Thanks, I have started seeing some interest in college lectures, and I would like to do more educational content. That is my background. I’m not sure urban planning schools are ready for this yet, but I would love to guest lectures when thy are.
This wonderful post inspires a couple of thoughts:
1. There's an intentional community called Noasis in SF whose built setting feels very much like your vision. They have a lovely inner courtyard which they use not only as common green space but as a community gathering space for nerd social events drawing on their broader techie circle (guest speakers, debates, panels on political, scientific, and cultural topics). If you've not already connected with them I can put you in touch with one of their residents and event organizers if you're interested in connecting; they seem very value aligned with you.
2. Last month I visited some friends in Paris who live in a very "courtyard-ish" high rise building, on the rue Mouchotte right by the Gare Montparnasse. It's about 20 stories tall and very long but quite shallow, has businesses and parking at ground level, and then a residents' terrace a level or two up that functions much like a courtyard. The 20 story part of the building is then served by a bunch of parallel elevators and staircases, such that around each elevator/staircase pair there are only 2-3 apartments per floor; no long corridors like in a typical big high rise.
My friends say this layout produces real community, since you naturally get to know the quite small set of people who use the same elevator as you, and a feeling of reasonable quiet and privacy even within the high rise context. And it's remarkable how good a dual-aspect, shallow floor plate apartment layout can be even in a high rise setting: theirs is only about 70 square meters, has two bedrooms, but really feels like a little house and a suitable place for a family. So there's a lot about this vision of civilized density that is adaptable even to places where land values dictate building higher than the 4-6 story courtyard model.
Thanks, I recently posted about Noasis in SF … it is a great precedent. I am interested in understanding the legal steps they took to share the yards. Do you know anything about it?
I like this from the pov of urbanism and improved living spaces. But how do the costs between <3-4 stories construction built under the residential code vs over 3-4 under IBC compare. Let's say we get single stairwells, Elevators are not trivial costs. Sprinklers and/or non-combustible construction are still expensive relative to the stick frame norm we have in the US and Canada. Are the European examples using concrete or steel frame?
You can have more than 2 flats per floor, but they won’t be dual aspect.
one scenario: one giant flat on floor 1 (over parking/micro retail), then 2 flats per floor on 2, 3 and 6, and then four one bedrooms per floor on 4 and 5.
So 8 1 BDs, 6 3-4 BDs, and 1 5BD.
You can get 15 spots if you dig. You can 7 spots on the ground floor. You can provide more on the ground floor if you have a deep block and the lots have enough room for a deeper ground floor.
Dear Alicia, I am looking to engage with local Catholic churches in Europe who have land in urban and exurban areas with an acute need for affordable family friendly homes for working families. Generally speaking, they may have the land and wish to lend their support to such a mission but may not necessarily have the will skills or interest to take on the risk of preparing the shared infrastructure and constructing the buildings. What models do you see working best in that scenario? Are you aware of any developments in the US or Europe or elsewhere that good be good templates for local Catholic church groups or parishes who wish to support courtyard block communities on their lands? Take care and keep up the great work.
Don't these 5-6 story buildings have lifts/elevators?
In Delhi it is compulsory to have elevator above 4 stories and now hardly any building is made without them.
In Delhi we do have some courtyard buildings but they have a corridor running all along the inner courtyard side. That's how they manage with 2 staircase and 2 elevators for the whole courtyard.
Very nice. But where do you park cars? They aren't going to disappear.
In India, we do have a form of irregular shaped courtyard built around say 4-10 story apartment blocks. Don't look so nice but they do function. Cars are parked either in underground cellars or the ground floor which is just pillars or stilts.
The need for parking will decrease as ride shares, autonomous vehicles, and better transit (enabled by better density) become available.
In our best cities (NYC, Berlin, Stockholm, etc), the majority of households already don’t own cars. Even fewer will own cars in the future.
And yes, a medium size building can easily fit 5 parking spots in addition to a small retail space on the ground floor. Digging parking expensive, but makes sense in high land cost areas.
Reading Peter Calthorpe's book, "The Next American Metropolis" and then traveling in Europe inspired me to go to graduate school for city planning.
Then I realized almost every course was centered around traffic flow, subdivision requirements, and enabling more suburban sprawl.
We need planning courses centered around this article and your courtyard presentations. Have you talked to colleges about this?
