In this studio, the prompt focused on Boston’s growing need of sufficient housing and the urbanistic impact of new site strategies.  This design focuses on the specific need for affordable housing, in order to reduce the rates of poverty for families.  Affordable housing would allow families to maintain residence in the long-term, and would create additional benefits.  These positive externalities would include job security, connection to the surrounding community, and economically benefit surrounding businesses.  The courtyard is central to the concept of this design and acts as a living room for residents to interact.  The courtyard is elevated above the parking level in order to establish a sequence of public to private functions, beginning with the new park that is adjacent to the main pedestrian entrance.  This sequence transitions through that entrance, into the courtyard, onto the open-air circulation, and into the units themselves.  The courtyard was designed on the premise of taking the traditional back alley, which is traditionally enclosed on two or three sides, and turning it into something functional.  The back alley does little to promote social interaction and it is the street front that sees most of the action.