Why We Should Live in Our Office Buildings

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In this video, we explore the crisis of empty office buildings in both urban and suburban locations. Common solutions include repurposing these structures for mixed use or residential. Recent conversions like the Chicago Tribune Tower have little complications or risk. But newer office structures are much more difficult logistically. Further, many suburban office parks just don’t offer the economic incentive that vibrant urban locations do. We need to be smart about what we do with these buildings and identify all the factors in deciding their future.
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Architecture with Stewart is a RU-vid journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
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Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
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3 авг 2024

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Комментарии : 741

@123batina Год назад

This video should be named "USA rediscovering mixed zoning". We in EU cherish the fact we live up to 200m from nearest grocery shop and within 5km of our workplace. Hope this works out for you. Cheers from Croatia.

@josephp.1919 Год назад

But then how will our horrible,stressful, exhausting, expensive, polluting car culture survive!?! Won’t someone think of the poor oil companies!!!

@wisenber Год назад

"We in EU cherish the fact we live up to 200m from nearest grocery shop and within 5km of our workplace. " Most white collar workers in the suburban US live within 1000m of a grocery store and now have an option to work from home.

@wisenber Год назад

@@josephp.1919 "But then how will our horrible,stressful, exhausting, expensive, polluting car culture survive!?!" Working from home outside of a smelly city helps avoid most of that. Meanwhile, we can drive to do the other stuff at hours that aren't as busy.

@terryscott524 Год назад

i forgot croatia existed.

@beetooex Год назад

@@wisenber Once most vehicles and plant are electric you'll realise that it's not the city that was smelly and noisy. The car free city centres in the Netherlands are surprisingly peaceful even when busy. It's a real eye opener to visit.

@roberthoople Год назад

We really messed up society when we created hard zoning that opened up such vast distances between work and home; not only has it decreased quality of life through wasted time, pollution and traffic, but this paradigm creates our car-centric design crisis within cities, which has greatly burdened our public and personal finances to the point of creating a looming insolvency catastrophe... So when I see things like this happening, it gives me hope that we're on our way to undoing the damage and returning to a more natural work/home dynamic mixed-use paradigm.

@besanit Год назад

Just lets be sure that the people that work in the offices, clean and mantain them can afford to live in the same area..... is this even possible?

@roberthoople Год назад

@@besanit I couldn't agree more with you, especially because I am one of the ones who cleans professionally and there are way too many places I can't afford to live on what I make.

@hypernewlapse Год назад

Its also a very american thing. In most euro and asian cities there is not this hard difference between work and housing

@sisyphus_strives5463 Год назад

all of this is by design my friend

@willy4170 Год назад

@@besanityou can’t afford to live in the cities because of regulations that doesn’t allow affordable housing, like parking minimums regulations and not allowing row houses.

@brentt6714 Год назад

Living in college dorms were some of tbe best times in my life. Imagine a mall being converted to a mix of commercial and residential use spaces. Walk out your door and you're immediately surrounded by stores, restaurants, a movie theatre right downstairs. It'd be dope af.

@yourgooglemeister6745 Год назад

Mark this and come back when you're an adult see if you still feel the same

@10pmmemes88 Год назад

sounds like a dystopian nightmare. Perhaps people who describe habitats as 'dope af' shouldn't be in charge of house planning.

@dustojnikhummer Год назад

@@10pmmemes88 More dystopian than having to drive for half an hour each way to get to civilization? People who think car centric suburbs are a good idea shouldn't be in the charge of zoning.

@strayedarticle2838 Год назад

@@10pmmemes88 I like the idea. Maybe not for myself, but I can see the appeal, and I've never used the expression "dope as F," but if you want t say it I won't judge you.

@Iquey Год назад

There's a mall like this that got demolished and fully rebuilt as mixed use over the course of about 8 years in Kirkland WA, called totem lake village. Lots of luxury apartments surround a "lifestyle center" with an outdoor mall, restaurants and a theater. The place is fun to visit but living there seems weird/only for people with lots of money. I think my ideal community would be a toned down version of this. Modest apartments with low rent, but maybe surrounded by bikeable small businesses and community gardens. Something inspired by eastern Europe and maybe Amsterdam mixed together. Biking + Commie blocks but up to US code standards that yoy are allowed to decorate as you wish, without the super conservative Russian or Serbian culture. I'm nostalgic for Capitol Hill of Seattle in the early 2000s I guess.

@erinrising2799 Год назад

I saw a story about an empty office building in LA and thought "why don't they just make it into housing" , thank you for your video explaining why it might not be as easy as I thought

@HotDogLaws Год назад

theres a huge, triangle-shaped office tower in downtown LA on the west side of the 110 that was a huge failure when it was built because there was massive oversupply of office space at the time. It's since been converted into condos and hotel rooms, and its extremely nice inside

@biazacha Год назад

My mind goes always to plumbing right away - highly necessary, expensive to build, will directly affect the structural integrity of any buildings so demands competent and also expensive workforce…. just sounds like a logistical nightmare to plan. But is nice to see is becoming way more common than what I assumed.

