Houston, Texas / Affordable Housing / Schematic Design

Houston Section 8 Residential Development

A multi-building affordable housing concept developed through schematic design, with eight residential prototypes created to support a varied, neighborhood-scaled community.

The Project

A housing development organized around flexibility, repeatable construction, and a range of residential building types.

Paper Plane Architecture prepared the schematic design for a Section 8 431(d) development in Houston, Texas. The work established a family of residential prototypes ranging from compact single-story units to larger multi-unit, two-story configurations.

Single-story affordable housing prototype

Design Strategy

One development. Multiple ways to live.

The schematic design was built around a family of eight residential building types, allowing the development to respond to different household sizes, unit mixes, and site conditions without losing a consistent architectural identity.

Across the prototypes, common materials, roof forms, porches, brick bases, siding, and window proportions create continuity. The result is a kit of parts that can support repetition and construction efficiency while avoiding the appearance of a single repeated model.

Residential Character

Designed at the scale of a neighborhood.

The exterior concepts use familiar residential forms—pitched roofs, covered entries, durable siding, masonry bases, and modest building heights—to establish an approachable identity suited to a housing community rather than an institutional complex.

Residential prototype exterior — Single-story residential prototype

Building Type 2 exterior — Building Type 2

Building Type 6 exterior — Building Type 6

Building Type 7 exterior — Building Type 7

Eight Building Types

A flexible family of housing prototypes.

The prototype approach allowed unit planning and building form to be tested together during schematic design, creating multiple configurations that could be deployed across the larger development.

Unit Planning

Testing the development from the inside out.

Floor-plan studies explored multiple unit sizes and arrangements, from compact paired residences to larger family units and two-story configurations. The plans provided the dimensional and programmatic basis for the exterior prototype studies.

Building Types 1, 2 + 7

$Building Types 3, 4, 5, and 6 floor plans$

Building Types 3, 4, 5 + 6

Building Type 8 first and second floor plans

Building Type 8 — first + second floors

Schematic Design Studies

Making the plans legible in three dimensions.

Axonometric studies were used to communicate how each unit would function spatially, giving the Owner a clearer understanding of room relationships, circulation, household scale, and the differences between building prototypes.

Type 8 lower level axonometric — Type 8 — lower level

Type 8 upper level axonometric — Type 8 — upper level

Project Status

A complete schematic design framework, ready to move forward when the project resumes.

Schematic Design was completed. The project is currently on hold prior to advancement into later design and construction-document phases.