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I've spent at least 40 seconds looking at this page and still have no idea what "one-plus-five" is referring to.

by CalRobert 8y ago

klodolph 8y ago
Six-story building, bottom floor is retail (one), remaining floors are residential (five).
- Retric 8y ago
  Close but no. They add a five story wood structure on top of one story of something more solid like concrete. This cost effectively increases space without massively increasing costs over a five story wooden structure.
  - klodolph 8y ago
    I think we both read the same thing, and decided that opposite parts of it were the key point, "The first level capped by the concrete deck is retail, parking, meeting rooms or amenities and the floors above it are apartments, condos, or dormitories erected under the 3A construction type classification of the building model code IBC." I focused on usage, you focused on construction.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - Retric 8y ago
      The issue is you can have retail in a wooden building. Which seems like the point of this construction over a 5 story wooden building with retail on the ground floor. 3A limits building heights, but by changing the ground door you are allowed to build a taller structure. PS: I agree that Retail is a common use for the ground floor of these buildings. But it’s not the only use for the ground floor.
jdblair 8y ago
From the article: Until a few years ago, it was fairly uncommon for an architect to go beyond four stories with wood-frame construction. Today, many designers choose five stories of wood over concrete podiums as a way to cost-effectively increase the density of projects. (Architectural Record March 2014)
- com2kid 8y ago
  A building design pioneered in Seattle! They are all over the place, to mixed success. When they work well, neighborhoods are revitalized with local businesses and people become active in their local community, kids play outside, and friends have places to mingle locally. When they fail, it is a barrage of "for lease" signs on bottom floor windows as the retail spaces sit empty.
  - max76 8y ago
    I think the one plus five buildings create a higher density of retail space than the residential population can support. Even in lively sections of popular Seattle neighborhoods with 90%+ residential occupancy you will see empty retail space in one-plus-fives. Even Seattle can only support a finite number of coffee shops and the boutiques have to compete with supermarkets, department stores, and online retailers.
    - com2kid 8y ago
      You'd think so, but when I visit other countries I see amounts of retail that dwarf anything in the states. The Suzhou metro region in China has ~3x the population of the Seattle metro, but way, way, more than 3x the retail. Kyoto is the same way, comparable to the Seattle Metro, way more retail. It may also be that America tends towards larger retail outlets, we have a lack of high quality smaller restaurants, and the % of boutiques to larger stores (Macy's, etc) here seems different than in other countries. For that matter, it was interesting to me that many of the large department stores in Japan are made up of what we'd think of as smaller boutique retailers who just so happen to be located right next to each other. It is a very different way to shop, in an American department store, the store runs everything and may have different brands broken out into sections. In a fair number of Japanese department stores, each brand seemed to be an independent retailer! (This was super cool for variety and price points.) I noticed something similar in China as well, not quite in the same way, and large name brand owned stores seemed much more popular there, but there were plenty of malls that consisted of tiny local stores all lined up next to each other. I've also noticed that the minimum sqft for the newer mixed use buildings seems to be rather large. Compare the newer buildings to what you find in lower Queen Ann, where there are more tiny stores sitting around, same thing around Fremont. On a related note, I'd love to see more restaurants that fit only 5 or 6 people in them, with just a chef running the whole show. Is it less efficient? Maybe, but the food is better. If you want something in that vein, Max's World Cafe in DT Issaquah is tiny, and the chef, Edna, is incredible and friendly. I could do with 10x restaurants of that size! Modern construction just isn't setup to pop out a bunch of 150 sqft restaurants in a block though.
jtbayly 8y ago
Technical answer from the article: "What is "one plus five"? It is the wood construction, "stick-built" urban mixed-use building, exactly five stories tall, erected on a concrete podium. The first level capped by the concrete deck is retail, parking, meeting rooms or amenities and the floors above it are apartments, condos, or dormitories erected under the 3A construction type classification of the building model code IBC."
CalRobert 8y ago
Oh apparently there's some crazy dropdown that displays the article _over_ another article about German trains? I didn't even see the dropdown at first.
- chippy 8y ago
  Yeah, what's that about? Is that the default Blogspot experience?
1nverseMtx 8y ago
From the article: ‘What is "one plus five"? It is the wood construction, "stick-built" urban mixed-use building, exactly five stories tall, erected on a concrete podium. The first level capped by the concrete deck is retail, parking, meeting rooms or amenities and the floors above it are apartments, condos, or dormitories erected under the 3A construction type classification of the building model code IBC.’

