Archinect - Features

Let's Move the Conversation From Demolition to Creating More Affordable Housing

2020-03-10T19:53:00-04:00

At the end of February, a surprising decision by a state judge revoked the approval for the top 20 floors of 200 Amsterdam Avenue, a market-rate, luxury, residential building on the Upper West Side in New York.

The developers amassed air rights, using a zoning loophole to create a 39-sided lot. While the city clarified that these zoning lots will no longer be allowed, it nevertheless sided with the developer to challenge this ruling. Despite the zoning gerrymandering that went into the design and approval of the 52-story building, few would have imagined that after receiving the required approval from the Department of Buildings and the Board of Standards and Appeals, the developer would be asked to demolish the upper third of the building.

Wasted Space: Comparing Horton Plaza and The Vessel

2019-07-16T13:25:00-04:00

One is brand new, the other, at the end of its life. One is a place for shopping, the other a place for selling oneself. One, a facsimile of the city, the other, a rejection of it.

However unalike they might seem, Jon Jerde’s soon-to-be-demolished Horton Plaza in San Diego and Thomas Heatherwick’s recently-completed The Vessel in New York City have much in common.

Let us count the ways.

ELL House by Domaen maximizes 'remodeled' footprint with strategic hillside ordinance loophole

2016-08-16T09:25:00-04:00

The stone, wood, and stucco form of the ELL house in Los Angeles' Benedict Canyon is not the first structure to grace its site. Oddly enough, the previous structure helped to accelerate ELL’s building process: the architects were able to list their design as a remodeled residence for permitting purposes, thereby sneaking past the Baseline Hillside Ordinance's setback and building restrictions.