McKinsey said cities could adapt to the declining demand for office space by “taking a hybrid approach themselves,” developing multi-use office and retail space and constructing buildings that can be easily adapted to serve different purposes.

  • @shalafi
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    -11 year ago

    99% of the work done?! Tell me you have never been involved in residential vs. commercial construction.

    The structural and civil engineering, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, telecom, my god… it’s full of fail.

    And let’s not forget permitting for all that. Ya’ know, because of the difference in safety and privacy concerns in those two wildly different environments? And BTW, we’ll have to get buy-in from local government to bypass or ease a thing or three. Or 20.

    LOL, notions like this are the exact inverse of conservatives saying, “government should be run like business”. Private enterprise and government have very different goals and roles. We don’t have a magic wand to convert one to the other.

    And letting either one win out? Well, we see how capitalism is going for the private sector. Happy with that? I ain’t. Rather do a 180 and let the government run it all? Nah, I lived the Cold War. A strongly legislated balance is the only sane thing idea we got at the moment. Europe, despite differences and faults, seems to have a handle on these ideas.

    You can take a business building and convert it to residential, but how much you want to spend? And that spend is not just in dollars, it’s in energy. “Stop the wasteful pollution! Let’s waste MORE on stuff!” I’m not an engineer, outside of IT anyway, and that counts for fuck all in this discussion, but maybe it would be cost and energy efficient to tear down and start over? I’m not saying that’s right or wrong. I really don’t know.

    I ain’t got answers, but back on point, making commercial buildings into residential? I have serious doubts and concerns.

    (Not on your ass OP! Just using your comment as a jumping off point for more discussion!)