Fancy Flats In Old Boxes describes an interesting architectural challenge:
Facing a tightening supply of elegant pre-World War II buildings to turn into lavish living spaces, plus high vacancy rates in the office market, real-estate developers are turning to boxy office towers built in the Nixon era — and transforming them into the hottest new home addresses around.
Of course, those office towers don’t lend themselves to residential living:
After World War II, corporations were bent on making office buildings as efficient as assembly lines. So, instead of the slender brick and tile beauties of the 1920s and ’30s, companies slapped up whatever could give them parking-lot-size floor space to accommodate herds of office workers. And thanks to cheap fluorescent lighting, staff could be stuck in the middle of the building, away from natural light.While floor sizes of the postwar office buildings seemed big when they were built, today they can’t compete with newer office buildings, which typically have twice as much space per floor, around 25,000 square feet. So they find a new life as apartments — and to make the jump from office to residential, their floors have to be carved up into deep and narrow apartments shaped more like recreational vehicles than homes. Those “perfected” lofts at 90 Washington, for instance, are typically no wider than 12 feet, and as long as 40 feet.
Architects have some tricks to make the spaces feel homier. Kitchens and bathrooms are stacked away from the windows, leaving what light there is to living areas. Entrances are placed in the middle of the apartment, rather than the end. When people enter, they aren’t confronted with the full length of the space.
Some of the 90 Washington units are so long, the developer has installed “home occupancy” spaces — basically interior windowless rooms toward the back. They can’t be called bedrooms, since the New York City Building Code requires bedrooms to have light and ventilation. Do tenants use them as bedrooms? The developer and his architects won’t say.