@bowdencable7094 Год назад

This is incredibly solvable: fight to change city building zoning to require builders to design and stub for flexible future housing use. The problem with current conversions is that the buildings are essentially one-use disposable. As a society we choose the current mess, but we do not have to. Read How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand to learn more.

@Hrotriks Год назад

It doesnt make sense to me.... people literally working there all day seems to prove that you can live there, because what does change?

@thehousecat93 Год назад

@@Hrotriks they need the infrastructure for bathrooms and kitchens. My office doesn’t have gas hookups for stoves nor space for showers or bathtubs.

@vladeckk21 Год назад

One of the reasons office occupancy is so low where I live is that the rents have remained high, even in empty buildings. Commercial real estate has been very slow to respond to the changing economics.

@Joshcodes808 Год назад

In Nov 2019 our lease was up. I told the landlord we’d re-sign the 3 year lease but not with a price hike since commercial space has been overbuilt in our area. He said, “commercial real estate only increases in price. We’ll let it sit before having stagnant rent, ever!” 3.5 years later, it’s still empty but credit to him, he’s stuck to his position. Anyway, it seems their culture is to never drop prices.

@aristotle_4532 Год назад

@@Joshcodes808 They expect twice the return compared to residential, which is merely exploitation of businesses. The selling prices are low. In Greece they sometimes expect you to pay for the full propertty price within 7 to 10 years of rental. Some of these spaces have been unused for 4 or 5 years.

@rmo9808 Год назад

@@Joshcodes808 This reminds me of Louis Rossmann's experience shopping for retail space in New York. Buildings will sit empty for years on end because the rent is insane.

@peteranon8455 Год назад

@@rmo9808 It's our own fault for allowing corporations to have tax write offs for "lost revenue."

@picahudsoniaunflocked5426 Год назад

This is so true; the economic signals are really contradicting each other & I've been baffled as to why nothing's mind down after being so obviously inflated.

@j.mieses8139 Год назад

Well done. I myself work in a suburban office building. Since the Pandemic our office attendance has never been the same. I myself go there a day or two out of the week. Working remotely has been so convenient that everyone is taking advantage of it. My Firm is currently evaluating what they will do after our lease is due in Two years.

@CortexNewsService Год назад

My company actually gave up our office space in Evanston just north of Chicago. We've gone almost completely remote. And a lot of us took the opportunity to move to new areas while keeping our jobs.

@heikorudi6105 Год назад

you might will hate it in a couple years, talking from experience. the best solution for me is to have an office in biking or walking distance. separation without dreading commute

@fdm2155 Год назад

Yes, we have multiple floors in an expensive building in a city center. Most are only onsite two days per week. Some moved to full time remote. I'm sure our footprint will shrink when the lease is renewed in a couple of years.

@Dontstopbelievingman Год назад

I wish that was happening here. Businesses are forcing everyone back to the commute. City centres and commutes are horrible for dogs and having grass and growing plants and breathing fresh air. Not to mention noise issues in the city.

@fdm2155 Год назад

@@Dontstopbelievingman Well, it was a smaller adjustment for us. We've had work from home options for over a decade. Used to be up to 2 days/week, now it's 3. It's clear that the building is very empty most days compared to 2019. Lots of commercial spaces are for rent in our downtown business areas as retail and restaurants have folded. I assume much of that is due to the lack of foot traffic since 2020. It's busier than 2020 - 2021 but still much lighter than 2019.

@AaronSmith-kr5yf Год назад

After having lived in two different but very suburban apartment complexes, I'd say HELL YEAH to living in a converted 70's/80's/90's era generic box suburban office building in an office park. The construction seems like a lot higher quality, no squeaky floors, better soundproofing, windows that actually have an insulating value(even if no outdoor space), maybe an HVAC system that actually works and isn't undersized because the developers were cheap bastards. Plus a couple of the office parks I'm thinking of in the Nashville area actually have sidewalks/are in walking distance of restaurants/bars/grocery stores. Also all these buildings have elevators, those stairs on the 3rd floor walkup with everybody having 10' ceilings got real damn old, real damn quick.

@nutsbutdum Год назад

This channel has become my go-to information source about Chicago. So many interesting things about that city that I didn't know.

@kentonyc Год назад

I know more about Chicago than cities I've lived in 😂

@surreal5444 Год назад

Legend has Chicago is architects' wet dream.

@ConradNeill Год назад

The RU-vid channel, Its History, focuses on Chicago quite a bit.

@mamotalemankoe3775 Год назад

This channel really helped me see how great the city is. Prior I only heard about the high crime and such but now that I know more about it, I can see how cool it is and hope to go there for some time in future.

@charlienyc1 Год назад

@@mamotalemankoe3775 It's quite tourist-friendly, so come visit!

@skiko15 Год назад

We have a similar situation here. The old North Little Rock High School (the infamous Little Rock Central High's architectural little sister) is sitting empty and in need of a new purpose, but the school district and the city government say it would cost too much to renovate due to its NRHP listing (which also, thankfully, keeps it from being demolished like they would have so eagerly liked). Renovating into small business studio spaces or loft apartments seems like a logical step. Plenty of other old schoolhouse buildings around the city have done that already, but they also aren't on/next to an active campus (they built the replacement campus behind it), yet plenty of schools function in mixed development zones. It just seems like those in charge have a lack of vision and are unwilling to listen to those with actual experience on the matter... shocking, I know.

