ARCHITECTURE

More documents

Recommendations

Info

al qualities, like the grouping of bedrooms, and intangible ones, like the feeling of “home.” Government instruments like the AHS are used by real estate developers and investors to evaluate the market. But these instruments also measure and manage qualitative differences that appear at the intersection of households and housing units. From this perspective, they enable us to glimpse a statistical imagination in which populations are divided according to the wealth they possess, and that wealth, in turn, is determined by how they are housed. In a circular fashion, that wealth also limits the field of possible housing alternatives. In that sense, each house, each apartment, each bedroom, and each bathroom is an integer, a statistical unit by which the household it contains—we should really say, the household it produces and maintains—is situated on a spectrum of inequality that, in turn, governs the way we live. 2.1.4 The Household The statistical unit of the household is therefore actually a set of intersecting material units, including humans, houses, bedrooms, bathrooms, cars, and cities. Let us call this set “architecture.” Looking at it more closely enables us to grasp how the spectrum of inequality is maintained in a manner that reproduces certain norms and categories in order for the real estate system to do its work. In what follows, a series of cases show concretely how the principles and practices of real estate development govern the construction and inhabitation of new housing. Moving across the country, and up and down the inequality spectrum, they take a partial inventory of building types, markets, and financial models through which we can see more clearly the diverse ways in which housing options are defined by (but also as) capital. Even in the most disparate of contexts, the discourse of the household repeats architecturally, delineating the social unit by which wealth is measured. On the opposite coast from New York by Gehry, but about ten miles from the offices of Gehry Partners LLP, sits Cloverdale 749, in Los Angeles, designed by Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA). In June 2013, the website la.curbed.com described the building’s six available condominium units, listing from about $749,000 to $999,000, as having “open-plan living spaces, Caesarstone countertops, under-cabinet LED lighting in kitchens, carpeting in the bedrooms, and completely separated walls to keep the noise down.” 31 The website toplacondos.com added: “An experience of light, flow and true craftsmanship throughout interesting architectural spaces defines Cloverdale. Comfortably refined. Impeccably designed. Contemporary luxury with European style, paired with a warmth you simply don’t find in modern condominium residences today . . . 749 Cloverdale is a new standard in condominium living.” 32 Floor plans compress bathrooms, utilities, and stairs (for duplexes) in a central core, maximizing the openness of the surrounding spaces, which are screened on either end with a glass and perforated, ventilating metal skin. Kitchens are galley type, with open islands. Balconies and stairs wrap the exterior, and parking on the urban site is underground. Assuming a 20 percent down payment, the monthly mortgage of about $3,700 on the higher-end units puts the owners of these units somewhere close to the top 10 percent of earners, with a household income of at least $130,000. Assuming a mortgage paid in full (i.e. full ownership) but no other financial assets (which is unlikely), the owners would certainly be in the top 20 percent in terms of net wealth but probably much higher, according to available data that put the median wealth of that group at about $630,000. 33 For comparison, in 2012 The New York Times estimated the household income of the top 1 percent to start at around $380,000 but their net 108 109
