On the Boards: All Saints Affordable Senior Housing

In partnership with Archdiocesan Housing, Inc. (AHI), a division of Catholic Charities, Cushing Terrell is working to bring much-needed affordable senior housing to Denver, CO by way of the new All Saints Senior Housing development. The four-story building will include 63 studio and one-bedroom, age-restricted affordable apartments, and spaces for supportive and community programming.

Beginning with site viability evaluations, Cushing Terrell’s multidisciplinary design team has provided a full range of building design services, including entitlements and site design, public engagement, re-zoning, architecture, engineering, interior design, and FF&E procurement. The team guided the project through site development and building permitting as one of the first to participate in the city’s new AHRT (Affordable Housing Review Team) process.

The primary façade and focal corner of the reverse L-shaped building sits directly at the northwest corner of the intersection of Federal and Vassar. The design artfully threads the requirements for site coverage, building setbacks, and parking on a spatially limited site while maintaining variation along the façade for visual interest at the street level.

The exterior materiality borrows from both the surrounding commercial and residential context with a palette of thin brick along the bottom wall with a combination of lap siding, board and batten siding, and stucco on the upper floors. Varying unit depths and furred framing at the exterior walls provides interest along the limited building setbacks.

Designed for efficiency and wellbeing, unit floorplans thoughtfully maximize the number units while ensuring each retains ample access to daylight. Holistic resident health is further supported through common gathering spaces, counseling rooms, bike storage, and access to public transportation. The project team is also pursuing sustainable certification through the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) at the bronze level, which addresses energy, water, and resource efficiency as well as operations and quality of indoor environmental factors through access to views and daylight, operable windows, and healthy materials.

Expected project completion is September 2024.