Entertainment
Why Converting Empty Offices Into Housing Is Tough
Former Chief Urban Designer of The City of New York Alexandros Washburn explains why turning underused office space into new housing is so difficult—but offers so solutions. Still haven’t subscribed to WIRED on YouTube? ►► Listen to the Get WIRED podcast ►► Want more WIRED? Get the magazine ►► Follow WIRED: Instagram ►► Twitter ►►…
@vultureculture7707
September 24, 2024 at 12:22 pm
Don’t get me wrong, most safety regulations were written in blood. However, regulations and laws need to be periodically updated to account for new needs and new technologies.
@MasterGhostf
September 24, 2024 at 12:49 pm
Agreed. Very good reasons to have to be able to open windows. In case of a fire, there is a possible fire exit.
@windmacher
September 24, 2024 at 7:00 pm
murica
@FalcaoXTZ
September 24, 2024 at 12:32 pm
Keeps the housing market high, that’s why all the red tape exists
@khadigekazemi8774
September 24, 2024 at 12:33 pm
Loved every min of this video! You nailed it!
@ChrisWar666
September 24, 2024 at 1:10 pm
I mean…. If it were only badly designed, badly “zoned” things, the rest of the world wouldn’t have the same problem…. 🤑
@RacingSnails64
September 24, 2024 at 1:13 pm
“We stand in our own way.”
This is true of nearly everything nowadays.
@wegotthis247
September 24, 2024 at 2:00 pm
It’s doable and being done in DC but unfortunately the cost is high and you guessed it – the neediest ones are not who are moving into them. Developers and investors of those prime office building projects are looking to convert to condos or high-end luxury apartments.
@ryandodd8941
September 24, 2024 at 2:09 pm
People who move into high end apartments free up apartments for needy people down the chain
@M13x13M
September 24, 2024 at 2:33 pm
1970’s and beyond American offices buildings have floor plates too wide to convert to housing. Yes, it could be done by cutting out the center but everything else would still not meet today’s codes so it’s cheaper to tear down and build new housing . Unfortunately politicians and reporters know nothing about architecture or the excessive regulations they have created so these myths persist.
@M13x13M
September 24, 2024 at 2:36 pm
Unfortunately politicians and news reporters no nothing about architecture or the excessive regulations they have created.
@jluo7193
September 24, 2024 at 2:57 pm
Whoa did not know beating act 3 sometimes won’t show the tu-thump
@PatrickCoombe
September 24, 2024 at 4:34 pm
Zoning ruins everything
@redmoondesignbeth9119
September 24, 2024 at 6:20 pm
A while ago a Porta-.Potty Co in California offered FREE Services. There were So many rules and the cost was going to be outrageous because they had to have “studies”.
It was easier to let homeless sh*t on the street.
@maxgorden499
September 24, 2024 at 6:25 pm
It’s actually pretty hard to section off and retrofit plumbing in a preexisting office space without great expense. Just think about it for a moment
@thatguyuknow1837
September 24, 2024 at 6:38 pm
I thought about this for the malls that are now abandoned, why not turn them into apartments? Obviously something was need changed but wouldnt it be cheaper to make renovations than to teardown a building are build another?
@jemrossi
September 24, 2024 at 6:40 pm
the vertical farming part got me, thats exactly what i thought as a way to get around this, like agrivoltaics exemptions.
@kerrypickens8594
September 24, 2024 at 7:21 pm
I lived in an apartment that was a converted office space. It still had an EXIT sign over the door.
@S0cialCrisis
September 24, 2024 at 7:26 pm
Yeah it’s pretty lucky office windows don’t open with how North Americans are abused and overworked by employers. Employee turnover would skyrocket, and people wouldn’t be quitting
@evanh.8845
September 26, 2024 at 1:34 pm
We should have every apartment building have a skatepark in the middle of it because that would be hella rad
@ilyac3185
September 26, 2024 at 1:41 pm
Don’t the Floor plates for commercial need to be changed to fit residential regulations ?
