Fixing an 1800 sq.ft. Townhouse – Part 1

Posted on: February 3rd, 2011 | 4 Comments

In this “From Fast to Slow” segment, John and Matthew critique the top floor of an 1800 square foot townhouse. Tune in tomorrow to see what minimal changes can be made that will turn this fast townhouse into a Slow Home.

  • http://deleted S.N.

    HI
    I hate to be mean, but is this the worst floor plan ever?
    It is new building in Vancouver, should be completed in 2012.
    This duplex unit is listed as two-bedroom (???) it has 1344 sq. ft.
    It is definitely not a two bedroom unit, and I am not sure you can fit king or queen size bed in the bedroom.
    Here is the listing: http://www.vancouverjustlisted.ca/vancouver-downtown-townhouses-for-sale.html/details-15636967#viewtop
    And here is the developer’s site. http://www.jamesschouw.com/artemisia/
    There is better floor plan image here then one I posted (just click under “townhouses”).

    S.N.

  • Travis

    SN – Just…Wow. And I see on their website that nearly all of the units are sold too! I would really really like to know, given the overall footprint of the building, what compelled the developers to put in all of those angled and curved walls! We intentionally made all of these unfurnishable and dark spaces (in greyed-out Van) for the low low price of 1.2 M…

  • Jesse

    SN-I was a better person before I saw that. It gets my vote for the worst ever for sure, and I don’t think that’s being mean either as it would have taken so much less effort to make it good. Astonishing to say the least. Nice find.

  • http://deleted S.N.

    Travis and Jesse, I am so sorry for disturbing you, I know this floor plan is a horror.
    I was studying this building last Saturday and could not believe what mistakes they made. This apartment is only a product of serious mistakes in the first stages of design. The main problem is that the building is too deep (distance from center with stairs and elevators to the facade), so they could only fit these elongated units. Same thing happened in Chicago on „235 Van Buren“and we discussed one of those apartments last year; John and Matthew made a great analysis of all of the problems with the unit. This is also problem with „loft apartments“; personally I would love to live in one, but they are too long and have a small frontage (part of the apartment with exterior walls and windows). I was searching for an appropriate unit in Vancouver that will fulfill requirements that me and my wife set up, but after few hours I gave up.
    During my college years my mentor gave me a great advice on architectural design in general: I you have a problem, you should always take one step back, and see what caused the problem, and there is the solution. The worst thing you can do is to push the design forward because problems will only multiply.
    Here is one question for John and Matthew:
    Can you fix this unit? Let’s say that a client bought this unit, and has two years before he can move in (building should be completed in 2012), so any alterations within the unit are possible. What can you do to make this unit habitable?
    Maybe you can do it in your “From Fast to Slow” segment (which is really great), or an online workshop…

    S.N.