Fantastic essay. Slightly tangential, but honestly so many new constructions with housing are just so wasteful. Luxury apartments designed to stay empty while some investor on the other side of the country owns it and waits to sell to the next sucker in line. Office buildings with extravagant and wasteful lobbies, serving no purpose other than the vanity of the developers.
Of course, we need higher density. The world can’t be split into the extravagance and waste of skyscrapers and the drudgery and repetition of the suburb sprawl.
As I type this, I’m sitting in the empty lobby of an office building. A giant corporate sculpture is hanging above the concierge desk. The empty space and high ceiling could easily fit dozens of apartments. Not even thinking about the resources spent
It’s just… A lot, when you start looking at offices and skyscrapers through this lens.
I think we should differentiate between office towers and apartments / condos / mixed use.
Office towers are useless, especially with modern technology allowing most office jobs to be remote.
Dense housing, however, is a necessity if we want to rein in climate change. Plus, housing (or even better, mixed use housing & commercial) makes a vibrant city.
Fantastic essay. Slightly tangential, but honestly so many new constructions with housing are just so wasteful. Luxury apartments designed to stay empty while some investor on the other side of the country owns it and waits to sell to the next sucker in line. Office buildings with extravagant and wasteful lobbies, serving no purpose other than the vanity of the developers.
Of course, we need higher density. The world can’t be split into the extravagance and waste of skyscrapers and the drudgery and repetition of the suburb sprawl.
As I type this, I’m sitting in the empty lobby of an office building. A giant corporate sculpture is hanging above the concierge desk. The empty space and high ceiling could easily fit dozens of apartments. Not even thinking about the resources spent
It’s just… A lot, when you start looking at offices and skyscrapers through this lens.
I think we should differentiate between office towers and apartments / condos / mixed use.
Office towers are useless, especially with modern technology allowing most office jobs to be remote.
Dense housing, however, is a necessity if we want to rein in climate change. Plus, housing (or even better, mixed use housing & commercial) makes a vibrant city.