Roland Solinski

Wait there’s more! Single-stair reform also VASTLY improves the quality of the units themselves. Because units are accessed directly off a stair rather than from a double-loaded corridor, you can design many homes as dual-aspect: they have both a front and a back. This means a full window wall facing the street (you can see what's going on outside). And a window wall facing a rear courtyard (a QUIET side of the house, where bedrooms and kitchen/patio/balcony go). This allows for natural cross-ventilation, natural light from two directions. It also allows for some of the units to be very large. By contrast, the typical corridor building splits the floorplate down the middle, forcing many units to face only one direction, often resulting in darker interiors, less ventilation, and limited layout size. The circulation here actually matters enormously. Also you can still have a second exterior stair off the back for a redundant exit ... and this can be done at much lower cost and without the same implications for building design under a single stair reform legislation

i don’t think enough people outside of nyc know they pretty much built an entirely new skyline across the east river in queens over the last 15ish years

In Chicago you have to be lobby-maxxing. Just walk into random lobbies and look at them. They’ll let you do it for free

That guy's going to have to get off the stoop. 2249 West Belmont has pending demolition permits for the residence and garage. A six-unit building was permitted to replace it yesterday.

Using my vast collection of photos of old apartment building to make AI render Haussmann Chicago streets

You are NOT going to like this

Still on the fence looking at the renderings for the the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago

New proposal near North & Clybourn in Chicago at 811 W Evergreen (just west of Halsted) to convert the old 4 story commercial building into a 47 unit residential building. A 8-10 minute walk directly south of the North/Clybourn Red Line train stop.

Michigan Central Station in Detroit has been so beautifully restored that I’m re-surprised every time I see it. Like damn, look at her! 📸 Helmut Ziewers

There are structural reasons for rising office vacancy rates and Chicago’s stagnant economic growth certainly doesn’t help. But I do wonder to what extent the traffic due to endless construction projects from highways to bridges have impacted people’s willingness to commute.