Archinect - News

AIA Home Design Trends Survey shows demand for larger homes remaining strong despite shortages

2022-07-01T10:00:00-04:00

The latest data from the American Institute of Architects shows a continued increase in a homebuilding trend that began in the throes of the pandemic and has not abated in the face of supply-chain shortages and several countervailing trends in the residential construction market.

According to the AIA’s newly-released Home Design Trends Survey, interest in larger homes has grown for a second consecutive year after remaining largely stagnant for a period of five.

Extract of the AIA Home Design Trends Survey. The full survey is available here.

ADUs and micro apartment designs saw slight decreases in demand but remain popular. Other trends, including aging-in-home options for seniors, saw increases as pandemic worries and a dramatic shift in working conditions caused a spike in demand for converted features like finished basements and garage spaces. The Q2 statistics also revealed a large number of blended indoor-outdoor areas being requested as well.

Extract of the AIA Home Design Tre...

Studio Gang envisions a tree-inspired mixed-use project to add to Denver's skyline

2021-02-01T17:18:00-05:00

Inspired by the area's natural landscapes and environment, Studio Gang reveals the latest visuals for their most recent mix-used project Populus. Located in Denver, along the city's historic Civic Center Park, the project pulls reference from the aspen tree by using its highly recognizable "eye-shaped" marked bark to design its facade, distinct building color, and vertical scalloped exterior.

Aspen Trees. Image © Sue Reynolds (2012) via Flickr Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Visuals courtesy of Studio Gang

The 13 stories tall building will house forty micro-apartments as well as 250 hotel rooms. Studio Gang collaborated with Denver-based developer Urban Villages. With the aspen tree as its visual muse, it's hard not to see the resemblance. According to the studio, the project's name "Populus" was also pulled from the scientific classification of the aspen tree populus tremuloides.

View more project images below.

Visuals courtesy of Studio Gang

Concept diagram. Visual courtesy of Studio...

Preservation and micro-apartment living come together to save America's first shopping mall

2020-03-02T12:56:00-05:00

The rise of online shopping has drastically reduced the need for shopping malls across America. However, in Providence, Rhode Island, the Westminster Arcade, America's first shopping mall, has found a way to turn this supposed "retail apocalypse" into an opportunity to build more housing.

Westminster Arcade from Views of Providence (1900) printed by L.H. Nelson Company.

A Country Living article reports that the formerly abandoned mall has been transformed into a new commercial and residential hub for micro-apartment living. Rather than demolishing the building, developers wanted to preserve the structure not only for its historical value, but for its housing potential. Northeast Collaborative Architects along with developer Evan Granoff helped lead a renovation project that aims to transform the aging Greek Revival style mall into The Arcade Providence, a micro-loft apartment complex that includes 48 rentable units along its two upper floors. The former mall was built in 1828 and is...

Colorado's old Art Institute building will become 130 micro-units

2019-10-10T15:45:00-04:00

After abruptly closing in late 2018, a developer has big plans for the old Art Institute building at 1200 Lincoln Street. The Nichols Partnership has purchased the building and plans on converting it into roughly 130 micro-units...The units will range from 300 to 425 square feet.

"We shoot for several hundred dollars below the cheapest conventional apartment. So if a studio apartment in a bigger building is $1500-$1700, we want to be at $1100-$1200," developer Randy Nichols told CBS, advocating for the affordability the apartments will bring to the city. According to CBS, the new project is currently in the design phase and should take about a year and a half to complete.

Can LA's new pilot program for micro-unit apartments promote a walkable city?

2019-09-05T19:45:00-04:00

Last week Los Angeles City Councilmember Gil Cedillo initiated a new pilot program which explores the development of micro-unit apartments in LA neighborhoods situated near transit areas. Intending to promote a more "walkable city," Cedillo's proposal addresses the city's housing crisis and the burden it places on residents and those experiencing homelessness. The proposal also pitches micro-units as a potential housing solution for young professionals, persons who frequently travel for work, and seniors.

"Micro-units are emerging across the county as one way to help address this crisis by increasing housing stock and diversity while providing homes that are naturally affordable to moderate-income residents without public subsidies" reads Cedillo's motion.

While some may be skeptical towards this proposed solution, Steven Sharp of Urbanize LA provides an example of a city that found success with this housing option. In a more recent post, Sharp uses the city of Seattle as a prime ex...

Is the ceiling "the next frontier" for space-saving micro-apartment designs?

2019-08-23T16:30:00-04:00

A startup called Bumblebee Spaces is trying to make micro apartments more appealing by adding movable furniture. Beds, wardrobe and drawers are stored up on the ceiling, to be lowered quietly on white suspension cords at the touch of a tablet, like a scene change on a theatre stage. In theory this frees up floor space.

The Economist's 1843 Magazine delves into Bumblebee, a new San Francisco startup that aims to imbue tiny apartments with movable architectural elements.