10 ft 20 ft Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects, Cloverdale 749, developed by Richard Papalian and P.J. Roxas-Chua, Los Angeles, California, completed in 2014. Third-floor plan (below), Fourth-floor plan (above). Drawn by Nabila Morales Pérez. wealth to be at least $8.4 million per household, based on federal data from 2007. 34 That puts the residents of Cloverdale 749 somewhat lower on the inequality spectrum than those of New York by Gehry, but probably still among the elites: the top 10 percent, or “upper class” who, according to Piketty, are on track to control 60 percent of income from labor and capital combined by 2030, before the first mortgages on the building likely come due. Compare this slice of the top to that represented by Eden Prairie Woods, in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, a single family “home community” by Toll Brothers, with prices beginning around $650,000. According to its developers, this “exclusive development” is located in a town twice selected as among the “Top 3 Best Places to Live in America by Money Magazine” in 2011 and 2012 (having been voted #1 in 2010). Its main commodity, a single family house, which is also to be understood as an investment, is distinguished by “Traditional Minnesota home designs including two-story foyers and family rooms, secluded master suites, oak main staircases, secondary staircases, an exceptional list of standard features, hundreds of customizable options, and much more!” 35 Houses at Eden Prairie Woods come in five models: Columbia II (3 bedrooms, 2½ baths, 3 car garage, 3,122 s.f. @ $647,995); Palmerton (3 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, 3 car garage, 2,735 s.f. @ $670,995); Duke (4 bedrooms, 3½ baths, 3 car garage, 3,554 s.f. @ $689,995); Hopewell (4 bedrooms, 3 ½ baths, 3 car garage, 3,377 s.f. @ $694,995) and Stansbury (4 bedrooms, 4 ½ baths, 3 car garage, 4,235 s.f. @ $742,995). On average then, at about $689,000, considered as a capital investment for their owners (rather than just as exchangeable commodities for their builders), a fully paid house in Eden Prairie Woods would certainly put its owners among the top 20 percent and, combined with other assets and income, probably among the top 10 percent. 110 111
Page 1 and 2:
In 2013, in the United States, the
Page 3 and 4:
The Temple Hoyne Buell Center for t
Page 5 and 6: Preface The Art of Inequality: Arch
Page 7 and 8: Introduction What is inequality? Or
Page 9 and 10: to tangible evidence drawn from rea
Page 11 and 12: 1.1 Defining Inequality Jacob Moore
Page 13 and 14: ership rate, this became especially
Page 15 and 16: 26 27
Page 17 and 18: 1.1.4 Race in Place Since the late
Page 19 and 20: American Apartheid (Cambridge, MA:
Page 21 and 22: 38 39
Page 23 and 24: Perhaps predictably, the practices
Page 25 and 26: According to the CEA’s narrative,
Page 27 and 28: 50 51
Page 29 and 30: additional direct provision of aid
Page 31 and 32: 22. U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical
Page 33 and 34: 62 63
Page 35 and 36: and renovated instead of demolished
Page 37 and 38: Residents displaced by the redevelo
Page 39 and 40: 74 75
Page 41 and 42: ut the separation of residents of t
Page 43 and 44: 1. This was encouraged among other
Page 45 and 46: 86 87
Page 47 and 48: Part 2 Architecture 90 91
Page 49 and 50: ity is challenged as a matter of mo
Page 51 and 52: further downtown, on which stands t
Page 53 and 54: lower end, then, the annual housing
Page 55: of income or consumption expenditur
Page 59 and 60: 10 ft 20 ft Broadmoor Development C
Page 61 and 62: sanitation, maintenance, medical, e
Page 63 and 64: 10 ft 20 ft Classic Homes, Windsor,
Page 65 and 66: 10 ft 20 ft Dattner Associates and
Page 67 and 68: 38. “Aksarben Village,” Robert
Page 69 and 70: 3.1 Contracts 3.1.1 Private propert
Page 71 and 72: 3.1.4 the will theory of contract:
Page 73 and 74: sonal liability, generating a compl
Page 75 and 76: so as not to include ‘peculiar ad
Page 77 and 78: avoid conflicts buy access lawfully
Page 79 and 80: Phase II-Expansion Rents Rise Rapid
Page 81 and 82: 3.2.4 lative frenzies drive up asse
Page 83 and 84: 3.2.5 Real Estate Finance & Investm
Page 85 and 86: 3.3 Schools developments in the fie
Page 87 and 88: 1964 1967 1970s ject field (with
Page 89 and 90: 1996 Stephen E. Roulac, Roulac Glob
Page 91 and 92: 25. James A. Graaskamp, “Redefini
Page 93 and 94: 3.4.2 600 Harrison Avenue, Boston,
Page 95 and 96: 3.4.4 TerraSol, Salt Lake City, UT
Page 97 and 98: 1. In the foreword to a publication
Page 99 and 100: dictionary of real estate terms glo
Page 107 and 108:
dictionary of real estate terms glo
Page 109 and 110:
Appendix 214 215
Page 111 and 112:
Botein, Hilary. “New York State H
Page 113 and 114:
Glaeser, Edward. “There are Worse
Page 115 and 116:
Kopczuk, Wojciech, Emmanuel Saez, a
Page 117 and 118:
Renner, Andrea. Housing Diplomacy:
Page 119 and 120:
Weiss, Marc A. “Researching the H
Page 121 and 122:
1939 1937 1934 1933 1932 FHA DENIES
show all

ARCHITECTURE

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?