearly 10 feet of grade change from north to south. While a challenge it is also a great asset. The high portion of the property is to the north. So that means are are able to combine the grade change with southern exposure to make a walk-out type of condition. The property also adjoins open space so we don’t have to worry about losing views.

The zoning is Denver’s G-MU-3 which allows for 3 stories. With a maximum height of 40′ above the base plane. Due to the way Denver determines the base plane and how the International Building code determines a story we are able to do a tuck-under podium. This is a standard approach for Multi-family apartment over concrete podium. A podium is a concrete structure that allows a wood frame structure to be placed on top. This is technically a separate building by code to it affords some benefits. The podium portion in multi-family design is typically used as a parking level.

rendering of wood frame over concrete podium apartment

parking level / podium

At the below grade level we are able to provide 11 parking spaces. Two of these need to be accessible. One is a typical space and the other is a van accessible space. We are also providing a car share parking space. Due to the way Denver does parking reductions these 11 spaces allow 20 units in the building. This site saving technique is a key component of Multi-Family Apartment in Denver built over concrete podium.

podium parking layout

Denver Zoning allows for a 25% parking reduction for proximity to multi-modal transportation. We have that covered with the near-by light rail stop. A car share allows for 5 effective parking spaces for each car share provided. So essentially by dedicating one space for car share a development is allowed to get 4 additional spaces. There is a limit of a maximum 50% reduction in parking.

floor plans

Provide housing for those being pushed out of the neighborhood

That is the primary driver for this project. The goal isn’t to make a lot of money. The goal is to provide dignified housing for those would otherwise be pushed out of the area. The 20 units are efficient on space and budget.

apartment floorplan

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