The other day, we checked out “My Micro NY“, the winning design of the adAPT NYC competition. We found a little more information about it, such as the fact that it’ll lay claim to being the first major prefab building erected in Manhattan. Its housing modules will all be made in the nearby Brooklyn Navy Yards and will take a mere two week to put in place after the foundation is laid.
click on thumbnails to see larger images
Today, we are looking at another entry using prefab construction entitled MAX, which is a collaboration between Blesso Properties, Bronx Pro, Hollwich Kushner (HWKN) and James McCullar Architecture.
The building’s 56 units are 250 sq ft each, making them the smallest of the finalists. HWKN says this about the overall design and the building’s unique top:
These efficient machines for living are arranged around a vertical public core, topped by a “hat” of communal rooftop amenity space, giving Max its unique disposition. Max wants you to make friends, have a drink, socialize, and expand beyond your four walls.
The “hat” features green spaces and, critical to any small space apartment complex, hottubs. The vertical core mentioned, from what we can deduce from the pictures, has multi-level communal areas, a game room and a common dining area.
HWKN described the building as a “community incubator” and there is something distinctly adult-dorm about the layout. This is a good thing. People often reminisce about dorm room days as the happiest days of their lives. With tight quarters, you were pushed into the hallways, cafeterias and other common areas, making meeting and connecting with friends a natural part of living. Designs like MAX ask why college students should have all the fun?
What do you think of MAX? Would you live there? If so, why. If not, why not?
Small space apartment aficionados mark your calendars: Next week, beginning January 23rd, The Museum of the City of New York opens its “Making Room: New Models for Housing New Yorkers” exhibit. The exhibit is co-presented by the museum and Citizens Housing & Planning Council (CHPC) and will show off models, drawings and a mock-up 325 sq ft transforming apartment demonstrating possible futures for smart, compact apartment design. Winning designs of the adAPT NYC competition–the Bloomberg’s pilot program for designing and constructing a multi-unit micro-apartment building–will be on display as well.
New York City expects almost 1M new residents by 2030. A growing portion of these people will be singles, seniors and other populations for whom small, efficient apartments make a lot of sense. Spearheaded by CHPC, the adAPT NYC competition and the Making Room exhibit are rallying the best ideas for how the city and its real estate developers will accommodate them. We suspect this is just the beginning.
If you’re not a New Yorker, fear not, the exhibit runs through September 15th, so you have some time to get there. Barring that, check in with us for news and updates.
Last week, 33 development teams submitted to adAPT NYC–the Bloomberg-administration-supported competition seeking the best 275-300 sq ft/unit apartment building proposal [full disclosure: LifeEdited was on one of the teams]. According to the Wall Street Journal, this is three times the number of entrants similar competitions draw.
“The City’s adAPT NYC competition has ignited a global interest and conversation about how high-density urban centers can right-size their housing stock to fit changing demographics,” according to Mathew Wambua, commissioner of the housing preservation department.
Good news, right?
Well, not according to everyone.
This last Tuesday, a few thousand miles away in San Francisco, the South of Market Community Action Network (Somcan) took to the steps of City Hall to protest a proposed change in housing code that would permit dwellings as small as 150 sq ft.
Perhaps because of its proximity to Japan, San Francisco has been at the vanguard of small building in the US for some time. Unlike NYC, who demands new apartments have a minimum of 400 sq ft of living space (adAPT NYC is receiving a waiver on that), San Francisco already allows new spaces to be built as small as 220 sq ft. The Cubix SF, which has units as small as 230 sq ft, has been around for several years. An upcoming project by SmartSpace at 38 Harriet St in the SoMa neighborhood will feature 4 stories of 300 sq ft units.