@CHMichael Год назад

Mixed use is the secret. Imagine not having to leave the building. Live work and shop. That would take care of window less areas. I would think that water ( fresh and black) is a bigger problem .

@workshopninjathe1st Год назад

When you purchase a piece of historic architecture - you are not the owner - you are the custodian. I say this as the owner of a 60s modernist home in Oregon. I feel it is my duty to not let this old house rot - but to preserve its beauty, and authenticity for future generations.

@picahudsoniaunflocked5426 Год назад

& knowledge. People take the knowledge for granted, but there's legit tons of knowledge embedded in buildings, & lots of architectural techniques were degraded or lost over the years bc no one thought they were worth saving.

@mamneo2 Год назад

Incroyable.

@strayedarticle2838 Год назад

That's a very noble outlook on historic home ownership. I really like historic districts, so thank you for your service.

@christopherstephenjenksbsg4944 Год назад

Well done Stewart! This is a difficult problem, and while I certainly don't think that every office park and shopping mall needs to be preserved, some of them are amazing structures. About 25 years ago I was involved in a project in lower Manhattan to convert an office building near Wall Street into loft-style apartments. The building dated from about 1910, and like the Tribune tower, the floor-plate was small enough to allow for residential conversion, with operable windows, etc. A lot of similar projects were being undertaken at the same time in lower Manhattan, and while some of the projects were better than others, overall it was very positive for the neighborhood. The Wall Street area used to be a ghost town after hours and on weekends, and now it's a vital, mixed-used neighborhood. But how do we deal with more recent office buildings with huge floor plates and hermetically sealed windows? That's really a tough one. I would only say that most people who worked in buildings like that found the buildings very unpleasant places to work, particularly those who worked in the cubicles filling the central space. Yet some of them are very important buildings that really need to be preserved. For example, I would hate to see the Seagram building demolished because it cannot be adapted to a different use.

@mrs.manrique7411 Год назад

I could see the large spaces being converted to activity places like a gym or playground, or I could see even retail shops in the center spaces with the exterior windows being the large hallways wrapping around the shops.

@tammv2306 Год назад

I'd love to see more of these massive buildings for the elderly too. Where they are close to public transport and the pharmacy and hairdressers are downstairs 😊 when family visits it's easy to go out and grab a bite or such ❤

@louiscypher4186 Год назад

People need to come before buildings, If it cannot serve a function moving forward it should be scrapped. Preserving these old buildings for the sake of it needless drives up the cost of land.

@CartoonDrama44 Год назад

Trying to preserve a tower which cannot be used for housing for its architectural value seems like a "first-world problem" in a country with a huge housing affordability and homelessness crisis

@picahudsoniaunflocked5426 Год назад

@@louiscypher4186 We can do both. If certain billionaires + millionaires weren't being disgusting greedy piggies, we could house all people. Old buildings aren't the ones taking food from our mouths & withholding shelter from those without homes. You can blame that on people + policies, which is also how to fix them. Preserving things often means preserving the human ingenuity + labour + craft + techniques that went into them. There's no shortage of knowledge we lost as a species bc we allowed (or genocided) that knowledge to fall back into the realm of the unknown. This isn't an either/or situation. Not to mention that it takes A LOT of resources to decommission a building, so when people like you are all, "aw just bulldoze it bc people are more important" maybe consider how much money will be dumped into making it a big hole instead of a building --- money that could be going to help feed/house those people you seem so worried about. Not getting the impression you thought this thru.

@dickneywithplants7377 Год назад

I live in downtown San Francisco, and there is SO much office space here. All the tech giants/startups are on their way out. SF is one of the most vacant business districts I believe

@ichifish Год назад

If we had invested in cities as much as we subsidized suburbs over the past 50 years we wouldn't have to worry about empty office buildings now.

@bb-gp3lm Год назад

As someone who wants to own my own apt/condo, if they can repurpose it, go for it. If not, burn it down :/ I honestly don't care about why or how it was built. I really hope local govs can shill out subsidies or something. NYC real estate is still on full denial lmao. Offices really suck. I didn't get a full window until 4-5yrs into my career. I WFH and I get to see my city's skyline and fresh sunlight all the time.

@Lindsay.Martin Год назад

Very informative! We have the opposite issue in Atlanta. High rise residential units are going up on on every corner. Most folks have returned to the office as evidenced by the heavy rush hour traffic. However, malls designed in the 80’s and 90’s are dying in favor of open air live, work, play and shop developments. We are still heavily dependent on cars due to the lack of vision for public transit.

@picahudsoniaunflocked5426 Год назад

I wonder why the pattern's different where you are...why do you think the pattern changed there?

@kannonpq 10 месяцев назад

@@picahudsoniaunflocked5426 I know this is a 5 months old comment, but I can answer this. Brian Kemp. His assets are listed as a few corporate office buildings, and a small company to oversee them.

