ARCHITECTURE
The_Art_of_Inequality
The_Art_of_Inequality
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al qualities, like the grouping of bedrooms, and intangible<br />
ones, like the feeling of “home.” Government instruments<br />
like the AHS are used by real estate developers and investors<br />
to evaluate the market. But these instruments also<br />
measure and manage qualitative differences that appear<br />
at the intersection of households and housing units. From<br />
this perspective, they enable us to glimpse a statistical<br />
imagination in which populations are divided according to<br />
the wealth they possess, and that wealth, in turn, is determined<br />
by how they are housed. In a circular fashion, that<br />
wealth also limits the field of possible housing alternatives.<br />
In that sense, each house, each apartment, each bedroom,<br />
and each bathroom is an integer, a statistical unit by which<br />
the household it contains—we should really say, the household<br />
it produces and maintains—is situated on a spectrum<br />
of inequality that, in turn, governs the way we live.<br />
2.1.4 The Household<br />
The statistical unit of the household is therefore<br />
actually a set of intersecting material units, including humans,<br />
houses, bedrooms, bathrooms, cars, and cities. Let<br />
us call this set “architecture.” Looking at it more closely<br />
enables us to grasp how the spectrum of inequality is<br />
maintained in a manner that reproduces certain norms<br />
and categories in order for the real estate system to do its<br />
work. In what follows, a series of cases show concretely<br />
how the principles and practices of real estate development<br />
govern the construction and inhabitation of new<br />
housing. Moving across the country, and up and down the<br />
inequality spectrum, they take a partial inventory of building<br />
types, markets, and financial models through which<br />
we can see more clearly the diverse ways in which housing<br />
options are defined by (but also as) capital. Even in the<br />
most disparate of contexts, the discourse of the household<br />
repeats architecturally, delineating the social unit by<br />
which wealth is measured.<br />
On the opposite coast from New York by Gehry,<br />
but about ten miles from the offices of Gehry Partners LLP,<br />
sits Cloverdale 749, in Los Angeles, designed by Lorcan<br />
O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA). In June 2013, the website<br />
la.curbed.com described the building’s six available condominium<br />
units, listing from about $749,000 to $999,000,<br />
as having “open-plan living spaces, Caesarstone countertops,<br />
under-cabinet LED lighting in kitchens, carpeting<br />
in the bedrooms, and completely separated walls to keep<br />
the noise down.” 31 The website toplacondos.com added:<br />
“An experience of light, flow and true craftsmanship<br />
throughout interesting architectural spaces defines Cloverdale.<br />
Comfortably refined. Impeccably designed. Contemporary<br />
luxury with European style, paired with a<br />
warmth you simply don’t find in modern condominium<br />
residences today . . . 749 Cloverdale is a new standard in<br />
condominium living.” 32<br />
Floor plans compress bathrooms, utilities, and<br />
stairs (for duplexes) in a central core, maximizing the<br />
openness of the surrounding spaces, which are screened<br />
on either end with a glass and perforated, ventilating<br />
metal skin. Kitchens are galley type, with open islands.<br />
Balconies and stairs wrap the exterior, and parking on the<br />
urban site is underground.<br />
Assuming a 20 percent down payment, the<br />
monthly mortgage of about $3,700 on the higher-end<br />
units puts the owners of these units somewhere close to<br />
the top 10 percent of earners, with a household income<br />
of at least $130,000. Assuming a mortgage paid in full<br />
(i.e. full ownership) but no other financial assets (which<br />
is unlikely), the owners would certainly be in the top 20<br />
percent in terms of net wealth but probably much higher,<br />
according to available data that put the median wealth of<br />
that group at about $630,000. 33 For comparison, in 2012<br />
The New York Times estimated the household income of<br />
the top 1 percent to start at around $380,000 but their net<br />
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