Thanks, I have started seeing some interest in college lectures, and I would like to do more educational content. That is my background. I’m not sure urban planning schools are ready for this yet, but I would love to guest lectures when thy are.
This wonderful post inspires a couple of thoughts:
1. There's an intentional community called Noasis in SF whose built setting feels very much like your vision. They have a lovely inner courtyard which they use not only as common green space but as a community gathering space for nerd social events drawing on their broader techie circle (guest speakers, debates, panels on political, scientific, and cultural topics). If you've not already connected with them I can put you in touch with one of their residents and event organizers if you're interested in connecting; they seem very value aligned with you.
2. Last month I visited some friends in Paris who live in a very "courtyard-ish" high rise building, on the rue Mouchotte right by the Gare Montparnasse. It's about 20 stories tall and very long but quite shallow, has businesses and parking at ground level, and then a residents' terrace a level or two up that functions much like a courtyard. The 20 story part of the building is then served by a bunch of parallel elevators and staircases, such that around each elevator/staircase pair there are only 2-3 apartments per floor; no long corridors like in a typical big high rise.
My friends say this layout produces real community, since you naturally get to know the quite small set of people who use the same elevator as you, and a feeling of reasonable quiet and privacy even within the high rise context. And it's remarkable how good a dual-aspect, shallow floor plate apartment layout can be even in a high rise setting: theirs is only about 70 square meters, has two bedrooms, but really feels like a little house and a suitable place for a family. So there's a lot about this vision of civilized density that is adaptable even to places where land values dictate building higher than the 4-6 story courtyard model.
Thanks, I recently posted about Noasis in SF … it is a great precedent. I am interested in understanding the legal steps they took to share the yards. Do you know anything about it?
I don't, unfortunately.
I like this from the pov of urbanism and improved living spaces. But how do the costs between <3-4 stories construction built under the residential code vs over 3-4 under IBC compare. Let's say we get single stairwells, Elevators are not trivial costs. Sprinklers and/or non-combustible construction are still expensive relative to the stick frame norm we have in the US and Canada. Are the European examples using concrete or steel frame?
So a 60 by 100 feet lot has say 2 flats per floor for total of 8-10 flats. And one staircase.
If you merge two lots I suppose you can have more flats per staircase.
You can have more than 2 flats per floor, but they won’t be dual aspect.
one scenario: one giant flat on floor 1 (over parking/micro retail), then 2 flats per floor on 2, 3 and 6, and then four one bedrooms per floor on 4 and 5.
So 8 1 BDs, 6 3-4 BDs, and 1 5BD.
You can get 15 spots if you dig. You can 7 spots on the ground floor. You can provide more on the ground floor if you have a deep block and the lots have enough room for a deeper ground floor.
This reminds me of why I enjoyed my trip to Savannah, GA recently! I feel like the squares layout gave a bit of that courtyard urbanism feeling.
Dear Alicia, I am looking to engage with local Catholic churches in Europe who have land in urban and exurban areas with an acute need for affordable family friendly homes for working families. Generally speaking, they may have the land and wish to lend their support to such a mission but may not necessarily have the will skills or interest to take on the risk of preparing the shared infrastructure and constructing the buildings. What models do you see working best in that scenario? Are you aware of any developments in the US or Europe or elsewhere that good be good templates for local Catholic church groups or parishes who wish to support courtyard block communities on their lands? Take care and keep up the great work.
Don't these 5-6 story buildings have lifts/elevators?
In Delhi it is compulsory to have elevator above 4 stories and now hardly any building is made without them.
In Delhi we do have some courtyard buildings but they have a corridor running all along the inner courtyard side. That's how they manage with 2 staircase and 2 elevators for the whole courtyard.
Very nice. But where do you park cars? They aren't going to disappear.
In India, we do have a form of irregular shaped courtyard built around say 4-10 story apartment blocks. Don't look so nice but they do function. Cars are parked either in underground cellars or the ground floor which is just pillars or stilts.
The need for parking will decrease as ride shares, autonomous vehicles, and better transit (enabled by better density) become available.
In our best cities (NYC, Berlin, Stockholm, etc), the majority of households already don’t own cars. Even fewer will own cars in the future.
And yes, a medium size building can easily fit 5 parking spots in addition to a small retail space on the ground floor. Digging parking expensive, but makes sense in high land cost areas.
I think you might explicitly add parking to your models as to make them more acceptable to the current preferences and norms.
Underground parking is quite common in India so how expansive it could be.
All of our designs have parking options.