View this post on Instagram Bumblebee Spaces Open House on Saturday, 10/20. Come check us out, Seattle!

Giving up privacy to live in America's most expensive cities

2019-07-06T18:10:00-04:00

Housing costs have become so expensive in some cities that people are renting bunk beds in a communal home for $1,200 a month. Not a bedroom. A bed. PodShare is trying to help make up for the shortage of affordable housing in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles by renting dormitory-style lodging and providing tenants a co-living experience.

In the last few years, we have written stories on recent trends in compromised living situations designed in response to severe economic conditions, such as tiny homes and micro-apartments. While these living types are challengingly small - some as compact as 100 square feet - they still offer privacy, an amenity that most would find a basic necessity.

PodShare Advertisement.

Co-living habitations, however, are quickly becoming a third alternative to the increasingly high cost-of-living in some of the world's most expensive cities. While companies like WeLive have tossed around the idea, a recently developed company has developed a much more extreme version. For $1,200 a month, PodShare will provide renters little more than a twin-sized mattress with as many as 220 other guests. According to CNN, the amenities are limited to "a bed, a locker, access to wifi and the chance to meet fellow 'pod-estrians.'" The concept is quickly picking up steam, as there are now six locations between L...

The rise of the micro-apartment

2019-05-02T19:29:00-04:00

Even in less densely populated cities, there is a palpable sense that space is squeezed. “City populations are growing; space is finite. We need a solution to that,” says Reza Merchant, chief executive of The Collective, a UK co-living apartment operator.

Rather than building up, two popular responses to the housing shortage proposed by building owners have been to densify and to promote cohabitation. For consumers, escalating prices and population growth make subscribing to micro apartments and co-living situations appealing options, while for building owners, the opportunity for a significant increase in rental income without constructing additional square footage is almost too good to pass up.

A studio apartment in Greenwich Village, New York, selling for over $1.4 million.

Yet this tendency poses a problem; George Hammond of the Financial Times begs the question: "how can city planners accommodate growth without compromising quality of life; and how can they house those attracted to cities without destroying the attraction?" While density is a key factor in reducing the carbon footprints of city-dwellers, the loss of privacy and a proper respite from the cities in which they're placed suggest that there could be more thoughtful so...

MONU #27 on "Small Urbanism" released

2017-10-16T12:39:00-04:00

“… And Though She be but Little, She is Fierce!”, the title of Liz Teston’s contribution using a quote from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, captures the content of this MONU issue on “Small Urbanism” very well. For when it comes to urbanism, small things seem to matter, whether they are actions, small physical elements, information and communications technology, or small-scale interventions. With regard to actions, Teston shows how transient micro-urbanisms of protest architecture can have a significant impact on our cities. During such actions, human bodies can alter public spaces through practices that challenge the arrangement of urban power and convert it into a channel of opposition, as Ana Medina argues in her piece “Dissident Micro-occupations”. In her explorations of dissident architectural practices, she reveals that spaces for protests are in fact not designed, but taken over by the dissidents to transform the architectural urban landscape. However, t...

In Hong Kong, a housing shortage is leading people to live in 25 sq. ft. "space capsule pods"

2017-01-18T14:08:00-05:00

Hong Kong is a crowded city. According to census figures reported by Quartz, 57,100 households live in spaces between 75 and 140 sq ft. And, for the most part, the conditions of these tiny homes aren’t exactly great. Enter Sandy Wong, the inventor of a “space capsule pod”, a 25 sq. ft., ventilated, room rents for about $400-650 per month.

Space capsule-type dwellings aren’t exactly new. In Japan, for example, capsule hotels have been around for ages. These ones are pretty nice—they come replete with a computer, a TV, a bed, and a fire extinguisher. Residents share a kitchen and bathroom, which is already a norm in Hong Kong.

And, apparently, they’re a hit. Wong reports renting out the first ten capsules in a mere 15 days. Now he plans to build 1,000 more.

New York's micro-apartments seen through the psychological lens

2016-05-16T13:45:00-04:00

In just a few weeks, the residents of New York’s first micro-apartment building can move in to their new homes. And when they say micro, they mean it [...]. Spending extended amounts of time in a crowded space can be stressful; if the unit holds multiple people, the occupants – especially kids – can suffer as a result of the lack of privacy. And creative space-saving layouts, she explained, can become a source of mental fatigue.

My Micro NYC Apartment Complex Is Officially Renting

2015-11-24T11:12:00-05:00

Carmel Place (formerly known as My Micro NY), the city’s much-talked-about first micro apartment complex, began accepting applications for its affordable studios back in September. And now, a press release from developer Monadnock has announced that listings for 12 of the market-rate units will go live today in anticipation of the February opening date. Along with the launch comes news of Ollie, “an innovative housing model that delivers an all-inclusive living experience.”

There will be 55 micro studios; 22 of which will be affordable and priced at $950 and $1,500, while the rest are going for $2,540 a month. Mind you, units average only 300 square feet.