Architectural form: Flexibility, subdivision and diversity in Manhattan loft buildings

How do the design and spatial configuration of buildings impact the economic life of their neighbourhood? A mixed-methods study of industrial loft buildings in the Midtown Garment District of Manhattan in New York City investigates both occupants and built forms over a long period (1930–80). A large-scale statistical analysis of flexibility shows how the tenants' space requirements in those buildings changed and how the buildings were able to respond through flexibility in the subdivision and arrangement of rooms or suites occupied by different tenants. The research is anchored around the physical and economic analysis of two sets of buildings (n = 37) divided according to whether buildings supported consistently high or consistently low diversities of tenants of varying economic specialisations over time. These loft buildings were found to support an economic diversity of businesses (i.e. many collaborating specialisms in the garment industry) that expand or contract according to business conditions. From the analysis of these buildings, an array of six physical parameters is derived that influence the capabilities of buildings to consistently support high levels of diversity of tenants over extended periods of time. PRACTICE RELEVANCE This research shows that the physical characteristics (design and layout) of buildings affect their capabilities to accommodate a variety of different tenants, allowing for a rapid expansion or contraction of individual tenancies. This flexibility provides economic robustness for the building because it can respond to changing tenant needs and economic conditions. The design decisions involving cores, corridors, facades, light and air have economic impacts that were not previously recognised. They emerge here as critical elements in the fine-grained relationship between the physical and economic dynamics of the city.