LogFAQs > #978945037

WingsOfGood posted...

Might help but wouldn't really solve the supposes issue

The amount of office space that can practically and legally be turned into housing is trivial compared to the problem. The few buildings that can be converted take years of extensive reconstruction to convert.

The biggest problem is daylight. Every building code in the country requires bedrooms to have at least one window for natural light and many require the same for other parts of the apartment. To use the Empire State Building as an example and a generous 40 feet as the practical depth of an apartment, only a bit less than half of the floor space along the outside walls could be used for housing. That's why buildings designed for residential use are narrower than commercial office space: they simply need a larger surface to volume ratio.