In 2014, when the Montgomery County, Maryland, US, Police Department vacated its Third District station, it offered the opportunity to build something new right on the edge of downtown Silver Spring – a suburb with growing pains. With housing affordability issues facing the area and current residents concerned about housing density, the situation could have been a challenge to resolve. Competing proposals for affordable housing and an arts center came together in an innovative proposal for affordable live-work spaces for low-income artists. Completed in 2020, Artspace Silver spring is a mixed-use artist campus comprising a four-story apartment complex with a total of 68 affordable units and 11 for-sale townhouses wrapped around a central courtyard. The design process involved neighbors extensively to ensure the development would both fit into the neighborhood and serve the artist community it planned to attract.
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