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Fixed it!

Things that keep me up at night #504. Steel and brick

Say it with me. Developers are not the problem, they are the solution.

Neighbors often tell you that if you had just notified them, they would have been nicer. In my experience that’s never the case. They’re almost always angry about change. (Photo of our Chapman project in Jingletown. Ask me about the neighbors!)

When I was 7, I was kidnapped by my mom. She put me in a car and drove off without telling anyone, leaving Detroit in the rear view. Back in 1978 there was no Amber Alert, so for months my dad had no idea where she had taken me. At some point she called to ask for money and he traced the calls to Huntington Beach, where we were living in a motel near the pier. My dad came to HB looking for me, and was walking the beach when he spotted my mom. She panicked and fled to a lifeguard, pleading with him, “those men are after me”. She jumped in his Jeep and they sped off. Meanwhile, my dad had hired a detective who started visiting elementary schools, at which point they found me. One day after school, my dad showed up with the detective (who I happened to walk right up to on the playground) and asked if I wanted to go with him ‘back home’ (the detective told him he had to ask or he’d get “punched out”). The bus driver who kept an eye on me getting home (I was a ‘latch-key kid’) saw this happen and called the police. In the meantime we had driven off around the corner where my dad and I got into a getaway car and headed to San Diego (LAX being too obvious for the cops). The detective was picked up and arrested (and later released). I stayed with my dad about 2 years, visiting my mom in the summer, until I decided I wanted to move back to HB permanently. I then visited my dad in the summer. So the backdrop for me growing up was the Detroit and it’s suburbs, an OC beach town, and Los Angeles. These were very different places both in their culture and literal climate. On top of that I had an extremely permissive and often abusive parent, and a very strict authoritarian one. I think these conflicting personalities and juxtaposition of places are very much reflected in how I work and what I work on, as well as how I handle relationships (among other things). Being in a wide variety of situations and environments is part of how I developed flexibility. Because of all of this, contrast and diversity are something I have embraced. I look to find beauty in disparate things. This doesn’t mean I don’t discern or have my own opinions, but it means I attempt to remain open to the opinions and ideas of others to the greatest extent possible.

Yes. I said 8 units on a R1 lot. 60 day approval. No public hearing. I’m coming for your single family zoning

Coming soon to the OC! 8 units on a single family / R1 lot using SB-1123. This project also includes a remainder lot that allowed us to stay under the 10 unit threshold. Remainder lot will contain one additional unit. Ministerial approval. 60 day shot clock. Let’s goooo!

This is the Sunset District. And this is the Sunset District on SB-79. Just sayin’

Last week I spent 5 hours at the Burbank Airport waiting for a flight. Unrelatedly, in the time California spent failing to complete its 500 mile high speed rail system, China has built 23,000 miles of high speed rail. We don’t need to lift 100% of regulations we have to protect everyone and everything. But a fraction of fewer or more targeted requirements might just get us a few hundred miles of rail (and maybe a little more housing).

I recently heard someone say this project has no ‘architectural interest’ I disagree It used to be a garage and now it’s a place for someone to live. Will it win any awards? Probably not Is it a simple, pleasant and functional space in a super cool neighborhood? Absolutely!

Under SB-79, single family (R1) lots near transit are eligible for density increases. This 9 unit, 4 story podium project on a 50’ x 150’ lot in LA is a perfect case study. It’s a common R1 lot size. (smaller works too!) Looking to increase density on small lots? Follow me ⬇️

You no longer need to pay impact fees! Below is an excerpt of a letter from a developer that sued the City of Oakland over impact fees and won (project specifics omitted for privacy). Big changes coming to a city near you. "We need you to let the public know about our lawsuit and its effect on the ability of the City of Oakland to participate in affordable housing construction. We filed a lawsuit against the City of Oakland’s... affordable housing impact fee. We believe that the collection of these fees is unconstitutional. The recent supreme court ruling in Sheetz v. County of Al Dorado reaffirmed that there must be a direct relationship between the impact fee and the adverse impact on the City or County. In our case the city must prove that our building...will cause the adverse impact of increasing the need of affordable housing. Obviously, the need for affordable housing is in no way related to the construction of... new housing units. We were informed on Tuesday morning, January 7th that our impact fees had been waived. We are now able to receive our building permits without paying any of these affordable housing impact fees. However, we believe that the City of Oakland will continue to require these fees be paid by anyone who is unaware of the unconstitutionality of the fees themselves. The City Council recently discussed taking all of the money out of the affordable housing fee trust fund and using this money towards the $130 million budget deficit. The individual and companies who have paid these affordable housing impact fees may be eligible for a refund if these monies are used for other purposes. Should the City of Oakland unconditionally admit that the affordable housing impact fee is unconstitutional. Oakland’s ability to fund affordable housing construction would be severely impaired or ended entirely."

