Assistant Professor Leyuan Li Wins Second Consecutive Housing Design Education Award

For the second year in a row, Assistant Professor Leyuan Li received the ACSA/AIA Housing Design Education Award, recognizing his innovative approach to his Spring 2024 studio, which explored shared housing and community-oriented design. His studio, Common Ground: Reimagining a Residential Block for Collective Living, reimagined how neighborhoods can foster connection and affordability and offered a fresh perspective on the future of urban housing. This award highlights Li’s commitment to preparing future architects to address pressing social and spatial challenges.

Li’s studio addressed the challenge:

“Using the site of a block [in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood] to explore a collective model for envisioning housing solutions, how could we foster forms and actions of sharing to enable a common ground for the community living in the block and beyond?”

What is Missing Middle Housing?

Some of the students in Li’s studio had not studied “missing middle housing” prior to taking this course. “To be honest, I truly didn’t know what “Missing Middle Housing” was until taking this studio,” shared Master of Architecture (M.Arch) student Abigail Ramirez. “I soon realized the importance and the need for this type of housing.”

Daniel Parolek coined the term “missing middle housing” in his book, Missing Middle Housing: Thinking Big and Building Small to Respond to Today’s Housing Crisis, where he defines these housing types as:

“…housing options, such as duplexes, fourplexes, cottage courts, and multiples. These house-scale buildings fit seamlessly into existing residential neighborhoods and support walkability, locally serving retail, and public transportation options. They provide solutions along a spectrum of affordability to address the mismatch between the available U.S. housing stock and shifting demographics combined with growing demand for walkability.”

For students like Ramirez and M.Arch student Kara Hand, engaging with these concepts through design iterations opened their eyes to creative opportunities for housing solutions.

“Prior to this studio, I had never heard of the term ‘missing middle’ housing,” said Hand. “While being challenged to think of ways in which to densify housing in existing areas, we realized that there are many creative opportunities to repurpose “un-used” spaces such as backyards, alleyways, or side setback allowances as a medium for design iteration.”

“Everyone needs housing,” Ramirez continued, “and with this type of housing, we can provide more affordable and inclusive communities for a wider range of people.”

Designing for the Individual and the Community

“Housing is a basic human need and therefore has a universal impact on daily life,” said Hand. “It was really interesting to study how housing can serve both the individual as well the desire to be in community with others through the use of shared spaces and resources.”

In the final project report, Li acknowledged the hard work, commitment, and enthusiasm of the students as they collaborated to advocate for functional shared spaces.

“As a foundational studio primarily dedicated to introducing architectural principles and drawing skills, some projects exhibit conceptual intrigue but lack technical finesse,” said Li. “Nonetheless, collectively, these projects signify the students’ ambition and unwavering commitment to investigating housing crises. It is imperative to guide students in comprehending the agency of architecture in empowering diverse communities in our profession and discipline, as they play a pivotal role in shaping our future built environment.”

Student Reflections

“I really appreciate my professor, Leyuan Li, for challenging our views on housing,” said Ramirez. “As an architecture student, we are typically exposed to large-scale projects, but this studio allowed us to truly focus on the community that would benefit from this type of housing.”

Hand echoed this sentiment, highlighting the importance of flexible and future-forward housing design. “The possibilities that design thinking can open up, even at the smaller scale of housing within a typical neighborhood block,” said Hand. “The needs of humanity consistently evolve over time, especially in terms of housing, so constantly thinking about how we can design not only reactively but also proactively, creating diverse and affordable opportunities for living and working.”

By engaging students in real-world housing challenges, Li’s studio encourages a new generation of architects to think critically, act creatively, and design solutions that foster both affordability and community.

Curious to learn more about Li’s work? He is currently hosting a series of panel discussions titled, “Becoming Chinatown: Talks and Performances on Possible Futures” in collaboration with History Colorado and Colorado Asian Pacific United (CAPU), inviting students, artists, architects, designers, urbanists, community organizers, and the public to rethink and reimagine the future of Chinatowns in the contemporary built environment. This series supplements the “Where is Denver’s Chinatown? Stories Reclaimed, Remembered, Reimagined,” exhibition currently at History Colorado through August 9, 2025.