What could apartments look like if we eliminated some of the rules they are subject to? Urbanarium held a design competition to find out.
Thanks to Urbanarium for partnering with me on this video! Check out all the entries from the competition at http://decodingdensity.com/
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So, the automatic text description pulled from YouTube gives context but doesn’t summarize the video. How does breaking rules create better apartments? What rules? What apartments? Better in what way?
Double stairways: every apartment must be connected to at least two sets of stairways, this rule comes from a time when fire prevention was lacking, but nowadays it only gets in the way of designing units with more rooms/windows because geometry.
Maximum floor space: what it says on the tin. There is a maximum set of space each floor can use and this incentives making narrow hallways and make away with communal spaces in favor of packing as many small units as you can.
Building setback: every building needs to be a set amount of space away from the sidewalk, which means a lot of space in every lot is wasted as it legally can’t be used for anything. Without this rule you could design adjacent lots to share a big courtyard that can be used as a community space.
The two staircase rule for houses above two (or three) stories is pretty shit, if that is so and results in these rather terrible middle floor houses with appartments only facing one direction. The rest seems to come down to zoning regulation (single family houses, front lawn requirement…) and the rule of “building a house costs money that somebody has to pay”.
So, the automatic text description pulled from YouTube gives context but doesn’t summarize the video. How does breaking rules create better apartments? What rules? What apartments? Better in what way?
https://urbanarium.org/decoding-density
The two staircase rule for houses above two (or three) stories is pretty shit, if that is so and results in these rather terrible middle floor houses with appartments only facing one direction. The rest seems to come down to zoning regulation (single family houses, front lawn requirement…) and the rule of “building a house costs money that somebody has to pay”.