@sjenner76
September 26, 2024 at 2:02 pm
Laws, rules and regulations are important for any number of reasons. But it is our inability to dynamically reexamine and question them, and the vested interests that they create, that act to hem us in. Ultimately, it results in a society that cannot innovate in response to circumstance and change. And it will hollow us out given time. We can see it with already happening with Social Security, Medicaid and healthcare more broadly, our monstrosity of a tax code, immigration and more, where any number of effective solutions are ignored while people with a vested interest in the current failure align to vent their spleens and ensure nothing changes. The victim in that scheme is the citizen, the body-politic and the nation, which are denied well-reasoned compromise and policy.
@williammyers9209
September 26, 2024 at 2:20 pm
Why cant they open windows? So they cant jump
@mtoastie3156
September 26, 2024 at 2:21 pm
We have more abandoned buildings in the United States than homeless people. Tragic.
@jerryglasses2229
September 26, 2024 at 3:06 pm
So not that i disagree per se but this guy is definitely oversimplifying it. Forget about regularory requirements. Retrofitting features that the market requires into a space that wasn’t designed to accommodate those features gets very expensive.
@AridDessert
September 26, 2024 at 3:23 pm
Because money.
@dajosee
September 26, 2024 at 3:43 pm
Everyone loves Vertical Farming, especially folk in low income housing.
@ParalegallyLady
September 26, 2024 at 4:02 pm
The windows in offices don’t open so people don’t jump out of them 🤷🏽♀️
@James_Hough
September 26, 2024 at 4:28 pm
When you say “we stand in our own way” what you mean is “government stands in our way”.
@ZippingLake
September 26, 2024 at 4:32 pm
I get that regulations are a burden on everyone but hear me out, there are reasons why gov gets involved and it is absolutely simple: businesses cut corners.
@Falcrist
September 26, 2024 at 4:36 pm
“We stand in our own way”
I decline to be grouped with the wraiths who buy up all the property so they can milk the poor for money.
@Elyandarin
September 26, 2024 at 5:29 pm
Vertical farming is generally unprofitable, but you could put something else useful on each floor, like grocery store, small library, post office, doctor’s office, bar etc.
@scoobydoobies
September 26, 2024 at 6:58 pm
Not much has impressed me in life more than German windows
@robhardingpoetry
September 26, 2024 at 7:09 pm
It’s done in the UK and they are horrific and nobody should live in them. Evan Edinger did a video all about it
@grovermartin6874
September 26, 2024 at 7:34 pm
When I was in the World Trade Center at the beginning, the fact that the windows couldn’t be opened creeped me out. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
@RyanLynch1
September 26, 2024 at 8:09 pm
zoning laws are pretty stupid now
@andrewroundy5996
September 26, 2024 at 8:13 pm
What about the fact that at this point in time, there is the most unoccupied live space in history. Multiple millions of homes/apartments. We don’t need more, we need to fix the current system
@samreagan6292
September 26, 2024 at 8:25 pm
Interior with shops and the exterior 30 feet can be apartments. That way you can have shops inside the building in case it’s raining and all you need is some milk and sugar.
@karlahabbershaw1971
September 26, 2024 at 8:39 pm
Dude the idea for vertical farming at the end Beautiful how do we get this moving?
@Quentyn73
September 26, 2024 at 8:53 pm
It’s doable? No it’s not
@kingfisher9553
September 26, 2024 at 8:53 pm
Look at the shoulders on this guy!
@Unh0lyK1ng
September 26, 2024 at 9:00 pm
The plumbing would have to completely redone unless they used communal bathrooms. A lot of the electrical and structure would have to be reworked for safety and emergency egress reasons too.
@olliec852
September 26, 2024 at 9:06 pm
i think the sealed office windows
probably goes back many years. perhaps almost a hundred. i’d place it right around 1929
@alexreid1173
September 26, 2024 at 9:19 pm
All of the new apartments in my area are “luxury apartments” with pools, granite countertops, the works. It’s incredibly difficult to find basic apartments these days unless it’s someplace so bad that it’s filled with rats and mold. Market failures like this are the exact right time that governments should be stepping in so people can get the things they need…