Northampton Green Housing for All WMAIA
August 9, 2016
BSA Foundation
290 Congress Street, Suite 200
Boston, MA 02210
Dear Members of the BSA Foundation,
I am pleased to write in support of the grant proposal submitted by the City of Northampton for a
very exciting project entitled Green Housing for All.
The program provides a unique and engaging delivery system for illustrating that sustainable housing
is attainable by all. Through a design competition and the donation of city lots to build
demonstration buildings, this program will provide tangible evidence that simple, low cost housing
(Habitat for Humanity, e.g.) can be well designed and environmentally friendly.
WMAIA previously partnered with the City of Northampton and the local newspaper , the Daily
Hampshire Gazette, to develop and implement an exciting community engagement and educational
program, the small lots|BIG IDEAS competition and exhibit. Over the course of six months, this
project brought together local architects, emerging professionals, students, city officials, the local
newspapers, and citizens of the community. These groups worked together to create a competition,
art gallery exhibit, publications, video, and an ongoing community dialogue about homes,
sustainability, and creative approaches to housing and landscape challenges. We are confident that
Green Housing for All will encourage the same level of engagement.
Our relationship with the City of Northampton has provided one of the most successful avenues for
engaging the public in issues related to architecture and design. (We have also worked with Wayne
Feiden and his office on four SDATs in our region.) When Wayne takes on a project it is well
conceived, well executed and will receive considerable public attention. We look forward to working
with the City of Northampton on Green Housing for All and urge you to support this grant request.
Sincerely,
Lorin Starr
Executive Director