#apartment

#apartment

Los Angeles, Home of the DingbatsIt's kind of weird when an ugly architectural style becomes iconic, but that's the story of dingbats, an apartment style that just screams Southern California. Thousands of them were built in Los Angeles in the 1950s in order to cram more living units into a lot and to accommodate a car for each one. When you hear their story and see so many with their original names and decorations, you start to see them as iconic, or maybe even charming. Even though the exact dingbat plan is illegal to build in the 21st century, the existing buildings were grandfathered in and won't be torn down for economic reasons. However, they might fall down if an earthquake shakes them just right. Is this a style that will one day be deemed historical? It's possible, but until then they are quite in demand as a living space. Yes, this video does explain where the name came from. -via Digg#architecture #LosAngeles #dingbat #apartment

Office Conversion: A Trend That Can Revitalize CitiesThe scourge of the modern city, particularly in America, is the commute. Too many workers who can't afford to live downtown instead travel from the suburbs, contributing to congestion, pollution, and high energy consumption. Even those who can afford it can't find a place to live inside city limits. But that's changing. The lack of living space in cities has been a problem for decades. The office complex boom in the 1980s gave us a huge number of office buildings that are now 40 years old. Companies were already weighing the costs of remodeling or moving when the pandemic hit. Employees switched to working from home, and companies realized they don't really need all that office space, which is a huge expense even when fully in use. What to do with the suddenly skyrocketing inventory of unused downtown real estate? Convert it into housing! Washington, DC, is leading the way in converting offices to apartments, with 1,091 new units, but many cities are getting into the scheme. Bringing more people into a city to live can ease traffic, revitalize mass transit systems, and contribute to mixed-use neighborhoods, which raises the quality of life for city dwellers. The drawback in office conversion so far is that most are converted to expensive luxury apartments, but there is a push to use offices for affordable housing. That would serve people who would benefit the most from being close to city services, such as mass transit. Read about the trend in office conversion at BBC.#buildingconversion #apartment #urban

California's New Steel Container Apartments Called the Hope on Alvarado Were Designed for the HomelessHope on Alvarado, a housing project for the homeless, may appear like your average brand-new apartment complex — but inside, things actually look different.The building is five stories high, has floor-to-ceiling windows and a steel exterior giving it a modern-industrial touch. For the interior, the units are steel containers (like shipping containers loaded at port docks) that have been converted into micro-apartments. The common spaces have amenities and resources that are provided to the apartment’s formerly homeless residents.

You Can Now Stay in a Recreated Version of Carrie Bradshaw's Sex and the City New York ApartmentIt appears that everyone's wish to live in Carrie Bradshaw's brownstone apartment from Sex and the City has come true.Carrie walked into our life over 20 years ago and showed us the gorgeous brownstone apartment that we all fell in love with. Our fantasies, fortunately, have finally come true. WarnerBros. and Airbnb collaborated to replicate this amazing and legendary residence as a celebration for the upcoming sequel, And Just Like That.From the painted walls to the cordless phone and even Carrie's black laptop, all the details in the apartment are carefully placed. The room's shelves are covered in Vogue magazines and martini glasses that are great for making cosmopolitans. Not to mention Carrie's legendary closet, which is stuffed to the brim with her couture gowns. Ruffles, extravagant dresses, glitter, and Manolo Blahniks are all over the place. As with everything else we've seen from the film so far.The Bradshaw apartment is now available for booking starting last November 8 at noon for $23 per night—a numeric nod to Sex and the City's premiere date twenty-three years ago—and is located in New York's Chelsea area.Image by: Tara Rice #CarrieBradshaw #Brownstone #Apartment #SexandtheCity #Airbnb

Tokyo's Smallest Luxury Apartment is Surprisingly NiceIn most cities, tiny apartments are the result of subdividing previous apartments or houses, and the results can be pretty weird. Also, since their size makes them cheaper, there's usually little in the way of amenities. Not so in Tokyo, where planners are deliberately constructing tiny living spaces and making them as useful and efficient as possible.

A Paris Architect’s Micro Apartment Living space in Paris is tres expensive! A working architect managed to get a tiny apartment for two, only 24 square meters (258 sf). Installing a loft made it 31 square meters (344 sf), which is still tiny. But he's an architect; let's see what he can do with it.