Flex house goes mainstream

Homebuilders are introduced to an idea which is becoming increasingly popular with new urbanists. The separation of work and home began with the Industrial Revolution, and reached its zenith in the automobile dominated last half of the 20th century, when lengthy commutes and highly restrictive zoning became the norm. Almost nobody works above the store anymore, and if you run a business out of the home, you often do it quietly and illegally. But this may be changing. Aided by computers, fax machines, and modems, nearly 20 million US citizens operate a home business, according to the National Association of Home Based Businesses, and tens of millions more are estimated to work at home in some capacity. The New Urbanism, with its emphasis on mixing uses and reducing distance between home, work, and play, is at the forefront of finding design solutions for the growing work at home trend. The live/work unit — more recently called the “flex” house — had its roots in two ideas. The first was the resurrection of the main street shopfront, an at-grade townhouse with the first floor designed for commercial. The first examples were townhouses around Seaside’s Ruskin Square, and similar units have been built in about 10 new urbanist projects in recent years. In the shopfront, the separation between work and living is usually the first floor ceiling. The second idea was the conversion of old factory and warehouse buildings into lofts for artists, which led to the construction of similar new townhouse and courtyard lofts. Early examples are Thomas Dolan’s Oakland live/works and the Second Street Studios in Santa Fe, New Mexico, designed by Peter Calthorpe. Loft units usually have no physical separation between work and living, and are built for maximum flexibility inside. Now, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ) has added two more types, the liveinfront and the livebehind, which, like their names imply, create a separation between work and living by means of a first floor wall. Both units are configured for significant flexibility. They can function as a single home or a duplex, with a varying amount of space dedicated to commercial activity. While the loft and the shopfront are highly urban building types, the liveinfront and livebehind are designed to fit into both town centers and less dense, more residential neighborhoods. DPZ made a big splash in February, 2001, at the National Association of Home Builders Atlanta show, where the flex house was brought to the attention of mainstream builders. DPZ introduced three flex unit typologies at the show — the Loft, the Liveabove (a shophouse unit), and the Lifespan, a version of the livebehind. DPZ also explored how tweaking of design elements can allow the same flex unit to fit into more or less urban environments — e.g. flat roof is more urban than sloped; built to the sidewalk is more urban than a setback; brick is more urban than clapboard. The idea that flex units can be built in any Transect tier from Core (most urban) to Rural is one of the more interesting ideas raised by DPZ’s designs at the builders show. To date, most flex units have been built in highly urban settings. Market questions Many mainstream builders are reportedly intrigued by the idea, but the size of the market remains a big question mark. Sole practitioner or small office professionals are one market group that clearly would be attracted to flex units, according to Todd Zimmerman of the market research firm Zimmerman/Volk Associates. Artisans, computer workers, small publishers, retail store operators, cafe proprietors, hair stylists, and other service providers have been known to purchase flex houses. But Zimmerman also cites some common misunderstandings. The work at home numbers are substantial, but the vast majority of these people do not need a specially designed unit. They generally convert the spare bedroom, the attic, the finished basement, or some other space into a work area. Moreover, “the case for having one’s residence and business under one roof with a single mortgage may be overstated,” he says. Business startups are often in a precarious financial position, and many entrepreneurs mortgage their homes to finance the company. The retailer living above his or her store is a romantic idea that is not practical in many cases. Yet many flex units are selling well. Kentlands, a new urbanist community in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where live/work units have been moving quickly, offers a clue as to why. About 70 percent of the three-story shopfront designs are reportedly being purchased by investors, and only 30 percent by people who will truly live and work in the same building. The investors are renting the space to commercial and residential tenants. This makes sense for several reasons. Kentlands is a mature new urbanist project, where investors can tap into the inherent value of the walkable streets and mix of uses, Zimmerman points out. Purchasers are getting commercial space with the potential to generate higher rents. Furthermore, the barrier to investment is low — compared to buying a new office building or suburban commercial property. As architect Dolan points out, another factor is psychological. It’s a lonely life for people who work at home in the suburbs. The flex house in the new or old urban setting is designed to compensate for that loneliness by placing the unit in a mixed-use, human-scale community. Seen in that context, the market is significant, Dolan believes. “There’s a place in every new urbanist community and downtown for live/work,” he says. “It is the most viable unit type in downtowns today.” Design advantages Beyond the potential market, flex units have design advantages in new urbanist projects. They provide a transition between the commercial downtown and lower density surrounding blocks. They also help to introduce commercial and workplace vitality to town centers. Finally, as multistory mixed-use buildings, they usually look great on main streets. About 300 to 400 flex units have been built by new urbanists. In most of the locations where flex houses have been built, developers have had no trouble selling or renting the units. The Second Street Studio lofts in Santa Fe, for example, have been 100 percent leased since they were built, starting in the mid-1980s. About 60 of these units were built. More recently, units have sold well in Kentlands, Vermillion, Prospect, and Orenco Station — all new urbanist projects — albeit more slowly in some projects, like Middleton Hills near Madison, Wisconsin. Many more flex units are planned. Dolan has 500 to 600 in the works, including 350 at a transit-oriented development in Oakland called MacArthur Station. Building codes New urbanists have shattered many conventions in development in the last two decades, but the flex house is especially challenging to building code and zoning officers. Some municipalities treat them as residential, others commercial, and others somewhere in between. The interpretation has great bearing on use and cost (e.g. are sprinklers, separate utility systems, and/or two-hour firewalls required?). Duany recommends the following mixed-use categories for flex units. The Restricted category is only for artisans or professionals with few customers. Building requirements are the same as for residential, commercial signage is restricted or disallowed, and no separation is required within the unit. The Limited category requires the workplace to be separated physically (via a wall or floor) from the residential area. “Among the allowed occupations are professionals and service workers with a limited number of employees and few customers: i.e. design officers and single medical practitioners but not professional partnerships, retailers or restaurants,” Duany says. “The health and safety standards for the commercial area are like a garage within a house.” A two-hour fire separation is required between commercial and residential, but otherwise residential building standards are enforced. Handicapped access is required for the commercial portion only, and signage is small and pedestrian-oriented. The Open category allows “virtually any legal occupation provided that it has no noxious impact of mechanical noise, vibration, or pollution beyond the boundaries of the unit,” Duany says. Building code requirements are up to commercial standards (e.g. egress, sprinklers, and special electrical requirements). Parking is carefully controlled and signage is commercially scaled to street and pedestrian requirements, but not to moving automobiles.