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Jesse Nijmegen
Editor’s Bureau Washington
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Jesse Nijmegen
Editor’s Bureau Washington
Major US inner cities have undergone a slow transformation since the pandemic. More people are starting to work from home and companies are canceling their office buildings. Cities like San Francisco and Washington DC are now looking for solutions to make their downtowns vibrant again.
Currently in the US capital Over 2 million Square meters of unused office space. Precious space, especially when you consider that the entire economy in the city center is focused on office life. So Mayor Muriel Bowser has a new mission: converting old buildings into apartment complexes.
“We’re never going to go back to the way we worked before the pandemic, which was a disaster for the downtown area,” said Bill Boenstra, who owns an architecture firm in the city. “So we have to come up with programs that bring people back together. Not to work, but to live together.”
Now when you walk down DC’s wide streets, you’re met only by the harsh wind whipping around the concrete blocks. Also, it is dying out. At the end of the working day, restaurants and offices are closed. Where you’d expect to find something, even at the entrance of a large coffee chain, is a ‘closed’ sign. Everything in the inner city is geared towards the ‘9 to 5 society’, not for living there.
In the architecture office, Banstra hung large drawings on the walls of old buildings, which he transformed into living spaces. An old laundrette is now a complex of trendy studios with big windows. Another building has five floors added. But the plans still have old characteristics: “We want to revisit the original look.”
Cutting in concrete construction
Many of the converted buildings were free-standing, which made it easy to fully utilize them to build apartments, but there was a problem in the inner city. “Often you only have windows on either side of the office. It’s dark in the middle, while your living areas have windows everywhere,” explains Bonstra.
There are solutions for that. Boonstra: “All we can do is create a courtyard in the middle of the building for more light. That means cutting through the concrete structure, which is sometimes impossible. Then demolishing the building. Both options are too much. Expensive.”
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Bill Boonstra -
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Photos of Boonstra’s plans in his office
Expensive projects often deter contractors. Washington also has rules against tall buildings (no building can be taller than the Capitol), which means skyscrapers like New York can’t be built.
So the costs often outweigh the potential profits. The municipality is taking steps to convince contractors, says Boenstra. “There are subsidies and tax credits for these kinds of projects, so there’s enough money.”
That’s why it’s visible between the concrete blocks at the corner of 20th Street and L Street A completely burnt building. This is one of the housing projects shown by the mayor this month.
“It’s ours come back“, he said as he toured the construction site. “By adding much-needed housing here, we can quickly create a vibrant city center where people can work, live and recreate.”
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At the same time, Boonstra says, building a few more apartments has not solved the problem. “To create a successful living environment, distribution centers, shops and sports centers also need to be built. You have to think of everything.”
According to him, it happens automatically. “The construction of apartments is the driver of other activities. It is very important to have a mixed environment between the resident and the facilities, which has a reinforcing effect. Because once you lose one of these elements. , your city will fail.”
However, he happily accepts the challenge. “It’s hard, but it’s really fun to give buildings a whole new purpose. It’s very satisfying.”
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