Imagining all of the possibilities at our 14th annual conference

In November in beautiful San Diego, at our 14th Annual Indian Country Affordable Housing & Economic Development Conference, our conference attendees participated in a mock design charette.

If you aren’t familiar with the term, design charettes are great ways to brainstorm and generate ideas for architectural home designs or other development projects. My team, Travois Design & Construction Services, conducts a charette with all of our clients.

The goal for these meetings is to provide an opportunity for our architectural team to come together with representatives from the housing authority and tribal community to hear about their vision for the development.

A charette is typically held in the beginning stages of a project, after Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) have been awarded but well before the planned construction period. This visit gives us an opportunity to see the site, present schematic drawings and propose products and materials to help foster a productive discussion.

Now, getting back to the group charette we held in San Diego — we went through a sample agenda similar to what our clients see, which included project details, proposed timeline and architectural design requirements from the state housing agency.

We talked about the possibilities with LIHTCs – you control the look and feel of the units. You can achieve variety and a unique, custom feel.

We then explored three different sample home designs. Our audience provided terrific feedback on materials, style, colors, green design and more, and we adjusted the designs as we went to see previews of what their choices would look like on the homes.

Check out some of our attendees’ favorites from the conference in the album below. We love hearing your ideas for new construction and rehab projects and enjoy helping to bring those plans to life.