Parker Lane

Located in South Austin on a site formerly occupied by a local church, Parker Apartments provides 135 affordable housing units for families, a Learning Center with 6 classrooms and a Gathering Space large enough to accommodate the church congregation, a Leasing Office, and Foundation Communities’ Health Initiatives facilities, including a food pantry. The pedestrian entry to the site is located between two existing heritage live oaks that have a prominent stature in the neighborhood streetscape. 

Although Forge Craft had employed many of the principles of Trauma-Informed Design on previous projects without knowing them as such, Parker Apartments was the first time we formally employed those principles, including peer review by Shopworks Architecture of Denver, as part of the design process. One of the results of that exploration is an open breezeway that connects the common resident program elements and locates them within sight of property management staff, allowing residents to feel comfortable and safe while doing laundry and retrieving their mail. This building also achieves a four-star AEGB (Austin Energy Green Building) rating.