Kuhn Riddle selected to design Affordable Low-Energy Housing Community

imageOlympia Drive is the operating name for a project, sponsored by Amherst, Massachusetts’ Department of Community Development, to build about 40 affordable, energy-efficient homes on a 13-acre town-owned parcel convenient to the town center. Kuhn Riddle, with its consultants Scapes Builders and Doucet Associates, is conducting a feasibility study of this project, intended as ‘workforce housing’:  homes for the thousands of people who work in Amherst but can’t afford the high price of housing in this relatively high-income community.  The target is to design the residences to be affordable but also to be constructed to very high standards of energy efficiency, approaching net-zero.

Firm Overview

KUHN RIDDLE ARCHITECTS is a studio of sixteen people located in the center of Amherst, Massachusetts. Since 1977, we have provided architecture, master planning, and interior design services to a diverse range of clients throughout the Pioneer Valley and beyond. Project types include: college and school facilities, custom homes, multi-family communities, offices, retail stores, public buildings and worship spaces. Our work encompasses both new construction and renovation.

We are not a large firm, but we aren't small either; no firm in Western Massachusetts employs more licensed architects, and five of us are LEED® Accredited Professionals. For KRA, design and construction are collaborative processes that succeed when all stakeholders work together and have ownership of the finished product. By listening closely to our clients, we are able to create sustainable buildings and spaces that both integrate with and enhances their context.