Fluid Spaces Are The Future Of Better Housing And Community

Since the beginning of time, we have had neat and tidy boxes around our spaces. You live here, you work there. Our houses had fences around them, and our offices had large sprawling parking lots.

But, according to leading architects, the future breaks down those barriers. In the future, space becomes much more fluid, shared, multi-functional, multi-purpose, where single purpose places are no longer relevant. Not only because it’s better and healthier to live that way, but because we are smarter about design and more thoughtful about efficient use of space.

“This is a once in a generation moment in time, when socioeconomic and geopolitical cycles are colliding with transformable shifts,” said J.F. Finn, principal and global mixed-use practice area leader at architecture and design firm Gensler. “The pandemic has put us in a position to rethink barriers that we have had in the past and we don’t have a big window to make changes. A lot of existing real estate is underutilized and not very effective, so the principles of mixed use can be a bridge to provide more attainable, more secure, comfortable housing.”

It’s also a moment to rethink how we value real estate assets and think about the value proposition differently, which can be from a capital financing perspective or from the perceived value of the space.

“The mind set hasn’t changed in the last 50 years,” said Finn. “When you try to launch a project, it’s about cap rate and it pushes you into an upper, middle project to make profit and get financing, but it doesn’t always lead to the best value creation for our communities.”

Jane Greenthal is an associate principal of planning and strategies at the global architecture firm Perkins&Will and agrees that the keys to increased density are legislative change and economic feasibility, which both have to be in place before starting the design.  

Greg Willett, chief economist at real estate software company RealPage,  points out the critical need for more development density to boost housing supply. RealPage information shows that about 50% of all the apartments under construction across the US are in mid-rise properties, while 30% of the near-term additions will be high-rise projects, and 20% will come in low-rise communities.

Mixed-use developments, especially those that incorporate appealing open spaces in their design, are one component of the needed array of product, Willett says.

“We have seen that the best places to live feel the most mixed use,” said Brian Miller, senior design director, interior architecture, of Streetsense, a global strategic design consulting firm based in Maryland. “Paris is pushing the idea of the 15-minute city. The way that we will be able to achieve design like that is through density.”

Miller shared a family story that would be true for so many of us. One set of his grandparents moved to a retirement community in Florida, where it was a 10-minute drive just to arrive at the gate of the community, and where they soon became isolated. His other grandmother lived in Providence, RI, and was able to walk to anything and everything she needed. She loved having the community experience.

Coming To Life

The mixed-use philosophy is becoming reality in several of Gensler’s projects in ways that are benefitting the residents and the local community. In Boston, Gensler designed The Hub on Causeway project with office owner and developer Boston Properties and hospitality company Delaware North Companies for mixed-use that Finn says has revitalized the area, making it feel safe and acting as a catalyst for a proposed, and much needed, nearly 2,500 housing units in the district.  

The project breathed life into a dilapidated area while leveraging infrastructure and shared amenities across a variety of functions to make the residential portion more affordable. Plus, in true 15-minute city fashion, the community connects to transit and is walkable.

Finn reports where the project resides was previously thought of as a dangerous neighborhood, but those perceptions are quickly fading. The density and daily activity have turned it all around – feelings of safety and security have gone up 100% due to the full-time residents and 24/7 urban village.

In projects like this, it’s critical to look at it at the bigger scale, warns Greenthal.

“You have to start planning for beyond just a building and a city block by looking at neighboring amenities and the larger scale,” she said. “The denser the housing, the more you need the supporting amenities. It all goes together. It all has to happen simultaneously to reinforce each other. If the amenities aren’t there, you still have to get in your car and go somewhere else.”

In the middle of the country, Gensler also is working on the next phase of an affordable and mixed-income housing development at Cabrini Green, the infamous former public housing complex in Chicago. The project will introduce about 465 units of mixed-income housing along with 20,000-square-feet of retail and commercial space on a nine-acre site. Unlike other former public housing sites, the former Cabrini site sits next to some of the highest land values in the country: the city’s central business district. The challenge of this project is to maximize the affordable units and replacement housing for Cabrini residents in the core of the city where the housing market is red-hot.

“The valuation for the 20-minute capture zone went up because of the commitment by the city and the commitment to deliver these units,” Finn said. “The land value has now gone up, but it is not being passed along to the residents. The city is taking on some of those valuations. They believe it’s important to show how to do a more targeted community.”

While Willett says that adding housing in already dense locations is a challenge, some cities are experimenting with allowing granny flats, or additional backyard housing units. At the same time, other cities are reevaluating and taking action on changing how space is used as well. In March 2021, leaders in Grand Rapids changed zoning to allow ground-floor apartments in nearly half of the city’s 6,000 commercially-zoned properties. The zoning change is meant to increase available housing by about 50%, and, at the same time, create better neighborhoods with strong business districts.

