CLEVELAND, OH - A 34-year-old designer from Maryland, inspired by intergenerational dwelling patterns in his native Ecuador, has won a national competition to design new housing in Cleveland for "grand-families," in which grandparents are raising grandchildren. "I'm really excited about this and looking forward to going to Cleveland," Fernando Bonilla said Tuesday, speaking by cell phone from kilometer marker 209 in the Andes mountains between Quito and the Colombian border, where he stopped to take the call.
Bonilla's concept for a cluster of two-story apartments with courtyards won the approval of jurors in a design competition sponsored by Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp. and funded in large part by the McGregor Foundation of East Cleveland. Bonilla, who earned his bachelor's degree in architecture from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, works at Grimm + Parker Architects, a firm with offices in Maryland and suburban Virginia outside Washington, D.C.
He said he has specialized in student housing, multifamily housing, rental apartments and for-sale condominiums. He designed the competition entry with Grimm + Parker architect Farshid Pegahi. The goal of the competition, coordinated by the Kent State University Urban Design Collaborative in Cleveland, is to provide concepts for a roughly $6.5 million complex with 35 to 40 apartments. Fairfax Renaissance will seek funding from government and foundation sources after perfecting a design, said Jay Gardner, the organization's director of community development.
Gardner and others at Fairfax believe their competition was the first in the nation to address the specific needs of grandparents who become primary caregivers for their grandchildren. He has estimated that there are 16,000 intergenerational families in Cuyahoga County and 10,000 in Cleveland. The competition sought designs for housing that would be comfortable for aging grandparents and safe for children as young as infants, with outdoor play spaces that are clearly defined, protected and observable.
Fifteen firms responded, roughly half from Cleveland. The second-place finisher was Plumbob LLC of Philadelphia, and third place went to Forum Architects of Cleveland. Gardner said the jury, which included Fairfax staff members, national experts and grandparents in local "grand-families," was struck by Bonilla's courtyard concept.
The designer said he was inspired by the courtyard houses popular in the Middle East and Latin America, which are based on the atrium houses of ancient Rome. "The courtyard is a space for quiet meditation and at the same time, it brings natural light into the space," Bonilla said. He said courtyards in his project would be landscaped according to themes, such as a Zen garden, a garden with a pool for koi fish and an orchard. "Residents will come together and share tips on grandparenting," Bonilla said.
Jurors were also struck by Bonilla's proposal for a two-story dwelling with a loft balcony overlooking a living, dining and kitchen area. The balcony could be used as a library or work area, or as a play area for children, Bonilla said. Bonilla said that his design was based in part on his childhood experiences in Quito, where extended families often live together.
The style of the proposal is Modernist, with flat roofs and expansive windows, but traditionally urban in its scale and cozy proximity to the street. Gardner said Bonilla's concept could become the basis for a more thoroughly researched design. It's likely Fairfax will hire a Cleveland-area architect specializing in housing interiors to partner with Bonilla, Gardner said. Potential users of the grand-family apartments will be part of the design process.
"Good design is the result of good discussions, and those discussions, for whatever reason, usually don't happen," he said. "One could view the competition as a conversation about how we should deal with this new form of housing. A lot of people don't see design that way. They see it as something imposed upon them."
He said he's learned from his work at Fairfax that the emotional bonds between grandparents and the grandchildren they're raising on based on "joint abandonment" by the middle generation. "Even though most grandparents have huge responsibilities thrust upon them, most feel really good about it," he said, "possibly because they feel they have a chance to do it right the second time. You just don't see a lot of resentment."
Fairfax already controls most of the land needed for the development, on the largely abandoned block bounded by East 79th and East 83rd streets on the west and east, and by Golden and Central avenues on the north and south. The goal is to build the units for $85,000 to $120,000 apiece. "Tackling this is going to be a fun project," Gardner said. "We're all committed to doing something state-of-the-art."
Source: Cleveland.com