Page 26 - ArchDC_Spring 2021

Kitchen and dining area of a street-facing unit.
building such housing is not easy. Some of the new buildings’ condominium on an adjacent lot and turned to JKA for a reprise.
budget difficulties are evident in their unambitious façades Both lots are quite deep, allowing each building to have two
of inexpensive materials. For the missing middle to work, the wings, one in front facing the street and a second in the rear
architect must be careful to avoid big-ticket items like elevators facing the alley, separated by a courtyard. All the units have
and extra egress stairs. And any bravura architectural gestures windows facing two opposite directions—an unusual luxury
must be “paid for” by extra-tight design elsewhere. for dense urban developments. Each wing has four units: one
JKA’s portfolio is primarily retrofits of historic properties. flat each in the English basement, on the piano nobile (raised
Of the Kozo, project designer Emily Hurst, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, first floor), and on the second floor, and a duplex on the 3rd
commented, “It was exciting to have the opportunity to start fresh.” and 4th floors.
Previously, this lot was occupied by a dilapidated wood- Since the 4th floor is accessible only from within the duplex
frame house—the awkward surviving half of a former duplex. units, and the English basements do not count as a “story” for
Developer P.T. Blooms had completed another eight-unit the building code, it was legitimate to provide only one egress

24 MISSING MIDDLE MADE MOD