Architect Alexander Gorlin, known for designing high-end projects and author of the best-selling “Creating the New American Town House,” helped break ground on phase one of an affordable housing community in the East New York section of Brooklyn this month.

Gorlin has designed all the homes of the first phase for Nehemiah Spring Creek Houses at Gateway Estates, which consists of 117 new construction buildings with 184 individual units for a total of 241,000 square feet. The houses in phase one of the project will be constructed on four city blocks, with 10 rows of townhomes. Breaking ground are 69 single-family homes, 29 two-family homes and 19 three-family homes for a total of 241,000 square feet in 117 buildings with 184 individual households.

Phase one is part of a five phase mixed-use affordable housing program developed by the Nehemiah Development Corp. with support from numerous city agencies. The project is located on a 45-acre site, for which Gorlin also did the master plan.

Gorlin’s designs are a modern re-interpretation of the traditional “Brooklyn Brownstone” of the 19th century. Each row of townhouses maintains the street wall and has a traditional front stoop for public interaction.

With 12 different facade types in 12 different colors, Gorlin added a new individuality to the previously built identical brick houses in the area. The facades themselves create a modulating rhythm on the street with alternating bay windows and other windows of varying shapes and sizes.

“The idea was to do something more innovative,” Gorlin told MHN. “We have different facade types and colors so each person can identify with their own home, and we can create a colorful community.”

One innovative way the architects helped maintain cost effectiveness was through the use of modular “boxes” for the floors, ceilings and walls, which when stacked create each story of the townhouse. These boxes are produced in a factory at the Brooklyn Navy Yard by Capsys Co. and shipped by truck to the site.

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