There’s good news for renters: Some of the construction technology that has long been applied to single-family homes is now being incorporated into apartment buildings. The result is more energy-efficient, less costly and more comfortable buildings.
Such advances are taking place, said building officials, because tenants are getting more sophisticated.
“They’re now asking about insulation and soundproofing,” said James Loewenberg, the president of Near North Properties, a real estate management firm, and president of Loewenberg Associates, an architectural and development firm.
“Renters are getting more savvy because many of them are now coming from a single-family-home background,” said Vern Lohman, a vice president and architect with the firm Solomon Cordwell Buenz & Associates. “They’re moving back to the city from the suburbs and they’re more aware of topics such as utilities and efficiency.”
“People are also more sensitive to the environment,” said Judith Roettig, executive vice president of the Chicagoland Apartment Association. “So they’re making more demands about the buildings they’re staying in, and the developers are responding to that.”
Technology-wise, apartment buildings are, in fact, “catching up” to single family homes, said Lohman, who has incorporated such technology in a new apartment development called The Sterling in Chicago.
“In the past, because renters typically paid for their own gas and electric bills, developers tended to focus more on the upfront costs ? what it would take to build the building ? and not the long-term costs,” he said. “Now the developers are looking more at the long-term operating costs of the building.”
From an energy-efficiency standpoint, for example, wall and ceiling construction has been changed to allow for more insulation: R-13 for walls and R-19 for ceilings. The increased insulation values mean lower heating bills and more comfortable apartments.
“What we’re doing is using metal studs and drywall and setting off an exterior facing material far enough so we can get additional insulation in,” said Loewenberg, who said such advances have been incorporated in several Chicago apartment buildings his firm has developed: One Superior Place, One East Delaware and 875 North Dearborn.
Window technology in apartment buildings has also taken a step toward energy efficiency. “We’re now using high-performance windows to better withstand Chicago weather,” said Loewenberg. “This means using Thermopane windows where two window glass panes are separated by air space, and what’s known as a thermal break in the window frame itself so that the metal on the outside of the building is not in direct contact with the metal on the inside of the building.”
Another highlight is utilizing advance glass technology such as low-E (low-emissivity) coatings. Low-E windows have glazings with special thin, nearly invisible coatings that decrease the amount of heat transfer through windows.
“Low-E coatings make it possible to reduce heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter without reducing the amount of glass in the apartment or the amount of visible light transmitted,” said Lohman. “This is very important for keeping energy costs under control without compromising the appeal of a bright, light-filled residence that is easier to rent or to sell.”
Using energy-efficient windows is especially important as tenants are demanding more window space in apartments, said the architects.
“One of the redeeming features of living in a high-rise building is the view,” said Loewenberg. “People want to be able to look out of them. So we’ve been putting larger windows in because people want more glass. But that’s a double-edged sword because the more glass you put in, the bigger the problem you have with infiltration. And we try to work around that by using high-efficiency windows.”
“Natural lighting has become a more important topic because if an apartment is bright and inviting, you’re going to want to rent it,” said Lohman. “When you’re in an apartment, you’re more closed-in and you don’t have easy access to outdoor space. So you want to bring the outdoors in.
“Natural lighting is a way to do that and it also gives the space a sense of more room,” he added. “Your eye doesn’t stop at the wall. An apartment of 1,200 square feet can be made to feel like 1,300 or 1,400 square feet.”
There also been more attention paid to soundproofing in apartments, said the architects.
With tenants choosing harder floor coverings such as wood and stone over carpets, architects need to pay more attention to acoustical separation, said Lohman.
“These hard surfaces transmit sound much more readily to the unit below,” he added. “Installation of hard surfaces has to be carefully controlled and has to be detailed using acoustical isolation materials such as rubber pads.”
In addition, walls between apartments now have high noise-reduction ratings, and accomplish that by adding a sound attenuation blanket–or insulation–into the walls.
Another area where architects are applying more efficiency is in the design of apartment floor plans. For example, one of the reasons people opt for high-rise living is because of the views, said Loewenberg.
“So as architects, we have to organize the space so you can maximize the potential of the view,” he said. “When people enter an apartment, one of the first things they should be able to do is look out the window and immediately get a sense of spaciousness. That makes the unit much more comfortable for them.”
Another change with design is building more of a sense of space into certain areas of an apartment, said Lohman.
“We’ve been designing apartments with bigger foyers and wider hallways like you would have in a single-family home,” he said. “That’s something that not only the tenants see every time they walk in, but it’s something their friends and guests will be impressed with.
“Guests aren’t going into a second bedroom that’s being used as an office,” he added. “So if we can take a bit of space from that second bedroom and place it into the hallway, that can be a plus.”
Also, taller ceilings, a longtime standard feature in single-family homes, have also become more of a standard feature in apartment buildings. “Nine-foot-tall ceilings are becoming the new norm, instead of eight-foot-tall ceilings,” said Lohman. “That taller ceiling adds to the sense of spaciousness and graciousness of an apartment. It makes you feel like maybe you’re not in a typical rental building.”
