Two affordable housing complexes win top neighborhood development awards

When he first started designing Casa Querétaro in 2012, Gabriel Ignacio Dziekiewicz, said he ran into challenges along the way.

Funding sources ran dry. Because the building was on a brownfield site in Plisen, three feet of contaminated soil had to be removed.

"It's a unique building on a unique site," said Dziekiewicz, president and principal of design at DesignBridge.

"We wanted to do things that were site specific to create housing for housing's sake."

Over six years since Dziekiewicz started the project, and two years since it was completed, the affordable housing development, which is owned and operated by the Resurrection Project, will receive a first place award for architectural excellence in community by the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.

Also receiving a top award at the neighborhood development are the developers of Lake Village East. The Polk Bros. Foundation's will be awarding them for affordable rental housing preservation.

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