I've spent at least 40 seconds looking at this page and still have no idea what "one-plus-five" is referring to.

klodolph 8y ago

Six-story building, bottom floor is retail (one), remaining floors are residential (five).

Retric 8y ago
Close but no. They add a five story wood structure on top of one story of something more solid like concrete. This cost effectively increases space without massively increasing costs over a five story wooden structure.
- klodolph 8y ago
  I think we both read the same thing, and decided that opposite parts of it were the key point, "The first level capped by the concrete deck is retail, parking, meeting rooms or amenities and the floors above it are apartments, condos, or dormitories erected under the 3A construction type classification of the building model code IBC." I focused on usage, you focused on construction.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - Retric 8y ago
    The issue is you can have retail in a wooden building. Which seems like the point of this construction over a 5 story wooden building with retail on the ground floor. 3A limits building heights, but by changing the ground door you are allowed to build a taller structure. PS: I agree that Retail is a common use for the ground floor of these buildings. But it’s not the only use for the ground floor.

jdblair 8y ago

From the article: Until a few years ago, it was fairly uncommon for an architect to go beyond four stories with wood-frame construction. Today, many designers choose five stories of wood over concrete podiums as a way to cost-effectively increase the density of projects. (Architectural Record March 2014)

com2kid 8y ago
A building design pioneered in Seattle! They are all over the place, to mixed success. When they work well, neighborhoods are revitalized with local businesses and people become active in their local community, kids play outside, and friends have places to mingle locally. When they fail, it is a barrage of "for lease" signs on bottom floor windows as the retail spaces sit empty.
- max76 8y ago
  I think the one plus five buildings create a higher density of retail space than the residential population can support. Even in lively sections of popular Seattle neighborhoods with 90%+ residential occupancy you will see empty retail space in one-plus-fives. Even Seattle can only support a finite number of coffee shops and the boutiques have to compete with supermarkets, department stores, and online retailers.
  - com2kid 8y ago
    You'd think so, but when I visit other countries I see amounts of retail that dwarf anything in the states. The Suzhou metro region in China has ~3x the population of the Seattle metro, but way, way, more than 3x the retail. Kyoto is the same way, comparable to the Seattle Metro, way more retail. It may also be that America tends towards larger retail outlets, we have a lack of high quality smaller restaurants, and the % of boutiques to larger stores (Macy's, etc) here seems different than in other countries. For that matter, it was interesting to me that many of the large department stores in Japan are made up of what we'd think of as smaller boutique retailers who just so happen to be located right next to each other. It is a very different way to shop, in an American department store, the store runs everything and may have different brands broken out into sections. In a fair number of Japanese department stores, each brand seemed to be an independent retailer! (This was super cool for variety and price points.) I noticed something similar in China as well, not quite in the same way, and large name brand owned stores seemed much more popular there, but there were plenty of malls that consisted of tiny local stores all lined up next to each other. I've also noticed that the minimum sqft for the newer mixed use buildings seems to be rather large. Compare the newer buildings to what you find in lower Queen Ann, where there are more tiny stores sitting around, same thing around Fremont. On a related note, I'd love to see more restaurants that fit only 5 or 6 people in them, with just a chef running the whole show. Is it less efficient? Maybe, but the food is better. If you want something in that vein, Max's World Cafe in DT Issaquah is tiny, and the chef, Edna, is incredible and friendly. I could do with 10x restaurants of that size! Modern construction just isn't setup to pop out a bunch of 150 sqft restaurants in a block though.

jtbayly 8y ago

Technical answer from the article: "What is "one plus five"? It is the wood construction, "stick-built" urban mixed-use building, exactly five stories tall, erected on a concrete podium. The first level capped by the concrete deck is retail, parking, meeting rooms or amenities and the floors above it are apartments, condos, or dormitories erected under the 3A construction type classification of the building model code IBC."

CalRobert 8y ago

Oh apparently there's some crazy dropdown that displays the article _over_ another article about German trains? I didn't even see the dropdown at first.

chippy 8y ago
Yeah, what's that about? Is that the default Blogspot experience?

1nverseMtx 8y ago

From the article: ‘What is "one plus five"? It is the wood construction, "stick-built" urban mixed-use building, exactly five stories tall, erected on a concrete podium. The first level capped by the concrete deck is retail, parking, meeting rooms or amenities and the floors above it are apartments, condos, or dormitories erected under the 3A construction type classification of the building model code IBC.’