The tight budgets and difficult sites increasingly synonymous with affordable housing require innovative design solutions. Just like the master of a project pro forma can accomplish much more than a novice, a developer with a strong grasp of design principles, framed with a holistic design approach can accomplish more for residents and communities on the same development budget.

The Design Principles Primer workbook provides developers with worksheets to begin to take deeper ownership and leadership of the design process. The three worksheets can be completed in preparation for meeting with the architectural team and/or can be used as support for productive project kick-off conversations.

The worksheets walk developers through:
•    Setting people-based objectives or missions for each of the primary spaces in the building, helping developers quickly get specific about their design vision.
•    Nine of the primary aspects/tools of design (defined in the worksheets) and give them space to reflect on how which design tools do/don't meet the projects goals.  Through this selection, developers can channel their investment into a few design "moves" for a bigger impact at a lower cost. 

The Design Principles Primer is part of the Design Matters Toolkit, a series of workbooks, tools and videos to help developers ensure resident and community impact is a primary project design driver, despite the regulatory and financial constraints placed on housing. Visit www.EnterpriseCommunity.org/designmatters for the full toolkit, including the Project Mission Writer and the Impact Measurement Guide, along with other instructional videos and resources.