MicroHousing Develops Classes

[walkitout]

First, no one knew what the hell it was. Then the NIMBY activists struck. And now, there are small square footage units being built and carefully distinguishing themselves from aPodments.

Funny. Cool video on this one. Modular building construction of small, but not _that_ small studios in Belltown.

http://crosscut.com/2013/10/16/urban/116942/n-habit-stacks-49-prefab-units-belltown/

Complete with Awesome Cabinetry from these guys:

http://www.abodian.com/

FootPrint apartments:

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/10/22/seattles-footprint-wallingford-micro-apartments/

Five flights, no elevator. Jane Jacobs would, presumably, Approve.

Comments

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

No elevator? How do they meet ADA requirements?

Dunno

[walkitout]

But it looks pretty typical.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020845443_apodmentscitycouncilxml.html

I'll do a little digging around. These are new buildings, AFAIK, so it's not like they are grandfathered in.

ETA: http://commongroundwa.org/organization/NHMI-cost-effficient-models

Here's my best guess. Not _all_ units of a new residential building must be "accessible" under the ADA. Some fraction, presumably, must be. So each building probably has some number of units that satisfy statutory/regulator requirements and the rest do not.

They all, after all, have some number of units on the ground floor.

That's a pretty cool article, including stuff about SIP construction, which I was totally obsessed with for a while back in maybe 2007 or thereabouts.

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

Turns out ADA doesn't actually apply to private homes. "The ADA does not cover strictly residential private apartments and homes. If, however, a place of public accommodation, such as a doctor's office or day care center, is located in a private residence, those portions of the residence used for that purpose are subject to the ADA's requirements." http://www.ada.gov/q&aeng02.htm

Thanks!

[walkitout]

I guess I'm a little surprised that the ADA doesn't even apply to new construction of multi-family on a large scale. But maybe only a little surprised.