One of the big issues with the modern layout is that there's no windows. You only have one narrow end of the space that has access to natural light because each apartment only gets one side of the building. This drives the need to create one big room, because the bedrooms need light.
Re: “I don’t blame developers” - There’s a public-taste element as well. Overbright pot lights, grey walls, One Big Room, and austere furnishing has been sold as the modern/tasteful/trendy aesthetic lifestyle. I think many people renting new apartments (and buying new build homes) haven’t experienced what it’s like to live in a well designed, actually tasteful, comfortable space. Without an education of aesthetic vision, it’s hard to convince people that where they live sucks, actually, and they should expect more from their developers and legislators and etc.
I find that if you move into an older space with modern furniture the latter will make either accentuate the wear and tear of the unit by comparison, or the unit makes everything look extremely tacky and cheap (which modern furniture certainly is) but I can’t be bothered to replace all of my furniture for a domicile I don’t even own in the first place. Between that and all the issues that come with old electric outlets and plumbing I prefer new construction for its lack of headaches.
The more expensive housing is in general the stronger the pressure is going to be to maximize the value per square foot as the new construction you are criticizing does. In the YIMBY dreamworld as prices fall people will be able to afford more space for the kinds of thing you are saying apartments should have. In other words, I think this post is an argument for YIMBYism, not a caveat to it.
Few two-bedrooms in newly constructed market rate apartment buildings today. Thats even true of new LIHTC buildings. Despite the high rents for two bedrooms, studios and one-bedrooms are more profitable on a per square foot basis, and property managers have never liked renting to kids (which is why the Fair Housing Act was amended to bar discrimination against families with kids). So studios and one-BRs is what gets built. At least until like lemmings they oversaturate that market segment —-or localities start requiring or incentivizing a mix that includes families with children.
I assume any new construction versions of these would very much have both. But many people, myself included, have traded those off to have a better floorplan.
Here's a new-build 3-bedroom apartment, almost 2,000 sf, in the DC suburbs. Next to transit but no commercial within walking distance (not even a grocery). Starting at just $8,429/month:
I wish I could show you the Altbau apartment in Berlin I’m subletting part of. I have a big front-facing living room, a medium workroom (I’m guessing originally a bedroom) connecting the front of the house to the back with a generous doorway to a sun porch at the back giving it light, and a tiny bedroom off the sun porch, adjacent to the workroom, that must have been storage or a maid’s room. The primary renter kept the two best and biggest front rooms, by the entrance and across from the kitchen, probably the formal living and dining rooms back in the day. The place is MASSIVE. Only one bath, though. But would absolutely hold a family, properly, with dining and privacy and a front and back of the house. Wasted on two fussy introverted old singles. The trouble is that the PR’s family originally rented it 40 years ago, and you don’t leave a rental contract of that vintage in Berlin: finding a new flat here is a boss quest and anything at any size you did find would be priced to 2025. (Imagine if NYC or SF instituted ~universal rent control and then just let that bake for a decade or few. No one with a long tenure ever moves here: there are no flats.) I wish I had solutions.
I'm pretty far left and live very close to San Francisco and I believe rent control as it is now only helps the lucky few. Sure its great for folks who have lived in the same place forever (I know someone who rents a 3 bed apartment for 30% of market rate) but it means that new leases subsidize these apartments. The rent control applies to apartments built before the 1979 (78? 77?) so apartments like yours are rare and expensive now.
Could be. We pay big city rent for a 1br apt in a large building built in 1930. Interiors were rebuilt (but not 'modernized') a couple decades ago. So still with original solid wood doors, plumbing fixtures, but also functioning building-wide AC, fire sprinklers, even closets with over/under washer/dryer. Soffits everywhere for all the new infrastructure, but it's OK.
And yes, rent controlled, which is why we got it instead of a new apts in the new wing, which are not. Those are bigger but lower rent right now...Markets are hard mistresses.
But I came here to note that altho we are somewhat pinched for space, this building has some private-ish spots that partially make up for that. Meeting rooms, open but quiet gathering sites, a rentable space for small parties with amenities to match, even a Great Room for very large gatherings. Large well-stocked gym. Indoor pool. Rooftop deck. And a club! Costs a fee to join but allows for convivial bar space with just enough room for a small jazz combo a couple times a week! And the neighborhood is walkable as hell!
Other buildings can and should do all this. I'm eager to see what the office-conversion market provides.
This is good stuff and I’m glad it’s out there. But will you please take some time to 1) review how commas and punctuation marks work, and 2) proofread your writing before publishing it? This reads as though you don’t give a shit about how it’s presented. Like hosting a dinner party and not doing any cleaning beforehand.
Simplification is the general trend in modern style including architecture. The old irregular design went with irregular lot in which the apartment building was built.
