Why We Should Live in Our Office Buildings

[@roberthoople]

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]

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]

@@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]

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

[@sisyphus_strives5463]

all of this is by design my friend

[@willy4170]

@@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.

[@123batina]

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]

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

[@wisenber]

"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]

@@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]

i forgot croatia existed.

[@beetooex]

​@@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.

[@brentt6714]

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]

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

[@10pmmemes88]

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

[@dustojnikhummer]

@@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]

@@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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

@@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]

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]

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]

​​​@@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]

@@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]

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

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

@@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.

[@vkdrk]

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

[@nutsbutdum]

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

[@kentonyc]

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

[@surreal5444]

Legend has Chicago is architects' wet dream.

[@ConradNeill]

The KZbin channel, Its History, focuses on Chicago quite a bit.

[@mamotalemankoe3775]

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]

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

[@Lindsay.Martin]

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]

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

[@TheFrozenMoogle]

@@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.

[@christopherstephenjenksbsg4944]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

​@@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.

[@JordanFreshour]

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.

[@dickneywithplants7377]

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

[@skiko15]

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.

[@AaronSmith-kr5yf]

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.

[@nichiniker]

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.

[@workshopninjathe1st]

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]

& 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]

Incroyable.

[@strayedarticle2838]

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

[@mikeewin7544]

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

[@CHMichael]

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 .

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

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.

[@WhiteWolfBlackStar]

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!

[@proberush]

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.

[@eti401]

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!

[@TheTallGirl]

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.

[@bb-gp3lm]

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.

[@myheartbelong2oi]

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.

[@robertrusso877]

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.

[@Brian-os9qj]

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.

[@anonygent]

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.

[@Markstubation01]

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

[@marinakukso]

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.

[@tsbrownie]

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.

[@jealousofmypuddin]

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.

[@weksauce]

Codes are all different. Just read a reddit thread saying this, and consensus among people with a clue was it's too expensive to convert. Cheaper to bulldoze and rebuild as residential.

[@fallenshallrise]

Nobody needs to drive for 45 minutes to plug their computer into a different screen in a different room somewhere downtown. It's been proven that offices are pointless and it's also a fact that there is a massive housing shortage in cities. Rezoning laws should be passed immediately that say that retail/office/studio/residential are all functionally the same (people sitting in rooms for 8 hours or more) so that millions of square feet can be repurposed immediately and not 1 historic building here and there that become luxury condos. In my city there is so much demand for living space and so much unused office space it's disgusting.

[@vvMathematicalvv]

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.

[@ichifish]

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.

[@ryanleethomas]

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]

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.

[@danielhahn55]

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.

[@pktdbgnzwl]

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

[@davidnicholson6680]

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.

[@MystikaLynx]

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.

[@daviddd_edgar]

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

[@bernardfinucane2061]

The panorama at 5:27 says it all. It's ridiculous to have office towers right across the street from single family home tracts. It's like balancing a quarter on its edge. You can do it pretty easily, and it saves space on your desk, but it makes no sense as a long term solution. As the Easter Islanders learned the hard way, fancy pointless architecture isn't sustainable.A tall tower in the middle of a wasteland of parking is a crap design, whether or not the pillars look like mushrooms. Nobody is ever going to love your building if there is no one there to love it, so build human sized buildings in places where people live.

[@notlessgrossman163]

Some of the examples are essentially gated communities when seen from the outside: enclosed shells with mixed use development within. How do these connect to the surrounding community? The 15minute European walkable city model hasn't been enclosed since the middle ages.

[@norlockv]

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]

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

[@charlienyc1]

@@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.

[@capestreasuresPtown]

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

[@stevemiller7949]

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🙂🙂💯

[@AskMiko]

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

[@RubyJamez]

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.

[@MikeM-tt3dh]

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!

[@georgegeorgiouza4728]

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.

[@TireSpare]

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

[@garyjstephens]

Thanks!

[@stewarthicks]

Thank you!!

[@garyjstephens]

@@stewarthicks sorry I didn’t realize it was going to leave a comment when I hit that $ button. Regardless Thank You! I love your videos but this one is my favorite so far.

