Daylighting is perhaps the biggest problem when repurposing a shopping mall as residential, and ventilation a close second. If the average width of my demonstration mall is, say, approximately 100 meters, then the closest exterior surface is as much as 60 meters away or, if the atriums are seen as sources of ventilation and daylight, […]
The machiya (町家) is a Japanese urban housing type. Their name translates as “town-house”. They’re basically rooms around a two-storey lightwell. We’re familiar with Tadao Ando’s 1976 Sumiyoshi House that’s said to be a modern interpretation. Waro Kishi’s 1987 Kim House is less familiar. Having the bridge on the side makes its courtyard brighter and less oppressive than the courtyard in the Ando […]
The standard “Western-style” apartment block typology is fairly resistant to change. LMvdR hit it bang on at Lake Shore Drive. Central access core, a long corridor, party walls linked to structure, central bathrooms and kitchens mechanically-ventilated, peripheral habitable rooms with views. And nothing much has changed since. This post is about how the apartment building typology […]
