City Life Courtyard Housing is a 10-unit development of separate and attached houses around a small courtyard. City Life Courtyard Housing was part of the larger City Life project design competition sponsored by the American Insitute of Architects/Portland, Oregon Chapter.

City Life represents a broad-based coalition including Livable Oregon, Inc., the American Institute of Architects / Portland Chapter, Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland, the Portland Bureau of Planning, State of Oregon Housing and Community Development Services, Department, REACH Community Development, Inc., and Portland General Electric. The project goals were to demonstrate market viability, affordability, design compatibility, and innovative architectural design for inner-city medium density housing.

City Life Courtyard Housing is located in an urban neighborhood bordering an older industrial zone. The site is flat and directly across the street from the Brooklyn School Park. To the rear (east) of the site are industrial storage yards, and to the north and south are parking lots followed by existing houses and apartments.

The courtyard houses, consisting of two L-shaped sections which interlock to create the courtyard. The housing was designed to respect the character and forms of the adjacent industrial zone while responding to the neighborhood’s desire for a more traditional image.

City Life Courtyard Housing along with the larger development won the AIA Design Award in 1995, the HUD Home Ownership Building Innovation Award in 1997, and the Governor’s Livability Award in 1997.

PGE sold land to the developer at a reduced rate, below market. The City of Portland subsidized project as a demonstration project. Window manufacturer wrote down costs for a better window specification. Received energy credit for energy reduction features.

Support household and neighborhood fit:

City Life Courtyard Housing, as part of the design competition, needed to respect the character and forms of the adjacent industrial zone; however, the neighborhood groups desired a more traditional image. City Life Courtyard Housing was designed to balance the concerns of the neighborhood groups and the requirements of the design competition.

Along the street, the housing units, which are two stories, were broken into segments with paths to allow for movement and views between the courtyard and the street. This also served to break the attached housing into smaller sections, a scale more compatible with a single-family pattern. Some units along the industrial edge are three stories tall to buffer the site from the adjacent industrial use and allow for views beyond the courtyard.

Meet high aethetic standards:

Building forms, color, scale, rhythm, and siting were all used to create architectural interest. While keeping the building footprints simple, the use of double-height spaces and/or beamed living room ceilings inside the units helped to increase spatial interest and variety.

Careful attentention was given to create an open appearance in the small spaces of the unit. Use of large windows areas, connections to outside living areas, and high ceilings help make the spaces appear much larger. The three story units have open-to-below spaces from the second floor. The two story units include a 10 foot high open beamed ceiling that is achieved by dividing the stairs into two runs which result in a split level second floor.