@vkdrk Год назад

I lived in a former office building (converted) for almost 3 years and it was great. Amazing location, spacious apartment and it was also a great value for money. 10 mins walk to work/city centre. 2 min walk to a main railway station, shops and everything you need is around the corner. Converted office buildings are great, maybe not to live there your entire life but it definitely is very convenient when you have a busy schedule as you don't waste time commuting to the city

@FunKayyy Год назад

This sounds like an awful idea when you consider that one co-worker you hate will be your neighbor and your boss will have super creepy supervision over you.

@kerrinw8559 Год назад

I can't speak for Chicago, but here in NYC, we have a serious EXCESS of "luxury residential" that just sits empty. Most of it replaced buildings that once had affordable housing. I know there has been talk of converting midtown office buildings into residential, but that is truly unrealistic for all but the smaller, older buildings. But even the smaller buildings would require massive renovation- esp with plumbing. These buildings also don't often have any sort of service entrance- so bringing in building materials is difficult. And the apartments wouldn't be "affordable" in the end- only more "luxury" units - in an area that no one would want to live in. Maybe converting them into short-term rental units would be a better idea.

@tsbrownie Год назад

On the subject of office spaces, I wish that companies would recognize that max performance from extroverts and introverts (about 15% of the population) come from very different environments. Extroverts may thrive in the open office spaces, introverts often do much better in closed spaces.

@norlockv Год назад

The Loop is the fastest growing neighborhood in Chicago, all of this right through the Pandemic. It’s changing commuter patterns and even restaurant hours.

@supermilkchan123 Год назад

I'm surprised he didn't mention the office-residential conversions proposed for LaSalle street in the Loop. That project looks very exciting.

@charlienyc1 Год назад

@@supermilkchan123 I'm glad you mentioned this. I thought I heard something about this and you've confirmed it. Every time I bike or walk past LaSalle, it's far quieter than it used to be or should be. This town needs more housing, esp. affordable housing, and all these office building vacancies seem to be a good fit.

@myheartbelong2oi Год назад

My girlfriend is currently designing an office-to-residence conversion; right off the bat, it could be more economically viable. It's more expensive than just rebuilding the buildings; add to it the difficulty of avoiding mechanical and structural features that create oddly shaped and unlivable units means that conversions aren't a great idea for all but the most historically valuable buildings.

@hidesbehindpseudonym1920 Год назад

The problem with a lot of those high-rise office buildings is how low the ceilings are.... People with enough money to live downtown want really high ceilings.

@nichiniker Год назад

I currently live in an office building that was converted to condos in 2007. It’s great. High ceilings, super quiet (0 noise between units or floors). Little weird layout for parking garage and workout facilities, but overall cool. Not exactly mixed use though. Would be nice to have some more walkable restaurants nearby. There is a super good bike trail right next to it though.

@proberush Год назад

As someone who just moved into a renovated office building, I couldn't agree more. This is a wonderful space in a beautiful historic building.

@KingKafei Год назад

Even if they converted them nobody would be able to afford it. I can only imagine the insane prices they're asking for the one converted you brought up in this video.

@mikeewin7544 Год назад

Extremely relevant. Thanks. This is one of your best. Houston just repurposed a huge empty main post office building to a multi-purpose center. It's a great example to see. San Francisco had a building boom ten years ago, but now is teetering on a "doom loop" per the SF Chronicle with large layoffs, empty office buildings and failing support services. Amazing how fast this turn around happen. You may want to look into effective spaces for doing business between formal offices and ineffective working from home spaces. Repurposing good buildings into good good remote office hubs could be your follow-up video. Thanks

@Markstubation01 Год назад

It would be interesting if the newly empty regions could be re-forested.

@eti401 Год назад

Your videos are truly fantastic! I love the way you lay out your arguments and cite various sources. Genuinely one of my favorite urban planning channels now. Keep up the great work!

@Brian-os9qj Год назад

Americana, and it’s newly acquired pride in the historical, must be remembered and allowed to be experienced,through reuse and preservation. Thx man, cool buildings I would enjoy seeing.

@spathens8225 Год назад

Living in the tribune tower would be a dream

@ebethink Год назад

Agree. I worked in he Tribune Tower in the 1990s so it hold some great memories of my youth. In the lobby of the building is a plaque with the names of WW 2 people killed in action. My grand-uncle's name (grandmother's brother) is on that plaque. Would be like coming home.

@daviddd_edgar Год назад

Wow, I wrote my architecture thesis on that! It's a very complicated topic but worth exploring in some cases.

@marinakukso Год назад

i'm glad you talked about deerfield and the general situation with suburban office parks. i don't live in the chicago area anymore, but i visited in may 2022 and i was shocked by the effects of the pandemic in the vast officeparklands of the north suburbs (like deerfield). nature was reclaiming them! it was actually quite peaceful.

@stevemiller7949 Год назад

Stewart, you are so spot on about the issues that REALLY MATTER, like this segment. I am going back to see if you have weighed in on the over abundance of parking? If not please do so asap. Also hope to see a segment on 15 minute cities. Thanks🙂🙂💯

@nicholasfield6127 Год назад

I wonder how many people wouldn't mind going into the office if they didn't have to drive 🤔

@spaguettoltd.7933 Год назад

This is now officially the closest we’ve gotten to the fabled Stewart Hicks/Phil Edwards collab. I will believe you two aren’t the same person when I see you in a room together

@johndodd7870 Год назад

It's really trippy for me, because they always show up right next to each other in my video recommendations

@johnjingleheimersmith9259 Год назад

Phil is kind of a hack. His videos lack much substance, other than, often times just "hey isn't this strange".

