Back to the drawing board

Mixed-use buildings aren’t a novel concept at all. Traditionally, humans settled

in mixed-use patterns, pooling all their resources into one central area.
Historical examples can be found in the old market squares of ancient Rome
where shops, apartments, administrative offices, and often a library were
intermixed.

The industrial age, however, brought new zoning laws and a stricter division
between living and working spaces. The emergence of the car reinforced this
trend, bringing with it an acceptance of traveling long distances between
home, office, and shopping and an exodus from city living to suburban life.

But now developers are once again embracing mixed-use development.

People are returning to cities, and high-density development is trending. In
addition, a relaxation in mixed-use zoning laws since the 1990s has helped to
pave the way for architects and city planners to develop creative concepts that
fulfill a variety of city dwellers’ needs in a single location.

Mixing up the formula

A mixed-use building aims to combine three or more uses into one structure
such as residential, hotel, retail, parking, transportation, cultural, and
entertainment. Whatever the combination, it brings together several uses
within either one building or a small area. The two most common forms of
mixed-use design are:

Vertical. As a single, multi-story building, a typical mix places apartments on

the upper levels and retail or offices at street level. A basement level provides
parking and/or access to underground public transportation.
Horizontal. Spread over several buildings, such as a city block or around an
open space or courtyard, these individual buildings serve one or two specific
uses while creating a microcosm within a neighborhood.
Mixed-use building is good for the neighborhood
As urban populations boom, the pressure for buildings to “do” more with less