Office to Residential
Extending the life of an existing building is the most advantageous way to retain a neighborhood’s integrity and mitigate climate change. With our experience designing urban environments, Johnson Fain has repositioned existing buildings within the marketplace and found a second life for outdated, underused office buildings as multi-family residential communities. Today’s city has excess underutilized office space, and converting these properties to residential dwellings brings new life into the city center.
Live-Work-Play and Creative Office describe the desire for integrating daily life with daily work. Covid accelerated remote work and virtual communication. In the post-Covid era what we want out of live and work is being redefined forever.
Virtual communication and the desire to reduce commutes is changing 9 to 5 office districts into more vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods. The conversion of former office buildings to residences is key and the benefits are many. Proximity will propel a lifestyle that is healthy, convenient and sustainable.
The viability of an office conversion starts with understanding the building’s context. Successful building conversions will have a direct connection to neighborhood amenities such as nearby recreational and green spaces.
Evaluating an office building’s layout is critical to understanding if it is feasible to convert it to housing. The existing property viability is based on economics, feasibility, the infrastructure, and extent of the modifications. A starter question for every project is: Are the floorplates suitable for efficient partitioning into residential units?
Urban centers can be rich with public amenities and new residential conversions in the city’s center will require exclusive resident amenities that enrich a persons lifestyle.
Housing Builds Communities
Converting existing office buildings into housing parallels the United Nations 2018 Population Division’s projections that approximately 68% of the world’s population will live in urban centers by 2050. Office conversions are the most significant step toward reducing embodied carbon and support the current global efforts to combat climate change. City centers are rich with transit opportunities, and re-purposing office buildings into vibrant housing communities will have a significant influence on revitalizing a city’s downtown.
Unlock your Vision
Creative endeavors begin with great friendships. Discover how Johnson Fain can work with your group to translate an idea into an award-winning, community engaging environment.