@ThemMightyPies Год назад

GAY

@macsnafu Год назад

Hey, I was just noticing how similar they look. And now that you mention it, you never see them in the same room at the same time, do you?

@picahudsoniaunflocked5426 Год назад

What if they simply share one moustache?

@TireSpare Год назад

Oh gosh i do wish i could have lived in chicago without any access hassle and financial hassle as a college alumni. there are so many stuffs to check and see Chicago;s historic buildings

@picahudsoniaunflocked5426 Год назад

It's not particularly attractive outside, but in Calgary they revived a dead mall by adding a residential tower geared towards seniors, since that particular mall already had organically attracted multiple medical facilities on-site (clinics, labs, imaging centres, pharmacies, etc) plus there's a Walmart, big grocery store, & a pharmacy-that-is-more-like-a-dept-store, along with the regular mall stuff, like a food court, lotto booths, & some entertainment + quirky shops. Apparently the seniors feel safe there, they have walking groups + book clubs. It's also a great public transportation hub plus there's almost always cabs right there by the grocery store. It feels less like a mall than a video game village, like a community arranged in unusual physical space, but very much a community. I don't recall ever being in a place where so many people smiled & said hi as we passed each other, except maybe Manitou Springs in Colorado, & a couple villages in the Gatineau region of Canada. Mixed use zoning is a tool we are not using enough when we think of developing our urban-scales. I'd love to live in an office tower.

@SiouxsieAngel Год назад

Really great video! Stewart, have you considered doing a feature on civic spaces like city halls or Masonic lodges?

@AskMiko Год назад

I like how the channel highlights things we take for granted. The Midwest has many cities with hidden gems. The industrial age buildings are ❤

@robertrusso877 Год назад

I live fairly close to the Bell Works building and have been to it. The transformation is spectacular. I never thought an office building could become a destination. So much was going on there even on a weekend. Thanks Stewart for this episode.

@anonygent Год назад

Thanks for mentioning the financial aspect. So many preservationists seem to think we can preserve everything regardless of how much it costs. But a lot of places just aren't worth the expense to repair or renovate.

@danielhahn55 Год назад

this was very interesting! I work in the opposite case: a Gründerzeit-Building (Founding Times, around 1900, is when a lot of living quarters here were built) in Vienna, turned into an office building for an engineering company.

@jealousofmypuddin Год назад

Living in the Bay Area, we're surrounded by large swaths of office parks that could be better utilized, include much needed housing, and other community needs. San Francisco is already in the process of studying which office buildings in the Financial District could be ideal candidates for conversion. I used to work in the Hartford Building, a notable skyscraper built in the sixties, and always thought they could convert some floors to housing as many floors were underutilized.

@StephenCoorlas Год назад

Nice Stewart - I like you sharing your thoughts and position on these topics. It's a bit more inspiring and thought provoking than purely reporting information.

@chrislabar22 Год назад

Here’s an interesting idea… what if a college/university went into one of these empty office parks? What a place that would be! Just a thought. Seeing as some colleges are building 2 and 3 hundred million dollar buildings for a single purpose, why not have it all in one? Seems cheaper in the long run to me. I just wonder what kind of place it could be. Professors and students living in the same place (if they want to, of course). It could become a new definition of “urban campus”.

@JordanFreshour Год назад

Certainly you already know most office buildings are usually not viable residences because of zoning, and lack of expensive plumbing infrastructure. Developers are not interested in these flips most areas, not everywhere is like Chicago.

@davidnicholson6680 Год назад

Great video. I've been in the Baxter buildings multiple times, they are truly impressive. I have doubts that campus will survive the wrecking ball in its current form, though. Massive, aging corporate campuses like that are unlikely to find a viable tenant. The bigger problem to me are office towers. Even converting a tower with a relatively narrow floorplate will require a total gut as reworked plumbing, electric and HVAC is needed. The larger floor plate buildings are simply unviable for dense residential. Companies seem to be striving to force people back into offices, but I think employees have tasted remote working and don't want to go back. Even hybrid working means that open plan offices (as are common these days) are 30%-50% too large. It's going to be fascinating to see how this pans out.

@JohnDlugosz Год назад

An apartment building in particular (compared to suburbs) would be especially handy to have remote working executive suites adjacent to living. To convert modern office buildings, we need some change to occupancy laws. In a tall skyscraper we don't really want windows that open anyway! Large suites would not need window in every room. You could have mixed-use on a single floor, too, with residential around the perimeter and an open market concept in the middle.

@jbirzer Год назад

One of the buildings that comes to mind is the COMSAT building in Clarksburg MD. You can see it from I-270, and has been sitting empty for years. Given all the land, I always wondered if it could be a center for a mixed use development.

