In Portland, Maine, 23 Residential Apartments Rise on a City-Owned Parking Lot
Maximizing space on a tight urban parcel, Kaplan Thompson Architects brings missing middle housing to downtown Portland.
Maximizing space on a tight urban parcel, Kaplan Thompson Architects brings missing middle housing to downtown Portland.
Despite its centrally desirable location, the East Bayside neighborhood of Portland, Maine, was historically home to industrial and municipal buildings—warehouses, scrap yards, and low-quality housing dominated the urban landscape for decades. In 2017, however, when Portland’s Public Works Department left the neighborhood, the city looked to sell its surplus land. Answering a competitive RFP, Kaplan Thompson Architects put forth a proposal to build Workforce Housing apartments on a compact, quarter-acre parking lot in Bayside.
At ground level, the footprint of Parris Terraces is 2,155 square feet, while it expands to 3,852 square feet on its upper stories. "This technique raised most apartments up off the street level and created covered parking beneath the building, a necessity for Tetris-ing enough spaces within the tiny lot," says Kaplan Thompson principal Jesse Thompson.
Photo by Trent Bell
Private outdoor areas—either full decks or Juliet balconies—are allocated to each unit.
Photo by Trent Bell
Kaplan Thompson’s proposal—a residential infill project on the underutilized parcel—aimed to transform "dead" space into a vibrant community, while offering home ownership opportunities to segments of Portland’s population largely overlooked. When its proposal was greenlit by the city, Kaplan Thompson got to work designing a 50-foot residential building on the compact parcel—creating 23 new affordable homes in Bayside’s growing community.
Interior finishes are simple, durable, and economical. The homes’ kitchens feature stainless steel appliances, granite counters, and a kitchen island from IKEA. "We kept the interior material palette simple, clean, and bright; we wanted to have less visually distracting elements from complicating the spaces," says architect Adam Wallace.
Photo by Trent Bell
See the full story on Dwell.com: In Portland, Maine, 23 Residential Apartments Rise on a City-Owned Parking Lot
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