Convert office space into housing

Ever since the pandemic, more people have been working from home. A lot of offices have been nearly vacant, while housing is scarce & expensive. It would really help if we could convert some offices into housing (especially if it can be done inexpensively).

Technical challenges to overcome

Window space

If we want every bedroom to have a window

Office buildings tend to be "thicker" than apartment/condo buildings. It can be hard to convert the entire floor space into housing, if we want every bedroom to have a window to the outside. 💬 discussion Also, what about for every bathroom & kitchen to have a window? Maybe not necessary if there's a good enough ventilation system?

Solutions:

• Put the homes near the windows, and leave the inner parts of the building for amenities such as common rooms. Or even keep some office space there - the building could become mixed-use.
• Make bedrooms "longer" than typical bedrooms - as in, extend deep from the window. (Might require adjusting some building codes.)

Plumbing

This section has not been filled in yet.

Wiring

This section has not been filled in yet.

Political challenges to overcome

This section has not been filled in yet.

How much housing could this create?

This section has not been filled in yet. 💬 discussion TO DO: gather some statistics about office space per capita in whatever part of the world has data available

Designs / Case studies

This section has not been filled in yet. 💬 discussion Looking for low-cost, creative ways to do it, without ripping up and replacing everything. Does not have to obey all status-quo building codes, if you can make a good enough case for repealing some. Does not have to appeal to rich people's expensive tastes - feel free to look beyond status-quo market demands, and think how to create an abundance of housing for the rest of us poor folks.

See also

• Lower the cost of housing