[@michaelc0419]

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]

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

[@JohnDlugosz]

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]

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.

[@Rooftopaccessorizer]

ive been saying our zoning laws are needlessly strict for ages now. now we just need to move past the concept of luxury residences and finally put a cap on rent prices so that society can repair itself and not be desperately trying to scramble the money necessary to keep land barons employed

[@SiouxsieAngel]

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

[@newtagwhodis4535]

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!

[@Clarc115]

Conversions are the way to go. Some companies could offer both work and residential space to their key employees.

[@davidanderson5027]

Excellent perspective. As an Industry insider I commend you on bringing this to light. "Architecture without people are just RUINS!" WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP TO MAKE CHANGES TO ACCOMMODATE HUMANITY! WE NEED GOOD PEOPLE TO BREAK THE BARRIERS FOR SUSTAINABILITY! LUV TO ALL! THERE ARE NO SPACE ISSUES... ONLY GREED ISSUES...

[@densitydad]

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

[@TheFireMage100]

I mean I feel like the mixed use commercial and residential you see here in the UK and many other parts of the world could be scaled up to Americas skyscraper proportions. A large building could have commercial businesses at the bottom, offices in the middle and residential towards the top. That way the noise of commerce and city streets stays away from residents and you can fairly easily do everything in the same building. Only issue would be not travelling outdoors but so many people just step out into their car and drive anyway so are you ever really outside if youre doing that?

[@mikefaulhaber]

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 :)

[@planescaped]

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

[@mokster5]

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]

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

[@Winspur1982]

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

[@chrislabar22]

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”.

[@randcarlson2296]

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.

[@shraka]

Sounds like the problem is companies building "Corporate Campus'" *gross* without concern for the surrounding context, PT, etc. Maybe we shouldn't let companies just do whatever they want with the countryside and skyline.

[@hidesbehindpseudonym1920]

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.

[@Hard_7_Iron]

We live in a large city…since covid, it is truly not been the same. Stores that used to be open until 9 PM or even later, are all closed up by 6 PM every day. Parking garages are more empty than full every day. We should not forget, government caused. Not virus caused. Conversions would make sense…IF possible.

[@KingKafei]

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.

[@josephang9927]

Convert what they can on housing and make windowless spaces common spaces or for rent.

[@Kroke_Monster]

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.

[@DavidL-ii7yn]

Excellent video, but the title doesn't reflect the message. The cost of new offices on green-field development is high. BUT, the cost of acquiring and converting existing buildings, even for like-for-like commercial refurbishment is spectacular: often into the 8-figures. The notion that an office be trivially converted into a residence ignores the large amounts of engineering that is put into even the simplest structures. Simply getting to the building permit usually is a year or two of work.

[@kpdvw]

ZERO Commuting, and with grocery store, other providers on the goundlevel just leave to go on vacation, trips, entertainment...!

[@chrisr4679]

I live in Madrid and my apartment is a loft in a building that used to be the Elizabeth Ardens office building…

[@Tealeafsong]

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.

[@WAJK2030]

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.

[@AuroraMeditation]

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.

[@glennhavinoviski8128]

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.

[@davidharrison3173]

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

[@catherinesanchez1185]

I find it amusing that we're coming full circle back to how most communities used to grow naturally before the idea of living "away" from your job became the norm. You look at pictures of cities from several generations ago and most of the building ARE mixed use. Retail on the ground floor, offices on the 2nd maybe 3rd floor and residences above that ...put a bunch of those on a street and you have a neighborhood community with a stable tax base . Obviously, I'm not talking about going back to people living right next to factories spewing toxic fumes, but I've always found the homes over THERE and the businesses over HERE just.....a tad bit ridiculous. And this is from a girl who grew up in a suburban environment. It's static and goes stale quickly...adaptation is not its strong suit.

[@jeffrey.a.hanson]

Bell Works looks phenomenal as modern architecture. As a New Yorker, I’ve always loved driving by the TWA terminal…and Grand Central is my magic wonderland. Coming from the design side…even a Zoom backdrop should be designed to create a unique space that represents you.

