Multi-Family
Apartment Rehabilitation
Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic District
Atlanta,
Georgia
The
Historic District Development Corporation (HDDC) in
partnership with Progressive Redevelopment, Inc. (PRI)
engaged MXD to provide the architectural design for the
rehabilitation of four multi-family apartment buildings on
Irwin Street in the Martin L. King, Jr. Historic District.
The
rehabilitation team's main goal was to redesign the buildings
to match the largely single family character of the
community.
The
existing site had three concrete block flat-roof buildings
with 44 efficiency units and one brick-pitched roof building
with
14 two-bedroom units.
SCHEME A
SCHEME B
Scheme
A focused on matching the efficiency unit buildings
with the brick style of the two bedroom building. The
exterior
of the buildings were accented with brick piers around the
existing pipe columns. The roof line of the buildings were
accented with dormers in a gable roof. The walkway in front
of the apartment units were to be converted into individual
balconies for each apartment.
Scheme
B took advantage of providing private balconies,
however, it maintained the art deco style of the efficiency
buildings. This design adhered to the historic guidelines of
the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) which made
the project eligible for historic tax
credits.
THEN & NOW
FORMER
EXTERIOR & FORMER INTERIOR
NEW
EXTERIOR & NEW INTERIOR
The
major exterior design elements of this scheme included
the design of new 8" diameter pipe columns, exterior doors,
and new hand railings in a more contemporary
style.
VIEW
OF 2 BEDROOM APT BUILDING
Part
of the design challenge in both schemes, was to convert
10% of the 58 apartments to handicapped accessible (ADA)
units. Three efficiencies and three 2 bedroom units were
converted.