I have lived in a irregular type apartment building which had 11 apartment per floor. And all 11 apartments were different in layout. Ours was 1450 sft with two bedrooms and a Hall
Really good piece. It's a shame we don't have a wider selection of designs in the two-three bedroom space. I think those would make it easier for both younger families and for empty nesters. My parents would never want a modern open concept 2BR but I bet they and other of their age would be willing to think about options that still enable to give up the yards but still have space for visiting family, which is which is quite different than dinner party type hosting
Okay, but the apartments they are building being shitty really isn’t the biggest problem, though it’s definitely a concern. Telling people to move into a city where the housing is designed to extract the majority of the living stipend your employer offers (“wages”) is a sure fire recipe for expanding poverty and desperation. Yes, renting originally was a way to access long term temporary housing, but now? It’s a grift, operating as a pyramid scheme, leveraging a fundamental human need in order to extract corporate profit margins out of families’ incomes. The renter spends 2-3k a month for the privilege of sleeping under a roof. There’s no equity, there’s no benefit other than addressing a fundamental need in that moment and it pretty much guarantees that housing will continue to be a lifelong struggle. Find yourself disabled? Well now you’re disabled and homeless because you didn’t generate the 2-3k needed to continue living in a house that month or in the months following. It’s a paid subscription where you invest everything and you own nothing. There’s plenty of housing if we stopped writing laws that allow people to exploit our communities this way.
The service hall also helped with what you call the Ceremonial aspect. Visitors came in by the grand staircase, while kids, boarders, or delivery men used the back staircase. My grandma's apartment, built around 1910, had a separate service hall, highly unusual in Oklahoma. I tributed it, showing the floor plan, here:
I just can't see how this doesn't boil down to "make larger, pricier apartments." Sure, if a developer has to create a 2-bedroom apartment with 50% more square footage, they'll add design considerations like entryways and hall systems and pantries. But land and construction are expensive, rental markets have price ceilings, and most renters prioritize utility. Economic reality is a cruel mistress.
I live in an old duplex apartment with roommates and love that I am up a flight of stairs and down the hall from the kitchen and living room. It’s easy for one of us to have friends over, watch tv or cook without disrupting the others, which is good, considering we have very different schedules. I’d really like to live alone to have full control of my space, but then I’d probably be in a tiny studio with no separation between living/dining/sleeping areas. I know once I take the plunge into living alone I’m going to prioritize older buildings for the cost savings and better layouts. Also, my inherited mid century modern furniture wouldn’t look good in a gray box.
One of the big issues with the modern layout is that there's no windows. You only have one narrow end of the space that has access to natural light because each apartment only gets one side of the building. This drives the need to create one big room, because the bedrooms need light.
Re: “I don’t blame developers” - There’s a public-taste element as well. Overbright pot lights, grey walls, One Big Room, and austere furnishing has been sold as the modern/tasteful/trendy aesthetic lifestyle. I think many people renting new apartments (and buying new build homes) haven’t experienced what it’s like to live in a well designed, actually tasteful, comfortable space. Without an education of aesthetic vision, it’s hard to convince people that where they live sucks, actually, and they should expect more from their developers and legislators and etc.
Minimalism is a menace
I find that if you move into an older space with modern furniture the latter will make either accentuate the wear and tear of the unit by comparison, or the unit makes everything look extremely tacky and cheap (which modern furniture certainly is) but I can’t be bothered to replace all of my furniture for a domicile I don’t even own in the first place. Between that and all the issues that come with old electric outlets and plumbing I prefer new construction for its lack of headaches.
The more expensive housing is in general the stronger the pressure is going to be to maximize the value per square foot as the new construction you are criticizing does. In the YIMBY dreamworld as prices fall people will be able to afford more space for the kinds of thing you are saying apartments should have. In other words, I think this post is an argument for YIMBYism, not a caveat to it.
Few two-bedrooms in newly constructed market rate apartment buildings today. Thats even true of new LIHTC buildings. Despite the high rents for two bedrooms, studios and one-bedrooms are more profitable on a per square foot basis, and property managers have never liked renting to kids (which is why the Fair Housing Act was amended to bar discrimination against families with kids). So studios and one-BRs is what gets built. At least until like lemmings they oversaturate that market segment —-or localities start requiring or incentivizing a mix that includes families with children.
Excellent piece wholeheartedly agree with your points.
The real win would be pairing modern amenities (mostly central air and in-unit) with the benefits of more generous floorplans.
I assume any new construction versions of these would very much have both. But many people, myself included, have traded those off to have a better floorplan.
Me in my 950sqft 1940s build home looking at some of those apartment floor plans like 👀👀👀
Here's a new-build 3-bedroom apartment, almost 2,000 sf, in the DC suburbs. Next to transit but no commercial within walking distance (not even a grocery). Starting at just $8,429/month:
https://www.ravelandroyale.com/floor-plan/3-bedroom/ravel-3b20den.html
It's the price. It's 100% the price. Who would ever choose this over a $1.5M+ house?
I feel all of this so hard.
