Homes Within Reach: A Guide to the Planning, Design, and Construction of Affordable Homes and Communities

The essential, highly visual architectural design resource for affordable housing

Homes Within Reach provides the first systematic guide for planning, designing, and constructing modest, yet high-quality, homes. From siting and foundations to systems, layouts, and interior and exterior finishes, it covers dozens of design and construction techniques that promote housing quality with sensitivity to lowering costs.

Homes Within Reach is packed with hundreds of photographs, and architectural design details, making it a practical visual reference, covering such topics as:
* Selection of location and lot size with consideration of zoning
* Conceptual approaches to space design, access, circulation, and finishes
* Preconstruction phases and key building components, such as foundation, framing, window selection, prefabrication, and mechanical systems
* The subdivision--density measurement units and the relationship of lots to both the homes built on them and the street front
* Parking arrangements, pedestrian and cyclist paths, and project infrastructure
* Design strategies for open spaces for outdoor and leisure activities
* Infill housing, including approaches to take advantage of existing infrastructures


Complete with demonstration projects, checklists, and cost-analysis, Homes Within Reach is a valuable resource for architects.

AVI FRIEDMAN, PhD, is the cofounder and Director of McGill University's Affordable Homes Program in the School of Architecture. He has devoted his career to the study of the design and construction of affordable homes and communities, both as a practicing designer and an academic. His work in education and design has been recognized by the Progressive Architecture Research Award, the Manning Innovation Award for Innovation, the United Nations World Habitat Award, and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Creative Achievement Award.