Redesign of buildings
Emergency plan for non-marketable flats
Redesign of a building is actually a way of saving a business plan in a situation where you have to deal with stagnant sales of apartments. This condition is usually the result of poor communication in the investor-seller-architect-designer-contractor pentangle right at the design stage of the project. You might also have bought a ‘pig in a poke’, a portfolio of purpose-built territorial decisions, obtained at a time at which nobody had any ambition to optimise future sales. Unfortunately, though, it is often simply a case of a bad building proposal, not architecturally in economic terms. The term ‘economic’ here, referring to the building, does not mean a cheap building, but one which can make money, this latter being the only kind of building that is competitive in the property market for flats. In other words, good proposals[P6] speed up sales and increase business plan performance, while bad ones have the opposite effect. Before we started paying careful attention to this, none of us realised it could make a difference of up to 30 percent! So think again what the real ‘cost’ is of a cheap proposal or a superficial job, and don’t try to penny pinch in the very places where you can actually make a lot of money.
CONCEPTS AND PROCEDURES IN REDESIGNING A BUILDING
Auditing the dwellings’ portfolio reveals non-functioning or badly designed flats in terms of operational agreements, use–of–space standards and furnishings’ arrangement options. Optimalisation of flats means intervening to influence the elements which affect quality of layout from the point of view of the user. Successful aterations can only be carried out in flats of suitable dimensions. For example, to have a one bedroom flat with living room plus kitchenette tenfold in one building, the area of each being 65m2, constitutes an obvious problem as far as sales are concerned. Redistribution of surface areas is the systematic rearrangement of the building’s interior, while preserving the outer shell and other technical elements, and thus entails the proposal of a new portfolio offering flats of various dimensions. So the total number of dwellings changes, as does the number of parking places. Redistribution always brings an improvement in flat sales, whereas optimalisation only ‘irons out’ the worst problems. Design of the new dwellings follows the redistribution of space. It means detailed processing of individual products in new spatial units, always taking into consideration the need to improve sales.
The redesign of the facade is the last step towards achieving the goal. Changes in layout can lead to requirements for changes in openings on the facade and other cosmetic interventions. There is no need to fear altering the content and character of the building.
THE VÍTKOV FORSYTHIA FLATS for RSJ private equity in cooperation with Němec Polák Ltd. engineer's office 2014–2016. The Vítkov modern residential building is located in the very centre of Prague and offers a unique opportunity to live in a quiet environment on the edge of one of the largest parks in Vítkov. The residential project consists mainly of flats, but also of studios and commercial spaces. We did not receive a request to work on the project until the fundamental construction was complete with 50% of the apartments already built. Even so, the developer decided to take a big step, and addressed us with a bid to redesign all the apartments. Increased housing standards and a functional design for the layout have been significantly reflected in the growth in sales. Due to appropriate use of space, the number of rooms in each dwelling was increased in comparison with the original design. The Vítkov Flats won the Real Estate Project of 2014 for Prague 3. It won in the categories of Professional Jury Award, Architect’s Award and Public Award.
BUBENEČ GARDENS for MK real estate in cooperation with Masák & Partner architectural studio 2013–2017. If you seek the haute couture of Prague development, then you’re at the right address.
As already indicated by the location, the exterior of the building and the actual layout of apartments itself, this is an exceptional project. Today, luxury no longer means simply a large floor area and an exclusive location. The overall arrangement of space, the layout, the standard of rooms, extensive parking provision, the ecological operation of the building, and, for example, a private elevator serving the penthouse suite, are just a few of the rare features you seldom encounter elsewhere. Each dwelling in the building is unique, no two flats being the same: nobody will have to choose between an inferior and superior option of a two bedroom flat with living room and kitchenette off. We wanted to design specific dwellings for specific lifestyles. So hurry up. Each one is different, each one is original and each one is especially from us.
NAD OSTROVEM for Neocity Group.This was the fast and simple redesign of a residential villa, while still at the decision-making phase. We improved the use–of–space possilities of the layout by making minor changes in the positions of partitions and doorways. Redesign was achieved without interference in the construction system or technical infrastructure. In the second phase, we worked on finding solutions for the materials of the facade, so it would reflect both the high-standard of the residence and its prestigious address at first glance. This redesign method does not change the number of apartments nor parking spaces, and it is the fastest way to add small features which will count in the development’s favour at the sales phase. It does not dramatically change the functioning of the business plan. It is only possible where there is a profound redistribution of surface areas. This procedure is always a winner for buildings with a larger number of apartments. Here, we fine-tuned 11 product units by improving some of the spatial dependencies as well as the possibilities for arrangement of furniture in the floor-plan.
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