@glennhavinoviski8128 Год назад

The Johnson tower would make the great site of a phenomenal modern art or architecture museum. Maybe even a museum dedicated to FLW! The Baxter space with suspended roof might make a very cool transportation or automotive museum.

@capestreasuresPtown Год назад

Sweet baby Krishna no more luxury housing. The affluent already have multiple residences. Thanks for another informative video!

@densitydad Год назад

Amazing! The pace of your videos really helps someone diving into the built environment to digest these complex concepts. Thank you!

@michaelc0419 Год назад

This video highlighted some good points about the challenges of converting office buildings to residential then naively pivoted into a commentary about how these office buildings belong to all of us and should be preserved, without any consideration for the capital, expertise, and market demand required to successfully redevelop into thriving mixed use

@broonoart Год назад

Yea, i thought the video became a bit too hopeful at the end with the mixed zoning. Sure it sounds great but in this capitalist hellhole it's a lot more viable to see these turned into self storage facilities than cultural centers

@WhiteWolfBlackStar Год назад

Wow! The Severance Building has potential of what I;;m talking about! It's got everything, you could have a business downstairs, maybe salon, restaurant, etc, a store, movie theater. I LOVE THIS IDEA and I think it's time has come! I loved living in places that you could patronize the businesses already there. Oakland did a project like this 4th street lofts, I was invited to a meeting as a designer and somebody they would cater to. The whole process was really fascinating, I worked nearby so I watched the whole process from ground up, spectacular and they cleaned up the neighborhood in the process that was just a dump with all these beautiful buildings going to waste. Just keep the prices to rent reasonable!

@mikefaulhaber Год назад

While I don't think the video's title matches its contents - the focus being more on making the case for somehow preserving architecturally (and culturally) significant structures - it's nevertheless an important topic that needs more attention. Thank you :)

@randcarlson2296 Год назад

Stuff like this makes me wish I could be a real estate developer or the government could build housing. This is something if I had the money I would love to work on repurposing these buildings when possible or building walkable mixed use districts out of office parks. For now we can hope that maybe we can have the government do some of these conversions to provide much needed housing for those of lesser means.

@ZuperZocker Год назад

I thought about the beautiful renovation done to the old Cook County hospital as it was converted into the Hyatt. My wife worked across the street at Rush and I was convinced I would see someone moving in the busted out windows. Used to smell strong of mildew on a warm day. Might make a good video.

@jperez7893 Год назад

if the cities added trams to connect to city centers, and convert them to housing and mixed use then a lot of these building would see a second life

@RyanStormCartoons Год назад

For a long standing example The "Superman" building in Providence was stuck in a zoning rut since around 2013. It's the most iconic looking building in the city's skyline, and only recently (around spring of 2022) started its conversion from vacant offices to residential apartments. Affordability is always a problem, but it's designated to have 20% of its units marked as "affordable."

@TheTallGirl Год назад

Mixed-use buildings are the best way. It works this way in cities at many places of the world. I used to live at the place, where I can just take the lift or stairs to go to work and the bub and grocery shop was just on the other side of the street.

@Rahshu Год назад

It was interesting to see these different buildings in historical context, but I don't think you really gave much coverage to what the title suggested. I wanted to know more about the possibility of conversion, what that looks like, a breakdown of the challenges. Instead, this was mostly an overview of some notable suburban office buildings from the 1960s and 1970s. It would have also been interesting to have more coverage of the changes in the office market, the ecosystems of downtowns (which are, admittedly, a different beast from a suburban office park), and the implications of remote work. A lot of people praising it, in my opinion, don't really think too deeply about how it might work, how it actually works, or the fact that a hell of a lot of people don't work office jobs but frequently in jobs that are ancillary to office buildings. Going back to the suggested topic in the title of the video, an overview of how various types of buildings have been converted over time (a strength of pre-WWII architecture in general) and what that can teach about the approach to design could have been very informative. As it stands, I don't think you really answered the question you posed in the title.

@SF-zc3mm Год назад

This is a PERFECT solution to the urban housing crisis we're seeing.

@newtagwhodis4535 Год назад

Most beautiful city ever! I highly encourage every traveler from around the world to visit for a week and immerse oneself in its splendor. In part it’s a great example of the beauty in the idea of the great American “melting pot”, something for everyone! Great videos!

@TheWiggelsworth Год назад

I got to work in the Tribune tower. Even had an office facing the lake. It’s wild to see those million dollar condos now.

@BenShutUp Год назад

Your dialogue at the end, really reeled me in. Thanks.

@mokster5 Год назад

The old lab and office buildings reminded me of the COMSAT building outside of DC right next to 270. I see it every time I drive into the city and it’s a really cool building (designed by Cesar Pelli in 1969 - very futuristic) but it’s been empty for as long as I can remember. People keep coming up with plans to use it but it never seems to work out.

@nolesy34 Год назад

The idea of having a children's creche wasnt quite favoured by children's parents

@Winspur1982 Год назад

I'd bet the kudzu has plans to use it too.

@AllThatsGone Год назад

I’ve been waiting for this video for three years. Thanks for making it.

@davidharrison3173 Год назад

Always a smart., well done presentation. Thank you, Stewart.

