Boston’s ADU Loan and Co-Purchasing Pilot programs demonstrate how program design enables new forms of ownership and expands access to housing. iStock illustration

“Massachusetts is a leader in…”

We hear this time and time again, whether it is about healthcare, education, or innovation. But what about housing?

Housing is not created in a vacuum. Innovations across fields are necessary to ensure that the 222,000 homes needed in Massachusetts are built and accessed by residents.

This was the primary reason we highlighted construction, regulations, design, financing, and living together as themes at the Boston Society for Architecture’s Housing Innovation Symposium, held in November. These five themes structured the symposium, as a reminder that design must be treated as an embedded system-wide tool, not a finishing touch.

We are constantly discussing the need for more housing and committed to meeting our goals. Yet, we seldom acknowledge design is where our possibilities begin. It shapes whether homes are equitable, dignified, resilient and connected.

As the BSA’s Housing Innovation Symposium made clear, designers have the expertise and abilities to reimagine systems to unlock housing solutions that extend far beyond the building form. Design is the throughline that enables housing creation and encourages bold breakthroughs our challenges demand.

When Design Drives Construction

Consider this: a modular mass timber workforce housing project in Montana by Peter Rose + Partners, the first of its kind in the country.

Design was integrated from the outset both for the building but also the fabrication, supply chain and assembly processes; the team delivered 96 beds for workers in just 11 months.

The result: a durable, low-carbon building completed on time and under budget.

This is what it looks like when design drives construction: faster delivery, higher performance and replicable models ready to scale across the region.

 Design Can Reshape Regulations

Regulation often appears to be a barrier to new housing, but design can reshape how rules work in practice.

Cape Cod’s pre-approved plans program, led by Union Studio Architecture & Community Design and the Cape Cod Commission, shows how form-based codes and zoning based on building form rather than use, can streamline permitting, and lower design and review costs, offering communities agency in shaping growth.

By illustrating a range of housing types, from ADUs to walk-ups, the plans provide clarity and confidence for residents and builders alike.

Well-designed regulatory tools won’t solve everything, but they can unlock pathways that otherwise remain stalled.

Design Can Adapt

Another level of design occurs at the urban scale. Public housing master plans offer another lesson: Tough problems require integrated teams.

Stantec’s work in Revere demonstrates how flexible, design-driven plans can adapt to changing market, climate and demographic conditions.

By studying existing housing types and intentionally designing a range of unit sizes and open spaces, their adaptable plans support the needs of residents, especially older adults.

Danyson Tavares

Tools such as pre-approved plans or flexible master plans can alleviate challenges like arduous permitting processes and support long-term investment.

Financing Benefits from Strategic Design

As one of the biggest challenges to housing creation, financing benefits greatly from strategic design.

Boston’s ADU Loan and Co-Purchasing Pilot programs demonstrate how program design (including diagrams, guides, and clear processes) opens new forms of ownership and expands access to housing.

These tools help residents navigate complex decisions, reduce risk, and form stable households.

Miranda D’Oleo

Design then becomes a bridge between complicated financial systems and everyday people trying to create a home.

Living Together Informs Design

“Living Together” defines our commitment to design practices that ensure the best possible residential conditions. How we live together, at the building or neighborhood scale, directly informs the ways each of us engages in our communities.

The Bay State Cohousing Community in Malden, illustrates this clearly. On a compact, 0.75-acre site, 30 households create a multigenerational, resident-driven environment. Shared kitchens, gardens and gathering spaces are intentionally designed to support connection, aging in place, and everyday mutual care.

Wandy Pascoal

Housing is a social infrastructure, and projects like this show how design nurtures belonging, safety and shared life.

Ultimately, design is everywhere. Not only in architecture, but in community engagement processes, pre-approved plans, digital housing tools, financing structures and shared governance models.

To meaningfully address our housing needs, Massachusetts must center design throughout the entire life cycle of housing: how we regulate, finance, build and live together.

Massachusetts has led before, creating the nation’s first state-funded rental assistance program and the first green bank for affordable housing. We can continue to lead if we commit to design as a catalyst for creativity, connection, and intention. Together we can build the future our residents deserve.

Danyson Tavares, Miranda D’Oleo and Wandy Pascoal are executive director, program manager of policy & advocacy, and program manager of housing innovation & awards at the Boston Society for Architecture, respectively.