从废弃电梯井的角度思考问题

In the first quarter of 2023, over 16 percent of offices in New York City were vacant. 这导致市长重新审视规章制度, 分区, and levies to encourage the property market to convert empty offices into apartments. 他认为，如果这些空地被改造成住房，就能提供住房 未来十年将建造2万套新房.

While not every building is appropriate for conversion technically or financially, the property market is responding and we’re seeing a growing appetite for adaptive reuse. Conversions that have made the headlines include One Wall Street and 180 Water Street with many more planned in and around New York City.

There are significantly more elevators in an office building compared with a residential development. Tetra Tech’s vertical transportation experts look to maximize the potential of every square foot through finding innovative solutions to repurpose elevator shafts.

住宅电梯改造

The starting point for any conversion is analyzing what’s currently in place, 未来需要什么, 以及什么可以被移除或重新利用. Here are some key considerations when converting to a residential elevator system:

交通流量和容量

住宅和商业电梯的流量不同. 住宅楼容纳的全球最大体育平台更少，高峰到达率也更低. Occupants also tend to accept longer waiting times, meaning fewer elevators are required.

现代化

Reusing an existing core makes sense, both financially and in terms of sustainability. There are significant construction costs and time savings in reusing an existing core, 作为一个建筑，它能够保留大部分现有的电梯钢结构, 降低全球最大体育平台工和材料成本. This also reduces the amount of embodied carbon produced, leading to more sustainable design.

智能技术

There will be opportunities to radically improve the user experience through 技术 for both a new and reused elevator core. 这可能包括非接触式智能手机界面, 访问控制, 目的地调度系统.

应急准备

代码是转换中的关键考虑因素, 因为它们根据建筑物的预期用途而不同. 旧建筑需要升级以满足当前的要求. 至少, these three code-related elevator requirements need to be considered during a conversion:

• 失电:所有电梯均需备电
• Medical Emergency: At least one stretcher-compliant elevator is required to serve all floors, 假设这栋楼有四层以上高
• Firefighter Response: At least two fire service access elevators (FSAE) are required to serve all floors in buildings taller than 120 feet (or one FSAE in New York City)

许多20^th century buildings used much smaller elevators and lack sufficient space to accommodate a stretcher and FSAE. 在这种情况下，可能需要对轴进行重大修改.

可访问性

Elevators need to be compliant with accessibility standards as outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act.

可持续性

所有的转换都应该考虑到可持续的全球最大体育平台, 可能, 可持续性认证要求. 例如高效照明, 低功耗风扇, and controls that de-energize the cab when unoccupied and not in use all improve environmental impact and increase appeal to potential 租户s.

大厦业主, 租户, and facilities manager can also benefit from reduced running costs of regenerative drives and AC gearless machines, 以及便于预测性维护的远程监控系统.

家庭比办公室需要更少的电梯

Let’s take a 100,000 square-foot, 14-story office that was built in the early 1900s. It has an old-school cellular layout with retail on the ground floor and there are five elevators serving the office floors.

If we convert this to a residential building and add on an additional eight floors, 改建后的建筑面积增加到130,000平方英尺. 对于这栋楼，我们只需要三部电梯. 如果使用所有现有的电梯井道, this means we can decommission two of the existing shafts and free up 70 square feet on each floor. 14层楼加起来有980平方英尺.

The average cost per square foot for a luxury new development in Manhattan is approximately $2,500. 电梯竖井空间单独存在 使这栋楼增值200多万美元.