Plus, the zoning change is helping struggling property owners that can’t find office or retail tenants to fill those spaces.

Finn was the co-author of Gensler’s 2021 Design Forecast that shares other examples of smart multipurpose design where streets, parking spaces and sidewalks represent opportunities to convert space previously dedicated to automobiles back to people. These spaces can provide outdoor dining and social space, and help transition to more pedestrian-centric neighborhoods that are more accessible, inclusive and activated.  

These projects bring a number of benefits. First, the density brings energy from the higher levels of interaction and engagement. It also brings value because of the economies of scale. Projects can share amenities and services.

“For the Hub on Causeway project, we saw cost savings of 20 to 30% on water and energy,” Finn said. “If the cost savings are evaluated over the long haul, they will pay for significant amounts of the infrastructure.”

Miller agrees that density is an important part of the housing equation that we haven’t been able to leverage because many places have put land use policies in place that don’t limit growth, but just push sprawl.

“I hope that we’ll see greater leeway to provide more density, such as fewer parking requirements,” Miller said. “There is a lot of housing that is not optimally designed for how we would do them today because we are very automobile centered.”

When Streetsense starts a multifamily project, it evaluates what is already located within five minutes of the housing location, considering how the area will change and what will remain constant. In areas without parks, the housing design will include green space indoors.

More Flexible From The Inside Out

These ideas of mixed use and multifunction that connect a project to the community at large are also being brought indoors. But, as Miller points out, it’s a very delicate balance for each and every resident.

“When you live somewhere, it has to be everything for you at all times,” Miller said. “It’s different than a restaurant that is particularly suited to a moment, a mood. We used to look at common spaces with the idea that these were spaces where the residents would get together and meet each other, but the living unit may be noisier and busier than some of the common areas, so it can be a refuge in some cases. Now, we think that common spaces have to feel like an extension of the home. We want the design to show that you are a part of a community, but you can set your own level of involvement, it’s not a forced play date.”

Miller’s team takes a hard look at how residents actually think of and use space, because for a resident, it’s all one space.

“Residents don’t draw the same lines of distinction that operators do of interiors, leasing area, lounge area, lobby, exterior, courtyard, or amenities,” he said. “You have to look at it through their eyes and create something they’ll love and want to sign a renewal.”

Architects have evolved their practice, Greenthal points out, no longer thinking in the structured way of space typologies, giving less focus to the space and to the building and more to who the users are and what they are doing – the how and why.

It’s coming at a critical time as projects have shorter lifespans, users are evolving and leases are shorter than ever.

“It’s time to design for apps not hardware,” she said. “The industry now requires different types of designers and creative technologists. You still have the hardware there, but what can you do with the app? It needs to become more intelligent and more adaptable. Users are changing much more frequently than they ever have and design has to change with them. It needs to be quickly adaptable for the long term.”

Streetsense is starting to think about more fluid spaces that have more functionality to optimize the number of hours the space can be used. At its Lockwood project in DC, the design has a small fitness center with a sliding door system that transforms it from a private workout room to a social gathering space when needed.

“It’s really a matter of how the residents feel empowered to use the space,” Miller said. “Movable walls may be a novelty at the beginning, but may only be used once or twice. We are moving toward more basic things like sliding doors or French doors that you can easily do and not have to have building operations do it.”

Miller and Finn have differing views about what residents want in the post pandemic world. Miller has identified an increase in work from home that is resulting in a need for more space.

“The reality is that everything that people are looking for adds square footage and cost to a living environment,” Miller said. “It’s great to want all these things, but no one is going to have a 50% extra budget to finance. How can we leverage and accommodate shared areas in the most efficient way for residents to use them in a way that really feels usable, natural, and flexible for them? The amenity spaces often feel like sales tools for the building rather than actual things that serve the life of the resident.”

Now, Miller is looking at ways to address the resident’s needs, including details such as the right lighting and the right outlets.

On the other hand, Finn isn’t seeing that people want or need more space.

“We see that they want to know that they have a safe environment, a perception that they have a community that they believe in,” Finn said. “Humans like to be around other humans.”

In a continued effort to look at multi-use space and to address the growing remote work trend, Gensler is creating designs to provide all the services that residents need to do work from home and take care of children at the same time.

The firm is also considering how to make the space available for rent to outside parties to increase the use of the space, and to also build some return back to the residents.

Regardless of the variety of approaches, all of these designers agree that the future will need to offer more fluid space.

This post first appeared on Forbes.com. To see the original, click here.