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23rd and Welton street is a building that represents a vertical integration of different programmatic elements from the retail that is in the first floor and part of the second floor to the office component

that is in part of the 2nd floor and the 3rd floor. To the high end residential that is on the south part of the building and the mixed residential rental that is in the upper floors of north wing of the building.

 

The design of the building represents a way to use a flexible  architectonic detail to  represent each of the uses. The idea is of the concrete “shell,” going over a “box,” element. They can have different relation ships to each other depending on their use. For instance, in the high end residential the shell is separated from the “box,” wall to create a promenade that will act as a private elevated garden. In the retail area the “box,” goes away all together leaving storefront and “shell.” In the residential part of the building the “box,” is the prominent element. It could be thought of as if the “box,” represents residential uses and the “shell,” represents commercial uses.  The two elements are them blended to make dynamic spaces and solve programmatic needs.

 

Another off shoot of this idea is that the building costs are related to the amount of income the real estate will bring in. The commercial building form of the Shell will be more durable and slightly more costly but will bring in more revenue. The “box,” part of the building will be the most efficient and cost effective part of the building. The places where the two meet- the luxury residential – will be the most valuable part of the building

commensurate to the cost of integrating the two types of construction.