I wish I could show you the Altbau apartment in Berlin I’m subletting part of. I have a big front-facing living room, a medium workroom (I’m guessing originally a bedroom) connecting the front of the house to the back with a generous doorway to a sun porch at the back giving it light, and a tiny bedroom off the sun porch, adjacent to the workroom, that must have been storage or a maid’s room. The primary renter kept the two best and biggest front rooms, by the entrance and across from the kitchen, probably the formal living and dining rooms back in the day. The place is MASSIVE. Only one bath, though. But would absolutely hold a family, properly, with dining and privacy and a front and back of the house. Wasted on two fussy introverted old singles. The trouble is that the PR’s family originally rented it 40 years ago, and you don’t leave a rental contract of that vintage in Berlin: finding a new flat here is a boss quest and anything at any size you did find would be priced to 2025. (Imagine if NYC or SF instituted ~universal rent control and then just let that bake for a decade or few. No one with a long tenure ever moves here: there are no flats.) I wish I had solutions.
I'm pretty far left and live very close to San Francisco and I believe rent control as it is now only helps the lucky few. Sure its great for folks who have lived in the same place forever (I know someone who rents a 3 bed apartment for 30% of market rate) but it means that new leases subsidize these apartments. The rent control applies to apartments built before the 1979 (78? 77?) so apartments like yours are rare and expensive now.
Could be. We pay big city rent for a 1br apt in a large building built in 1930. Interiors were rebuilt (but not 'modernized') a couple decades ago. So still with original solid wood doors, plumbing fixtures, but also functioning building-wide AC, fire sprinklers, even closets with over/under washer/dryer. Soffits everywhere for all the new infrastructure, but it's OK.
And yes, rent controlled, which is why we got it instead of a new apts in the new wing, which are not. Those are bigger but lower rent right now...Markets are hard mistresses.
But I came here to note that altho we are somewhat pinched for space, this building has some private-ish spots that partially make up for that. Meeting rooms, open but quiet gathering sites, a rentable space for small parties with amenities to match, even a Great Room for very large gatherings. Large well-stocked gym. Indoor pool. Rooftop deck. And a club! Costs a fee to join but allows for convivial bar space with just enough room for a small jazz combo a couple times a week! And the neighborhood is walkable as hell!
Other buildings can and should do all this. I'm eager to see what the office-conversion market provides.
Where is your location? Are you in SF? California?
Fair question. We are in DC right now, but lived in SF for years, and still have a bailout site there.
This is good stuff and I’m glad it’s out there. But will you please take some time to 1) review how commas and punctuation marks work, and 2) proofread your writing before publishing it? This reads as though you don’t give a shit about how it’s presented. Like hosting a dinner party and not doing any cleaning beforehand.
Simplification is the general trend in modern style including architecture. The old irregular design went with irregular lot in which the apartment building was built.
I have lived in a irregular type apartment building which had 11 apartment per floor. And all 11 apartments were different in layout. Ours was 1450 sft with two bedrooms and a Hall
Really good piece. It's a shame we don't have a wider selection of designs in the two-three bedroom space. I think those would make it easier for both younger families and for empty nesters. My parents would never want a modern open concept 2BR but I bet they and other of their age would be willing to think about options that still enable to give up the yards but still have space for visiting family, which is which is quite different than dinner party type hosting
Okay, but the apartments they are building being shitty really isn’t the biggest problem, though it’s definitely a concern. Telling people to move into a city where the housing is designed to extract the majority of the living stipend your employer offers (“wages”) is a sure fire recipe for expanding poverty and desperation. Yes, renting originally was a way to access long term temporary housing, but now? It’s a grift, operating as a pyramid scheme, leveraging a fundamental human need in order to extract corporate profit margins out of families’ incomes. The renter spends 2-3k a month for the privilege of sleeping under a roof. There’s no equity, there’s no benefit other than addressing a fundamental need in that moment and it pretty much guarantees that housing will continue to be a lifelong struggle. Find yourself disabled? Well now you’re disabled and homeless because you didn’t generate the 2-3k needed to continue living in a house that month or in the months following. It’s a paid subscription where you invest everything and you own nothing. There’s plenty of housing if we stopped writing laws that allow people to exploit our communities this way.
The service hall also helped with what you call the Ceremonial aspect. Visitors came in by the grand staircase, while kids, boarders, or delivery men used the back staircase. My grandma's apartment, built around 1910, had a separate service hall, highly unusual in Oklahoma. I tributed it, showing the floor plan, here:
http://polistrasmill.blogspot.com/2019/03/beadboard-er.html
I just can't see how this doesn't boil down to "make larger, pricier apartments." Sure, if a developer has to create a 2-bedroom apartment with 50% more square footage, they'll add design considerations like entryways and hall systems and pantries. But land and construction are expensive, rental markets have price ceilings, and most renters prioritize utility. Economic reality is a cruel mistress.
I live in an old duplex apartment with roommates and love that I am up a flight of stairs and down the hall from the kitchen and living room. It’s easy for one of us to have friends over, watch tv or cook without disrupting the others, which is good, considering we have very different schedules. I’d really like to live alone to have full control of my space, but then I’d probably be in a tiny studio with no separation between living/dining/sleeping areas. I know once I take the plunge into living alone I’m going to prioritize older buildings for the cost savings and better layouts. Also, my inherited mid century modern furniture wouldn’t look good in a gray box.
The problem is immigration and diversity
Your brain is being consumed by worms