With a dire need for more affordable housing on Martha’s Vineyard, a local developer is looking to bring 100 for-sale units to this 7.8-acre site, designated as affordable and workforce housing, with their sale prices forever capped based on the Area Median Income (AMI). To expedite construction in a highly seasonal community and to maximize cost efficiencies building on island, the developer sought to employ modular construction for the entire project. RES4 was brought onto the project team for master planning and architectural services, employing expertise in modular construction, design, and coordination. In developing the site plan, close collaboration was required with a range of consultants, including the modular manufacturer, the general contractor, a local real estate broker, a local landscape architect, civil and traffic engineers, and the island barging company.

The development site fronts a main county road to the south and a smaller residential street to the east. The developer’s program included a series of duplexes, at the scale of a single-family home, along the rear of the site and along the residential street to address the scale of the neighboring houses. Each duplex unit has three bedrooms, with two upstairs and one in the basement level with a lightwell. To keep the building scale small, the unit layouts are very efficient.

Seven multifamily buildings are then located centrally on the site. Each building contains four one-bedroom units per floor with a central stair hall and entries on both sides. Ground level units are adaptable for future accessibility if needed and include private front porches on both sides to help break down the scale of the buildings. With either a front porch or an entry on all four sides of each building, the idea is that there is no clear ‘backside’ to any multifamily building.

To the front of the site, along the county road, the developer’s program includes four small retail buildings that may include a local market, a shipping store, a pharmacy, and a bank. The intention is these businesses would serve not only the new residents, but also the surrounding community, as there is a high school, a community recreation center, and elderly housing in close walking distance, with a new housing development approved for just next door on the neighboring site. The retail buildings would be in keeping with a ‘village vernacular’ aesthetic like the rest of the development, with cedar shake siding, white trim, gridded windows, and covered front walks evoking the spirit of a front porch.

A key project goal was to achieve a high level of density while fostering a sense of neighborhood, achieved through the use of the front porches, the consistent Vineyard vernacular materials, and a series of landscaped pedestrian paths woven through the site. These walking paths and the landscape design are a critical component, as they work to soften the regular nature of the site plan from the human scale, while also enhancing pedestrian and cyclist connectivity, ultimately linking the development to the existing bus stop just in front of the retail buildings. Additionally, with the front corner of the site designated for septic and stormwater management, a community recreation space has been designed that will house a picnic pavilion opposite the local market.

Once approvals are in place, our role will include design development and construction documents, in close collaboration with the modular factory, for the buildings. Construction will be phased, beginning with the duplexes in the back of the site and working forward towards the county road.