@RubyJamez Год назад

Calgary recently created fund for conversion of several Downton buildings, 1-3 floor mixed use and residential at the top, underground parking and all the things. It actually makes far more sense then creating Computer cells in the center that people have to drive to every single day.

@darrenparis8314 Год назад

There is some interesting architecture in this video

@mrmaniac3 Год назад

There's one remaining structure in the abandoned Diamond Match Factory complex in Chico California. It's a long brick factory hall with lots of windows and two big doors, one on either end, for shipping in the locally milled lumber, and shipping out the final products. There was some interest in preserving and reusing the factory complex and its remnants, but it still sits and rots. Hopefully someday it gets that attention.

@pktdbgnzwl Год назад

And dead suburban shopping malls could be repurposed to indoor recreaction. Bike parks w proshop, soccer, tennis, climbing gym, performance spaces, community meeting spaces etc

@ereceeme Год назад

Just saw a Canadians architect YT channel competition between architects and AI that actually tested AI generated design and presentation. In her case AI actually beat them. Things are gettting scary. In the future the practice of architecture could be very different than what it has been.

@may091985 Год назад

If you watched the entire video, you’ll notice at this point in time AI is capable of only producing pretty pictures, there’s more to architecture than just pretty pictures, unlike general art there is a lot of technical and context based thinking involved, there’s no doubt AI will probably get over the hurdle in the near future, but human input and collaboration will still be needed, in architecture, II personally believe there is no one true solution for a given problem.

@ltreylukwesa Год назад

@@may091985 yeah it’s kinda scary as most professions will just be replaced by a person good at using AI

@notlessgrossman163 Год назад

@@ltreylukwesa not for a while, but Ai will assist and speed up common tasks in an architect office so reduce office sizes.

@ereceeme Год назад

@@may091985 it was capable of creating spaces and form, not perfectly but its on its way.

@may091985 Год назад

@@notlessgrossman163 agree, it’ll help us architects cover menial and data based task much faster.

@tempbauer2131 Год назад

It’s like areas that had warehouses and factories in the 80’s & 90’s. Now some of those buildings have been converted so long that they aren’t “trendy” and their are adults that have never known it to be anything else

@robertdufour2456 Год назад

Awesome presentation!

@Kroke_Monster Год назад

This has been experianced in the Uk for decades and decades just not as extreme with so much building stock. In Harlow, they had pigeon like coup offices turned residential for 'social housing' breaking many a laws and all, thats a slightly notorious case but its scarily unregulated.

@icreatedanaccountforthis1852 Год назад

This was incredibly interesting. Thank you.

@MikeM-tt3dh Год назад

I used to work at the updated 600W building next to what used to be cabrini green. It had business, a bit of retail on the ground floor, parking, and residential units. One of my coworkers at the time had an extremely demanding position that required HEFTY hours, even by American standards. However, because he lived in one of the condos in the same building, he was still able to balance his work and home lives and was able to start a family and have kids. In fact, in a lot of ways he viewed the office as an extension of his own home since he was able to use the office for productivity while still easily having access to his family at lunch or between meetings. It was a fascinating setup and I'd love to see more young people have access to those kinds of opportunities!

@WAJK2030 Год назад

Great video again. Currently working on a 1906 administrative building of the former German Reichsbahn at Leipzig, Germany. You got me thinking about a residential makeover.

@ryanleethomas Год назад

3:46 Glad you raise this point because much of what makes this problem what it is, is the speculative nature of real estate, and the high premium folks are paying to use office spaces, as well as occupy housing. Should places remain vacant for too long, they will change owning hands at a financial loss, and prices will adjust. People will learn that places aren’t “worth” what they’re suggested to be. At least financially. And the holding hostage of space at such a high premium undercuts the social value generated by the architecture serving its purpose to bring people together in meaningful ways. Considering it a necessary market correction is cold, but treating property like solely a machine for generating efficient business outcomes has always been this. When people fundamentally don’t agree with this premise, values adjust, and spaces change, steadily gravitating towards prosperous places or defunct ones.

@ryanleethomas Год назад

Also, I will say, to your next point; the transcendence of architecture beyond purely real estate value toward something of cultural identity is still the outlier and not the norm. Most buildings/sites don’t hold such a place in people’s hearts to venerate and redevelop this way. It’s great to bring attention to the buildings/sites that are formally unique or architecturally ornate, but most places are products of machinations much less extravagant, though their human interactions generated are anything but banal. It’s almost as if the hard work is getting people to care about what buildings do, rather than how they look or what they represent.

@CubeAtlantic Год назад

You know i never even noticed that could be a incredible idea for the low-income & homeless to live in permanently closed offices in America.

@tigerphid9677 Год назад

I lived in New York City in the 1980s and 1990s. I recently visited for the first time since the pandemic and it was sad to see the City so hollowed out after the exciting hustle and bustle of the past. Even the little boutique shops on Madison Avenue have high vacancies. I think that American cities are now becoming irrelevant. It is shocking. The suburbs and other places like small towns and rural areas have finally won out. There is no turning back.