What Somcan is protesting is the city’s ostensible shifting focus from family-friendly affordable housing to housing for affluent, childless singles and couples. This is taken from Somcan’s Facebook page:
SF has yet to meet its SF Housing Element plan of prioritizing affordable family housing units and yet creating housing for the new techies in the neighborhood seems to be first on the agenda. With less families in San Francisco means less family-friendly city and less funds for our public schools. It will be competing with the minimal land that the City has which can be use for REAL affordable housing. This type of development could possibly be catastrophic to our neighborhood, displacing low-income families, singles and existing residents
They might have a point: mico-units are not family friendly. They are primarily for singles and couples without children. The construction of micro-units could be construed as an elevation of their needs over those of families. And while there are no protests (yet), the same could be said of adAPT NYC.
What complicates Somcan’s argument is:
Market demand. Singles and couples need affordable housing too. SF micro-units will start around $1300/month, far lower than the $2300 median price for a studio in that neighborhood.
Smart design actually makes these spaces more livable than comparable, larger spaces.
As cities grow denser, a fundamental shift in living spaces will have to be made. NYC, for example, expects nearly 1M new residents by 2030. The city says 85% of the housing stock for those people is already built, so redistribution of current spaces and new types of buildings will be essential to accommodating these people–whether they are singles, couples or families.
It’s a tough situation. Indeed, many cities like San Francisco and NYC are becoming prohibitively expensive for families. Yet singles and couples need affordable places to live.
Then again, maybe 150 sq ft is just too damn small (though the Japanese would have room to spare). Maybe really small legal micro-units would make cities the near-exclusive domain of singles, driving out all but the richest families. And maybe these dinky digs would open the gates to exploitation–already a problem in space-strapped places like Hong Kong, Singapore and London. Perhaps there is such a thing as too small.
We’re obviously more in the pro-micro-unit camp. We think they portend a fundamental, and positive, shift in the way people live in the city and even beyond. We also believe they can be scaled up for any type of household. But we’d love to hear what you think? Are micro-units providing affordable, smart and efficient housing for tomorrow’s urban dweller? Or are they displacing families and existing tenants in favor or “new techies”? Let us know your thoughts.
Clarification: San Francisco’s current code allows 220 sq living spaces, with 70 sq ft additional for kitchen and bathroom (290 sq ft total). A proposed change in code would allow for 150 sq ft living space with 70 sq ft additional for kitchen and bathroom (220 sq ft total).
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
Mahatma Gandhi
The world’s spotlight has shown brightly on small living since NYC Mayor Bloomberg announced the adAPT NYC program last week. Articles have been featured in nearly every major newspaper around the world. Suddenly, small living is a big topic.
But what is the nature of the discourse? It seems to oscillate between ridicule to legimacy. Just check out the NY Times, who featured a satirical editorial about micro units called “Microhome, Sweet Home.” Here are a couple passages:
Please keep your coat on. One of Gerald’s friends brought a hat, so unfortunately space is a bit tight in the closet.
And
I had a dream I was in my own coffin last night, but it wasn’t a nightmare so much as a fantasy about the legroom.
In the next breath, they’re publishing a decorating guide to small apartments. Which is it guys?
The Times isn’t the only one. While many publications did straight reporting, the Wall Street Journal called the adAPT units “Lilliputian.” Other publications are asking if anyone would live in such a small space?
This question of whether people can live in such small spaces assumes no on is living in such small spaces. The fact of the matter is small is not new, nor is it unusual. It’s just new to the US. Many–pretty much all–developed countries are, and have been, living in spaces a fraction of the size Americans occupy (can’t say “use”) for years.
As the Gandhi quote alludes to, most deviations from the status quo endure several stages of resistance: ignorance, ridicule, active resistance and finally surrender. Perhaps the most important thing is that smaller, smarter living is being talked about and addressed in public policy in tangible ways.
What do you think about this shift? Will compact living remain a novelty in the US forever or can you see a time when compact living will be the standard? We’d love your thoughts.
Check out the LifeEdited apartment in this ABC World News feature about small New York City living spaces. The story is related to Mayor Bloomberg’s adAPT NYC design competition, which is looking for great 275-300 sq ft apartment designs to better house NYC’s 1 and 2 person households.
Perhaps, as the feature suggests, the LifeEdited apartment will factor into the winning design. We’ll keep you posted!
