March 6, 2006—The concept of mixed-use facilities is becoming its own “back to the future,” as Suman Sorg, president at Washington, DC-based Sorg and Associates, puts it.
“We used to live in cities that just naturally had mixed-use facilities,” she says. Buildings were constructed based upon the fact that people lived above stores and businesses. But as time marched on, mixed-use facilities became less popular and the residential sector spread out. Now, its a return to the past, and mixed-use is coming back. Big cities across the country are experiencing this renaissance: People again want to live and work in the same place, and want to be located in vibrant retail/entertainment areas.
A growing movement in the mixed-use arena is residential over retail. “This wasnt a popular idea in the recent past,” says Sorg. People thought that retail would be noisy, there would be a lot of cars, there would be fumes and smells – they didnt want to live above all of that.”
Today, mixed-use facilities can be designed and built in a way so that retail and residential can peacefully coexist, and many of these disturbances can be minimized if theyre kept in mind during the design and planning stages.
Another key factor in mixed-use involves security: Separation of circulation is vital. Dividing parking areas, elevators and elevator lobbies, and other areas that both residents and visitors use ensures that residents feel comfortable and safe, and that entrances to retail/entertainment venues are easy to get to (and easily distinguishable from living quarters).
Building systems (HVAC, electrical, plumbing, etc.) must be designed to accommodate a variety of loads and uses. In the case of residential over retail, “the vertical cores just go straight up through the retail to the first level of residential and on up. Then we thread in all the mechanical systems, making them stack and work for a potential retail occupant below the residents,” says Sorg.
For more information on Sorg and Associates, visit the Web site.
