Public housing used to mean fortress-like blocks and soulless rows of cheaply built townhouses. But now there's a new model: privately developed homes and apartments that are well-designed, well-built and attractive enough to win over wary neighbors. A growing number of architects, from established stars to ambitious up-and-comers, are looking to such projects as an opportunity to do innovative work.

A single-room-occupancy building that opened in Chicago in March was designed by Helmut Jahn, internationally known for his glass-sheathed skyscrapers; the 96-unit SRO, where most residents pay less than $160 a month in rent, resembles a train, with its long, narrow shape, curved roof and glass-and-steel exterior. In Brooklyn's East New York neighborhood, a group of young architects teamed up to build nine two-family homes for families with modest incomes. Completed in March, the homes feature unconventional materials such as corrugated aluminum and unpainted cedar siding. And in Santa Monica, Calif., a recently completed 41-unit apartment building, designed by Pugh + Scarpa Architects, incorporates green design elements. It is partially clad in blocks made of recycled crushed aluminum cans and has a sail-shaped metal screen that helps shield the building from the sun.

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Chicago - 96-unit single-room occupancy building for very-low- income residents in the Near North neighborhood, completed in 2007.

Glenmore Gardens -Brooklyn, N.Y. Nine two-family homes, completed in 2007