New Housing Design Needs to Meet New Demographic Needs

Cathy Crane Frankel
VP of Exhibitions and Collections, National Building Museum (D.C.)

In a 2019 showcase focused on new housing typologies at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. – called “Making Room”, it highlighted how the nation’s housing supply has been slow to meet the demands and needs of our increasingly varied mix of living arrangements: from roommates to single-parent, extended, and fluid families. Innovation has been constrained, often by deeply-rooted zoning regulations. Looking beyond typical choices and layouts, new innovators are offering alternatives at all levels of the market, from micro-units, tiny houses, and accessory apartments to cohousing, co-living, and beyond.