Fourth Plain Community Commons

Affordable public housing, public plaza, and community-serving commercial space

Fourth Plain Community Commons is a major development that includes 106 units of affordable housing on the upper floors and a flexible community-serving space on the ground floor. This development is supported by Fourth Plain Forward, a coalition that promotes safe streets, economic opportunity, and affordable housing in the City’s diverse, multi-cultural International District. The master plan connects Fourth Plain Boulevard to a public school with a new public plaza designed to support a farmers’ market and cultural events.

The mixed-use building dynamically anchors the street corner and is designed to allow murals to cover much of the façade, contributing to the mural arts tradition of the neighborhood. The 10,000 sf ground floor incubator space has a commercial kitchen, event hall, and flexible offices for neighborhood organizations and businesses. 

Each apartment provides a generous amount of space for the residents. The design offers multiple social areas throughout the building, including a rooftop deck, seating areas on each floor, and a dynamic outdoor play area for kids– creating restorative spaces to foster a sense of community. 

Our Community Design process consisted of virtual open houses and workshops to gain community-wide feedback on the event space, outdoor plaza, and activity lawn, as well as focus groups to gain input and insight for the design of the plaza and kitchen incubator space. Through robust engagement, we ensured the project reflects the community’s needs and aspirations.

Salazar Architect is providing architecture, interior, and urban design services. Consultants include: Place, Nossa Norman, Humber Design Group, Samata Consulting Engineers, Arris Consulting, Valar Consulting Engineering, and M.Thrailkill Architect, JBK Consulting. Walsh Construction is the General Contractor.

Location: Vancouver, Washington
Client: Vancouver Housing Authority, City of Vancouver
Finance: LIHTC, HUD, and other sources
Units:  106 apartments
Building Area: 96,000 sf
Commercial Area: 10,000 sf
Sustainability: Evergreen Sustainable Development Standard, in progress