boy i forget about this every few months - but setback requirements in low rise zones really do make for the sh*ttiest urbanism possible.
LR3 in UV on a 50' wide x 100' deep lot has a 50' height limit, max far of 2.3
5000*2.3 = 11,500. divide that by 5 floors = 2300sf plates
2300 sf plates on a 50' wide build (zero side yard setbacks) results in buildings that are only 46' deep.
however, there land use code requires 7' average setbacks for LR3.
so a 2300 sf floor plate ends up being 36' wide x 63.9' deep
so you go from condition where units open up to street & massive courtyard that is more than half of the lot (left, space for trees!); to one where building units are oriented looking *at* the neighboring lots, almost no usable outdoor space (right)
it's just so f*cking moronic
heaven forbid in a city with a housing crisis, where people claim to be concerned about development removing space for trees, where we don't have adequate open space for people who live in multifamily housing - we force least urban buildings possible. egads buildings touching! 🙄
this is the basic building block of most cities.
and yet... we can't even get it right.
this is the 3xgruen baugruppe in berlin by roedig.schoep
5 stories plus inhabited attic (springs from street)
massive courtyard
and it isn't inconsequential for privacy. you go from having units being separated by 22m (72'), across a street, street trees, like in berlin (left) or in seattle (right), 5' side yard setback + 7' side yard setback = 12' apart (10' in older versions of code)
which one do you think is more livable?
more functional?
allows for more density?
more unit variety?
better cross ventilation?
better daylight?
it's not seattle (left)
it also drives up embodied CO2, housing $, energy $, maintenance $t area of most of seattle's 'urban' villages.
all so that it looks similar in form to the most exclusionary, least sustainable form of housing.
it also drives up embodied CO2, housing $, energy $, msintenance $
layer in the parking requirements (or banks requiring parking) and this is why you get moronic townhouse projects all over the place.
thread on that here, comparing to a german project on same sized site:
these stunning 'housing of the year' award winners - are basically a list of projects that could never get funding or be allowed due to zoning and building code regulations, in the US
also gleis 21 is a wonderful baugruppe. well deserved 1st place.
it's weird to me that in US, we put minimum depths on buildings - but in much of europe, there are maximum depths...
e.g. cincinnati's FBC for main streets requires a *minimum* 40' building depth
basel's land use code uses a *maximum* depth (gebaeudeteiege - plus % of lot open)
there was a questioner in montreal who asked what i thought about form based codes...
my answer: not a fan. they *could* be more like german land use planning. but they're not normally done well. still mostly about aesthetics. really dumb regs.
also - still use segregation
there's nothing wrong with mixing residential and non-polluting manufacturing...
For #COP26: 26 climate actions cities should be taking, in order to make more resilient in face of climate change. in no particular order - just strategies I think cities should be adopting in order to both improve livability while adapting to realities of a warming world.
1. passivhaus mandates
PH is great, I've advocated it since training a decade ago. it’s an energy standard that ensures durability, comfort and resilience. It’s applicable for educational buildings, multifamily, offices, hospitals, museums, archives
Unlike the EU, there are no jurisdictions in the US that mandate energy requirements anywhere close to something like passivhaus. PH also provides fresh, filtered ventilation: critical during wildfires, in polluted environs. could be defense against airborne diseases like COVID
the @burkemuseum emails info on car parking that they send out, but not how to get there by bike or transit - with a brand new light rail station just a few blocks away?
how do we change this?
this is a LEED GOLD building! (yes, i know LEED is trash)
this is what the deutsches museum in munich shows for how to get there. transit *first*
alright. mega 🧵 summarizing my closing keynote for vivre en ville's collectivites viables in montreal last week.
i crammed a lot in, probably too much - but was also trying to link it to presentations from prev. 2 days. unsure how successful i was, but it was fun.
the arc of my presentation is that in seattle, and likely most of north america, we do not build resource-light buildings, and have forgotten how to build livable districts. if you follow me here on the twitters, you know this is a *constant* topic of mine.
and we've also introduced a plethora of regulations, layers of bureaucracies, and processes designed to ensure we aren't building the most energy efficient buildings, the least carbon intensive ones, the most spatially efficient ones, the most livable ones, etc.