[@AllThatsGone]

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

[@elheffe2597]

Office parks deserve to die though. Hour commute to an office where there's nothing to walk to. People have to pack their lunch or drive 20 minutes in traffic hell just for a sandwich. Office parks people angry.

[@Whistlewalk]

Some of the buildings that are more recent may be best used by taking them down to create much needed green space in areas of the city where those kind of spaces are now missing. If you want to attract people into the area, more than the interior of buildings needs to be 'humanized', so does the outside spaces. And that's what you do with buildings that can't realistically be repurposed in an economic way - turn them into playgrounds and inovative parks. Then the city interiors will be used.

[@TheWiggelsworth]

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.

[@ZuperZocker]

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.

[@jwoodrff]

Great presentation, BTW. What I wanted to comment on, are certain pros and cons of homework. I have the flexibility of working at home or at the office, according to my own schedule. I apologize that it is slightly off-topic. I am finding myself at the office, more and more, recently. I like the home proximity of the workplace to my recliner. I like wearing gym shorts and a cut-off T-Shirt to the 'office.' I like saving on gas money and commute time. On the other hand, the office is always on my dinner table. I have to move equipment around anytime I have dinner guests. Printing, if done at home, is using my ink and my paper. I am using my personal computational equipment, my wifi, and, particularly, my real-estate space. I check the office email sometimes as late a 10 o'clock at night. The home office does intrude on my personal space. That intrusion, I must say, does not outweigh the inconvenience of the daily, required, commute.

[@Angbwillinspireu]

I think transforming commercial property to various Stratified residential would ease homeless issues and provide a National real estate economic boost with Luxury lofts/condominiums as options for those willing to invest/buy into such a housing market.

[@classifiedinformation6353]

Wow, I never really thought of preserving the Office space. I assumed these structiures would always be in demand, being in the middel of the city. My concearn was on the Mainstreets of outlaying towns. These one to two story structures are now chronicaly empty. I weep to see many of these neglicted buidings deteriorate. My town of Shelbyville Missouri, and surounding towns, have seen a population decline since the end of WW1. Maybe internet expansion will re-populate these rual areas. Maybe the mainstreet built environments will become viable again. This has been a thought provoking video. Thank you.

[@RetroMario]

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.

[@frezzingaces]

The reality is buildings last longer than our best laid plans and desires of the future. We don't know what the future holds, and what we'll need a building to do for us in 4, 5 decades. Acting like it's a good idea to just design a building with a single potential usecase in mind is stupid, if not immoral. All buildings should be designed to consider future residential, commercial, or other use cases. Things like ensuring reasonable access to light, floors with decent sound insulation between them, large elevators for moving big items, and efficient land use. It should just be the norm and what cities require. Buildings are a huge cost, and a huge ecological cost. Fun fact, 30% of all landfill is related to building construction, renovation, or demolition. That's a hell of a lot. That's why I say it's immoral to design buildings with a single use in mind, it's an avoidable waste. As a side note, I always thought not requiring as much access to natrual light for office buildings makes no sense. The sun is out during the day, but people are at work during the day. Then they're at home during the evening, when the sun is down. Wot. Why not have the same standard for office buildings.

[@mrmaniac3]

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.

[@StephenCoorlas]

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.

[@diametheuslambda]

I feel the middle of nowhere office buildings are more viable. They come with giant parking lots you can develop, the cost and bureaucracy is less, and in a teleworking era, the benefits of a city lessen so there's less incentive to pay the city premium both directly and to one's employees. Preservation status is a double edged sword, it makes an outcome binary. And frankly, a lot of these building cubes need an inner courtyard to be punched through in order to become viable housing. A lot of the skyscrapers can't really become non-speculative apartments.with the amount of plumbing, ventilation and natural light they have. They are doomed no matter the status.

[@FunKayyy]

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.

[@sharongillesp]

Money should NEVER be the deciding factor in anything! That ideology has been the cause of so much that’s gone wrong across the planet. Love the idea of repurposing. All large structures should have that factored in from here on out.

[@tempbauer2131]

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