We designed this Los Angeles podium apartment project with 9 units and parking for 15 cars and 15 bicycles. Today it could be built with zero parking. However, it would receive no help with additional density or permit processing, and would likely take more than a year to be approved. Certain state law can now help with low density subdivisions and high density affordable housing, but high density market rate receives minimal to no incentives. While not politically expedient, not incentivizing all forms of housing hurts overall supply and ultimately cost to you. More info on the project below ⬇️

Your periodic reminder that 4-over-1s could look exactly like this if the architects had enough humility to learn things long proven to work. But no, it’s trained out of us in architecture school.

My objective in developing an expertise in housing law is really just to find opportunities to make cool architecture. In case anyone was wondering.

I’d like to announce that I will be leaving REtwit to head to Architecture Twitter where no one makes any money, so you can’t accuse them of doing bad deals✌️

Neighbors often tell you that if you had just notified them, they would have been nicer. In my experience that’s never the case. They’re almost always angry about change. (Photo of our Chapman project in Jingletown. Ask me about the neighbors!)

Fixed it!

Under SB-79, single family (R1) lots near transit are eligible for density increases. This 9 unit, 4 story podium project on a 50’ x 150’ lot in LA is a perfect case study. It’s a common R1 lot size. (smaller works too!) Looking to increase density on small lots? Follow me ⬇️

When I was 7, I was kidnapped by my mom. She put me in a car and drove off without telling anyone, leaving Detroit in the rear view. Back in 1978 there was no Amber Alert, so for months my dad had no idea where she had taken me. At some point she called to ask for money and he traced the calls to Huntington Beach, where we were living in a motel near the pier. My dad came to HB looking for me, and was walking the beach when he spotted my mom. She panicked and fled to a lifeguard, pleading with him, “those men are after me”. She jumped in his Jeep and they sped off. Meanwhile, my dad had hired a detective who started visiting elementary schools, at which point they found me. One day after school, my dad showed up with the detective (who I happened to walk right up to on the playground) and asked if I wanted to go with him ‘back home’ (the detective told him he had to ask or he’d get “punched out”). The bus driver who kept an eye on me getting home (I was a ‘latch-key kid’) saw this happen and called the police. In the meantime we had driven off around the corner where my dad and I got into a getaway car and headed to San Diego (LAX being too obvious for the cops). The detective was picked up and arrested (and later released). I stayed with my dad about 2 years, visiting my mom in the summer, until I decided I wanted to move back to HB permanently. I then visited my dad in the summer. So the backdrop for me growing up was the Detroit and it’s suburbs, an OC beach town, and Los Angeles. These were very different places both in their culture and literal climate. On top of that I had an extremely permissive and often abusive parent, and a very strict authoritarian one. I think these conflicting personalities and juxtaposition of places are very much reflected in how I work and what I work on, as well as how I handle relationships (among other things). Being in a wide variety of situations and environments is part of how I developed flexibility. Because of all of this, contrast and diversity are something I have embraced. I look to find beauty in disparate things. This doesn’t mean I don’t discern or have my own opinions, but it means I attempt to remain open to the opinions and ideas of others to the greatest extent possible.

Coming soon to the OC! 8 units on a single family / R1 lot using SB-1123. This project also includes a remainder lot that allowed us to stay under the 10 unit threshold. Remainder lot will contain one additional unit. Ministerial approval. 60 day shot clock. Let’s goooo!

Things that keep me up at night #504. Steel and brick

Feeling inspired this evening!

Say it with me. Developers are not the problem, they are the solution.

