A BETTER WAY HOME looks at six solutions to America's multifaceted housing challenges at the National Building Museum

A new exhibition at the National Building Museum (NBM) in Washington, D.C. will explore innovations in the design and delivery of affordable housing across the country.

Opening on October 21st, A BETTER WAY HOME is an extension of the museum’s Equity in the Built Environment series and showcases six winning projects from the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, which awarded $20 million over a three-year span to exemplary solutions to the problem in the areas of housing construction, housing finance, and resident services and support. 

The 1,500-square-foot ground-floor exhibition space was designed by MASS Design Group, themselves widely considered an innovator in the application of social justice principles in the built environment, and tells the story of each project, their organization, and the community impacted through architectural models, multimedia materials, project photos, illustrations, and videography.

“This exhibition provides an opportunity to share this innovative and impactful work with our visitors,” NBM Executive Director Aileen Fuchs explains. “Equity is one of our guiding Pillars of Impact, and we are committed to amplifying work designed to illustrate the relationship between equity, social justice, and the built environment, and how design and construction can create opportunity and empower communities.”

Projects from Forterra, the Center for NYC Neighborhoods, the Gulf Coast Housing Partnership, and others are presented as the new standard-bearers for the design community’s attempts to mitigate social issues such as climate change, prison recidivism, barrier to homeownership, and community access to health care. 

“The need for more affordable, accessible, and well-designed homes has never been greater, and that means we need to invest in bold ideas that challenge the status quo,” Eileen Fitzgerald, head of Housing Affordability Philanthropy at Wells Fargo, which sponsored the program, added finally. “These six ventures are reshaping how we build, finance and support residents to ensure everyone has access to an affordable home where they can thrive.”