Interiors that Multiply Opportunities! MOYA’s Strategy to Optimize Multifamily Buildings and Expand Access to High-Quality Housing.
Interiors that Multiply Opportunities! MOYA’s Strategy to Optimize Multifamily Buildings and Expand Access to High-Quality Housing.
- With more than 2,300 units designed and operational savings of up to 20%, MOYA demonstrates that interior design is the silent infrastructure that guarantees dignity and financial viability in multifamily housing.
- Beyond aesthetics, Paola Moya proposes a model of “spatial precision” where natural light, acoustics, and flexibility transform affordable housing into a platform for opportunity and climate resilience.
Colombia, February 2026 – In the debate around affordable housing, the conversation often centers on land costs, financing, or density. However, a decisive part of the impact happens indoors. For Moya Design Partners, interior design is not an additional aesthetic layer, but a strategic tool capable of improving quality of life, optimizing asset operations, and expanding access to high-quality housing without significantly increasing structural costs.
“Community is not built through monumentality, but through human scale.” For Paola Moya, CEO and Chief Creative Officer of Moya Design Partners (MOYA), this principle has redefined the way multifamily and affordable housing buildings are designed. The spaces that perform best are not the largest, but the most legible and comfortable: niches, intermediate lounges, clear sightlines from circulation areas, warm lighting, and flexible furnishings. In projects such as The Linden Senior Residences – True Ground and Haven by Agape, common areas were conceived as extensions of the home, not institutional spaces. “Designing community is not about imposing interaction, it is about creating the conditions for it to occur naturally,” explains Moya.
This approach begins with clear decisions about where cuts cannot be made. For the firm, there are non-negotiable elements such as well-designed natural and artificial lighting, effective acoustics between units, true accessibility beyond minimum code compliance, security and access control, and quality in common areas. “When investment is reduced in these aspects, not only is the resident experience affected, their dignity and the building’s operational stability are compromised,” states Moya.
The strategy is also grounded in three fundamental criteria in material selection: health and air quality (low VOC content, proper ventilation, and moisture control), durability and maintenance (high performance under heavy traffic and frequent cleaning), and life cycle and sustainability (materials that reduce replacement and energy consumption). For MOYA, the interior is not a superficial finish, but a silent infrastructure that protects both budget and well-being.
The scale of its work supports this vision. MOYA has participated in the design of 2,336 confirmed residential units across nine major developments, including at least 473 documented affordable units in mixed-income and 100% affordable housing projects. Among them are The Bridge (112 fully affordable units), Diane’s House (42 supportive housing units), Takoma Metro (70 affordable units), Forest Glen Apartments (59 affordable units), The Iris (86 affordable units), and Sansé Apartments (104 affordable units). Additionally, the firm has completed or is in the process of certification for 11 projects under standards such as LEED Gold, LEED Silver, Enterprise Green Communities, and EarthCraft Gold.
Beyond the numbers, the impact is measurable in performance. In developments aligned with standards such as EarthCraft V5 Gold, energy efficiency strategies can reduce consumption between 15% and 30% compared to base code, depending on system and climate. The integration of high-performance envelopes, efficient ventilation, and maximized natural light generates additional reductions of between 15% and 25% in common areas and residential units. Likewise, the use of durable materials can decrease maintenance costs between 10% and 20% throughout the operational lifecycle.
“In multifamily housing, the interior directly influences resident retention, maintenance, and the perception of safety. At that point, it ceases to be aesthetics and becomes financial and social strategy,” notes Moya. In projects such as The Iris, Modera H Street, or Takoma Metro, common areas function as opportunity multipliers: they can operate as coworking spaces, classrooms, community programming areas, or intergenerational gathering points. “A flexible space can expand a resident’s daily life without increasing the building’s footprint. That is true optimization,” she adds.
Looking ahead, MOYA is committed to adaptable interiors that respond to hybrid work, aging in place, and diverse household structures. In developments such as Forest Glen or Takoma, efficient layouts incorporate adaptable desk space, accessible storage, and versatile common areas. “The affordable housing of the future must anticipate physical and social change. Designing only for the present is designing with an expiration date,” concludes Moya.
In a context of growing demand for multifamily housing, MOYA’s proposal demonstrates that optimization does not mean reducing quality but designing with precision. When the interior is conceived as social infrastructure and a management tool, every spatial decision can multiply opportunities and expand access to truly dignified and sustainable housing.
