Designs on affordable housing

(Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff)

Diane Georgopulos is an architect. She does not design cultural complexes or courthouses or corporate towers or homes for the wealthy. Instead, she works at the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, which funds the development of affordable housing for lower-income families.

Her projects include the redevelopment of Academy Homes in Roxbury.

Georgopulos also is the first public-sector employee to serve as the president of the Boston Society of Architects, a trade group with more than 5,000 members. In both roles, she is an advocate for the value of quality design in creating livable, environmentally sustainable communities. She recently spoke with Globe correspondent Binyamin Appelbaum.

You recently named the Boston Public Library and Boston City Hall as two of your favorite local buildings. That's an odd couple. What puts both of them on your list?
I have catholic tastes with a small "c." I think both of them represent their times. You don't even have to read at the Boston Public Library to get an education, to understand something about knowledge and beauty. There are internal capacities that we have as humans that buildings can activate and revive. Going into a building can be a joyful experience. Going into that building is a joyful experience.

And City Hall? Would you say the same thing about that building?
I think that Boston City Hall does have a particular grandeur. I'm not sure that it is a completed work. There are levels of elaboration that would greatly assist that building in achieving its potential. I also think we need to look at how well the plaza functions. That's a design challenge that hasn't been adequately discussed, and I think City Hall suffers by association.

Your career is focused not on trophy buildings, but on the other end of the spectrum: public housing and affordable housing. What is the importance of good architecture in that context?
The development needs to be responsive to its context. You want to use sound materials. It's not the place to be experimenting with new materials, these residents have the least resources for replacement and repair. You want to make sure there are reasonable levels of privacy and control of outdoor spaces.

Some critics of affordable housing efforts say there's too much focus on redeveloping the buildings and not enough on social services. Is MassHousing putting its money in the right place?
We have not developed a consistent approach toward housing lower-income families. Social services versus construction, I don't think we've had that debate. There's never been a consistent flow of funds that would allow people to make that determination.

Boston has a reputation for hostility to architectural innovation. Still true?
I think it's changing. Look at the ICA, the Stata Center, Simmons Hall. They have all been well received. This is not the same Boston. The demographics are so different now. I think it's in our best interest to create an environment of high creativity.

So what role does the Boston Society of Architects play?
Our mission is to be the convener for the discussion about design and to advocate design literacy. We publish a magazine, ArchitectureBoston. We sponsor lectures. We match community groups that need technical assistance; we have quite a number of members that can respond in a variety of ways to issues that are problems of design.

Those are mechanisms. Does the group have policy objectives as well?
I think sustainability is at the top of the agenda.

Sustainability is an interesting question when it comes to architecture, because it's not just the building, it's also the location. Can a project be considered sustainable if it's located in a suburban office park?
I'm a baby of technology. It's evident that there is a transformation of transportation that may make these problems less than they currently are.

But that hasn't happened yet. Does location matter now?
Let me put it back to you in terms of affordable housing. Not every community is well-served by public transportation. Do we want to put affordable housing just in the communities that are well served? From an equity side of the equation, well, no. From a sustainability side, it probably is better.

So what is the role of the architect in balancing those two priorities?
You're making the presumption that architects determine the sites.

I'm making the presumption that architects determine which projects they work on.
And some people won't [work on such projects]. But to isolate the architect as the linchpin is not correct. I think architects have an ethical responsibility to explain to owners what their options and obligations are to build sustainably.

Clarification: In an interview in the Money & Careers section on Aug. 3, Diane Georgopulos, president of the Boston Society of Architects, was referring to the federal government when she said: "We have not developed a consistent approach toward housing lower-income families. Social services versus construction, I don't think we've had that debate."