I worked with Taeho on the initial layout of the building and coffee shop. We made the decision to make the coffee shop larger to serve food and appeal to the offices, apartments and industry surrounding the building. We discovered that real estate development is a lot like an investment portfolio - when one sector is booming, another is busting. By adding retail and residential spaces to a building already housing office space and warehousing, a more stable property is developed for the owner (the university).
Our plan houses 23 apartments ranging in size from 860 sq ft to 958 sq ft. Open air breezeways cut thorough the building to lend a more open feel and to allow sunlight into interior apartments.
When I began laying out my floor plans I let the stairs inform the flow.
For the most efficient use of space I put cabinets under the first flight of stairs. A small 19.7 cubic foot refrigerator fits perfectly under the landing. Under the second flight is the stove with a large stainless steel hood for exhaust. From there it made sense to put the bathroom behind the kitchen to keep the plumbing together, which then created an ideal space for a bedroom.A typical apartment layout:
Loft
Main floor
Universal access unit:
In elevation:
From the north
From the south
The kitchen:
The living/dining space:
The bathroom, which features the Julien Bench Toilet:
The Julien Bench toilet with sliding cover to conceal the commode and add usable surface:
The bedroom, which is 'studio style' and left open except for a curtain to maximize light and air circulation:
Upstairs in the loft there is another bedroom and a home office:
Materials
As I chose materials I thought about cities and the various neighborhoods that make them up. I wanted to keep an industrial feel, but I wanted to make it feel livable and comfortable. I thought about Over the Rhine in Cincinnati, which is a very short distance from Oakley and Hyde Park. Over the Rhine is an old industrial area, that once enjoyed prosperity and now is one of the most neglected neighborhoods in Cincinnati. Whereas, Hyde Park and Oakley are beautiful lush neighborhoods where neighbors walk to restaurants and parks together. I decided to add small, but important, touches of industrial style in the stairs, railings and floors, and let the walls, and lights be smooth and polished. I also decided to conceal the beams for the same reason, if the floor was "abused" and industrial, then the ceiling should be calm and clean.
The greenest building is the one that is already built, so I left the exterior walls and floors
intact except for an acid etch on the floor. The cabinets, stairs and loft floor are all made of a mix of reclaimed woods from Terramai.
To reduce energy consumption there is a 'whole house' fan installed in the ceiling of the loft, over the stairs. This replaces an air conditioning unit by keeping a constant breeze flowing through the house which renews the air in the house every 3 minutes.The pendant lights in the kitchen are
the Trundle Pendant lights made of low VOC plastic from Visa lighting. Track lights are halogen, and of course the can lights are used with CFL bulbs.
