Design for Good


Thanks to 14 Boston–area interior designers, these apartments for the homeless are simple and strikingly decorated.


There are 14 residences in a new building at the corner of Washington and East Berkeley streets in the South End. Meant to provide affordable housing for homeless individuals, including clients of Project Place—a non-profit organization that helps homeless people get their lives on track—the apartments are simple (just one main room and a bathroom). And they’re all strikingly decorated, thanks to 14 Boston–area interior designers who volunteered to style the efficiencies. Dennis Duffy, principal of Duffy Design Group in Boston, recruited designers. Project Place provided basics such as beds and desks, and the designers provided just about everything else to create comfortable oases. Suzanne Logan, owner of Spaces Design Studios in Cambridge, combined soft yellow walls with aqua and green accents in her cheerful room. All the rooms are beautiful, and for their new residents—many of whom haven’t had their own bed to sleep in for years—they’re home.