When I graduated from UC Berkeley with my Master’s in Architecture, I invited my mom to attend the ceremony, where she promptly got very drunk. She had found the wine that was being served for the occasion and decided to hit it pretty hard. Meanwhile, the formally dressed, upper to middle-class crowd was politely sipping a drink (or not drinking at all) and chatting. My mom and her then-husband were in worn clothes. They didn’t know how to make small talk. They were clearly out of place. Before they arrived, I had explained to them that I myself didn’t fit in particularly well with the students. I was older and had worked on a lot of ‘real world’ projects while they were fresh and young and experimenting with algorithmic form making. I may have been very vocal about my views on that 😊 We didn’t always see eye to eye and there were quite a few that didn’t care for me or my ideas at all. The commencement began, and they called my name. I started walking down to receive my diploma and honors when I heard a voice rising from the back of the auditorium. It was my mom. Then she started yelling: “I DON’T CARE WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT YOU. I LOVE YOU… F*CK *ALL* OF THESE PEOPLE… I. DON’T. CARE. WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT YOU!!!” I’ve almost never been embarrassed about who I am or where I came from, but this truly tested me. People were horrified, staring at me with so much judgment. Their eyes said, “We know what you are… you’re trash.” One professor approached me after the ceremony and said with a big condescending smirk, “It seems your mom had a bit too much to drink.” I learned a few things in that moment: 🙀Authenticity: Past experiences will always be a part of you, and you can learn from them. Where you come from does not define where you’re going. 🙀Resilience: Despite the discomfort, I had to remember who I was and that the views of others don’t define my value. 🙀Social Dynamics: Different backgrounds and cultures can often misunderstand one another. It’s important to balance authenticity with some form of ‘decorum’. 🙀Appreciation: Despite the embarrassment, it was nice to have the support 😊

Something was pointed out to me this morning. Pretty interesting. See if you can detect a pattern here: 10 states where housing is most expensive: 1. Hawaii 2. California 3. Massachusetts 4. Washington 5. Colorado 6. New York 7. Oregon 8. New Jersey 9. Connecticut 10. Maryland 10 States where housing is least expensive: 1.West Virginia 2.Mississippi 3.Arkansas 4.Alabama 5.Oklahoma 6.Kentucky 7.Iowa 8.Indiana 9.Ohio 10.Kansas States with the least expensive housing often tend to have less restrictive regulations around housing production. 1.Zoning Laws: Many of these states have more flexible zoning laws. This allows the market to guide product type. 2.Building Codes: Less restrictive building codes reduce the cost of construction making it easier to build and increase supply. 4.Permitting Process: A faster, more streamlined process encourages developers to build more, increasing supply. 5.Regulatory Environment: Overall, these states tend to have a regulatory environment that is more conducive to development. These factors contribute to a higher supply of housing relative to demand, which helps keep housing prices lower compared to states with more restrictive regulations.

Uglier or I walk 🧐

We designed this Los Angeles podium apartment project with 9 units and parking for 15 cars and 15 bicycles. Today it could be built with zero parking. However, it would receive no help with additional density or permit processing, and would likely take more than a year to be approved. Certain state law can now help with low density subdivisions and high density affordable housing, but high density market rate receives minimal to no incentives. While not politically expedient, not incentivizing all forms of housing hurts overall supply and ultimately cost to you. More info on the project below ⬇️

I recently heard someone say this project has no ‘architectural interest’ I disagree It used to be a garage and now it’s a place for someone to live. Will it win any awards? Probably not Is it a simple, pleasant and functional space in a super cool neighborhood? Absolutely!

Your periodic reminder that 4-over-1s could look exactly like this if the architects had enough humility to learn things long proven to work. But no, it’s trained out of us in architecture school.

I hate to tell you this, but most houses are boxes. The reason I dislike delivering this sad news is that people really like to say they don’t like boxes. But if you give them a circle they can’t put furniture in a corner. So they settle for a box with a triangle on top of it. See! It’s not a box any more, right? In the meantime, certain situations dictate that right angles aren’t possible or even desirable. A single angle that isn’t ‘right’ can be right. It creates a little (but hopefully not too much!) interest in a space. Here is one (of a few) such projects from our portfolio. Here our neighbor hoped to protect an existing tree, and the city of Berkeley allowed rear yard encroachment without a variance (if it was deemed worthy). The angle in the plan was designed to protect the tree, allow solar access and provide privacy for the adjacent property. And maybe to have a little fun along the way.