The development offers proximity to downtown and public transportation, plus ocean views from every story.
And it was—financially, municipally, and creatively. According to Zillow, one of the units sold in July of 2022 for $2.9 million. While far from affordable housing, the project helped pad the slim housing market, making way for multiple homeowners on a single lot. But is it density? Maas maps it out. “It’s literally a block to City Hall, a block to the train station, downtown. It’s a perfect place to put density, really. Frankly, it should be much more dense than it was,” Maas says. He adds, “It could have been six units,” as opposed to the final four. This compromise is a win-win for buyers of the airy, vertical homes and those leery of what density could bring. The project is effective in both its necessity and efficiency of design. According to Field X Studio’s website, “each of the four units are two- stories plus basement and boast 2,100 [square feet] of living area,” which is laid out over a total of 10,000 square feet. Forget maximalism; this is maximizing. With density comes its own design challenges and innovations. Maas and his team got creative with the layout, creating living spaces on the basement and top floors, with a kitchen as the central, second-floor hub. “You know, the challenge in a vertical space with one shared wall is light, in my view, so we had to make sure we got enough light in,” Maas says. An open stair detail allows sunshine to bleed through the entire space, even reaching the open-floor basement living quarters. Every floor has an ocean view, making the home feel more vast than most buildings capped by the city’s 22-foot height restrictions. Another boon for the project is the social element, with garden spaces within the complex and large, street-facing front decks that give a glimpse right onto the neighborhood streets. These streets can swell from abandoned to teeming with dog walkers or sunset watchers, depending on the time of day. “It is a social neighborhood,” says Maas, “That kind of interaction was really important in the design, as well.” With a hybridization of coastal chill and modern curb appeal, these townhomes offer a much-needed alternative approach to construction in a time of land scarcity. Good use of square footage means the sky's the limit.
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