@F4URGranted Год назад

Cities are losing money fast. They're going to have to work hard to make a comeback and that's exactly why they need our support

@Winspur1982 Год назад

I'm afraid that's bullshit. Chicago is still attracting immigrants from across the nation and other nations (it attracted me last week). My parents lived in NYC in the 70s and 80s and I know something of what you're talking about. I squeezed myself into a jampacked subway car at rush hour the other day ... that felt bustling enough to me! Deerfield is not going to seduce me anytime soon.

@planescaped Год назад

It's ridiculous that there aren't more mixed commercial and residential sites in America.

@RetroMario Год назад

Converting office buildings (when viable and safe) might be one of the answers to the housing crisis that plagues the big cities right now. There will be more housing units available, bringing the prices down. The people who still need to be in physical work locations won’t need to be displaced and have to commute all the way from the suburbs. I know it’s not the only problem and AirBnB should be limited on those too. But it’s a good piece of the puzzle.

@the_resourceful Год назад

To recycling/repurpose the great spaces by the arch-geniuses like Saarinen are imperitive.

@insertyourquarters Год назад

Another fabulous insight.

@bobbirdsong6825 Год назад

An alternative idea I had was that we could use inconvertible office spaces as arts centers. Places where painters could paint, musicians practice and record, dancers choreograph their routines, etc. This would encourage people who might otherwise prefer housing further from the city center to move in closer, as they no longer need more space or separation from neighbors for their pursuits. They would also make great maker spaces and whatnot. The set up could be similar to the ones frequently found in Japan, where mid rise and shorter high rise buildings often have regular businesses inside of them rather than office spaces.

@Tealeafsong Год назад

Possible future uses: light industry as international trading patterns change. Indoor agriculture such as hydroponics. Malls have the parking, loading and water and electrical infrastructure available.

@JohnFromAccounting Год назад

I feel as though the Tribune Tower was one of the few viable conversions because it's an icon of Chicago. People would be willing to pay to live in a piece of history. But they won't pay to live in a generic office building with an uninspiring view.

@vanyac6448 Год назад

I think any building in a high enough cost of living area would be a viable conversion. Because the rent in those areas is too high, and people would be willing to settle for a building that isn’t run-down and where the rent is affordable.

@ereceeme Год назад

the prices will be in accord

@JordanPeace Год назад

Actually it’s more that it was old enough to have a small floor plate that could easily be converted into residential floor plans. Even the Sears Tower, which would likely have some of the most amazing views in the city, can’t magically turn itself into a residential building because there’s simply too much of it that’s too far from any windows or natural light to ever be useful or even legal as residential units.

@vvMathematicalvv Год назад

I remember being disappointed after watching that Vox video you refer to, and I absolutely love this video you made here. Good work, as always.

@georgegeorgiouza4728 Год назад

Excellent conversation, and something South Africa is starting to embrace, especially in the context of inadequate or non existent public transport infrastructure. Factoring those costs into the refurbishment equation makes more building economically viable for a transition to residential or mixed use.

@SharynS. Год назад

In my city, there is a mall near our house that has been in the process of shutting down for years (waiting for each store’s lease to run out). The city had several proposals for use of the space and chose a beautiful mixed-use plan designed by a local firm. It’s exciting to watch. This city doesn’t need that mall but does need affordable housing with office space and a park with a bandstand. I can’t wait for construction to begin!

@ZigUncut Год назад

Love your channel. Will watch this a little later.

@warrenlemay8134 Год назад

Sadly, Research Triangle Park in North Carolina recently saw the Burroughs Wellcome complex, known as the Elion-Hitchings Building, designed by Paul Rudolph, demolished in favor of new development by the new owner, United Therapeutics. The building was the most architecturally significant modernist structure at the office park. One reason I left North Carolina in the first place was because of the lack of architectural interest in the state - the demolition of the Elion-Hitchings Building just further proves the point to me as to why I left.

@RyanCalavano Год назад

Great video!

@surreal5444 Год назад

Incredible presentation , Mr.Hicks!!! With Chicago's arch. whether it's good or bad , never is it boredom. But , I always kinda flummox with LOS ANGELES city planning with having very few skyscrapers and small buildings while being the second largest and most populous city. Will be awesome if you add west coast to ur bucket list.

@rosevan7845 Год назад

I don't want to be on the 25th floor during an earthquake, I think many might feel this way..

@surreal5444 Год назад

@@rosevan7845 I am one of that many and felt the same a lot. But if that's the only reason then la would look a lot like Sacramento or sf. with less than 1000 ft. scrapers. Actually, none of the structural engineers had considered those issues in 70s-80s LOS ANGELES SKYLINE DEVELOPMENT aside from their pockets get filled. It has its own history 🌹.

@AuroraMeditation Год назад

Lol the "Dead Mall" Footage at 3:21 mark is actually a huge and always very very busy shopping mall from EUROPE, just before opening hours. It is called Westfield Chodov and it is in Prague, Czech Republic.

@guaxary Год назад

Mixing office with residential could also be good from the residential noise perspective.

@xandercruz900 Год назад

I mean, sure? If the numbers start to work out, many of these places will certainly switch over. No different than all of the empty factories in the 90s that became loft apartments and condos, or when old Victorian mansions were carved-up into apartments in the 40-60s.