Home from Work: Design Trade-Offs in Office-to-Residential Conversions

Many US cities face two intertwined challenges: a shortage of housing units and a surplus of underused office space. Office-to-residential (O2R) conversions have emerged as a promising strategy, lauded for its potential to create new units while avoiding the carbon costs of demolition and new construction, revitalizing downtowns, and skirting the often costly barrier of neighborhood opposition. 

Yet these projects raise important questions about housing design and quality. Office-oriented floor plans often restrict daylight and complicate residential layouts, fueling debates over standards such as bedroom window requirements. At the same time, conversions can offer qualities rarely found in new multifamily housing, including more varied unit layouts, generous ceiling heights, and expansive shared amenities. 

This event will bring together architects behind major O2R conversions to discuss the design strategies, compromises, and innovations defining this emerging typology. What trade-offs are worth making in the pursuit of more sustainable and abundant housing? 

A transcript of this discussion will be edited for inclusion in The State of Housing Design 2027, a book to be published by the Joint Center for Housing Studies in March 2027.

Agenda and speakers are forthcoming.

Photo: Aaron Smithson.