The Urban Politician
December 26th, 2005, 05:07 PM
Sunlight scarcer with boom in condos
By Gerry Doyle
Tribune staff reporter
Published December 26, 2005
Some Chicago residents say their days have been getting darker year-round--and it has nothing to do with the solstice.
The proliferation of high-rises in the city's dense downtown has made natural light a commodity, urban planning experts say. It's a problem that many other areas--even Chicago--have been dealing with for years, but condo prices and housing density are going up, and people's expectations are following suit.
Loren Gusick, 33, a resident of Peterson Lofts in the Printers Row neighborhood, said he first noticed how close the development next door would be while he was sitting at the bus stop across the street.
"It was kind of one of those epiphany moments," Gusick said. "Sitting there in my morning haze, I was imagining this mammoth 16-story building that's going to be built there. I thought, `Oh my God, I'm going to be living in a cave.'"
In the last couple of years, downtown has seen an increase in high-rises, driven almost entirely by residential projects, said Planning Commissioner Lori Healey.
The reason taller buildings are being placed closer together because is simple: More people want to live in the same amount of space--and developers are happy to accommodate.
Density is a wonderful thing, said Ned Cramer, curator of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, because it maximizes utilities and transportation.
"That said, it comes with a payoff," Cramer said. "Unless you're willing to pay a premium, you're going to have less access to natural light."
Many high-rise developments undertake shadow studies that show where the building will block sunlight at various times of day throughout the year. And zoning requirements seek to protect sunlight in public places. But some say their homes are still being overshadowed by the desires of high-rise developers.
Gail Spreen, chairwoman of the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents, said that "no views are protected, and we all understand that." But everyone has a right to light, she said.
"High-rises are fine ... but if all of them are right up to the sidewalk line and straight up, they're not. They're a negative," Spreen said.
Healey said one of the biggest tools the city uses to protect sunlight is encouraging projects that are higher but skinnier.
"A taller, thinner building is going to allow sunlight into an area better than a shorter, blockier building," she said.
Developers can build higher if they set their buildings back or include open spaces such as plazas at the bases of towers, among other concessions. Although they might not be able to fit as many units in a taller, thinner building, homes at the top of a 40-story building sell for enough to offset the loss of those that would have fit in a wider 20-story building, Healey said.
She said the city works extensively with neighborhood groups and tries to listen to concerns from parties involved--although she stressed that window views are "very subjective" and are not protected.
Other big cities across the country have embraced regulations to protect access to light.
"Sun is just so important to the feeling of openness, people's enjoyment of the street," said Edith Hsu-Chen, deputy director of the Manhattan office of the New York City Planning Department. "It's such an obvious, wonderful thing."
When reviewing plans for a development, the city looks at how it will shade nearby public spaces, she said. But windows aren't legally protected, and she said that some of the most "vociferous opposition" to building comes from people worried about their views.
San Francisco employs some of the most strict sunlight-protection ordinances in the country. Three sections of city code address the issue, and for a $200 fee, anyone can submit a proposed development to a review process that stops construction and requires a public hearing.
"I don't know of anybody that [regulates shadows] to the extent that we do it, to be quite honest," said Jim McCormick of the San Francisco Planning Department.
But like New York City, the department's focus is on public areas, and private views are not protected at all. Buildings' shapes and placement on a block are regulated, as are height and how far they're set from the street.
Since the advent of the high-rise in the 19th Century, cities have worked to keep them from blotting sunlight from the streets, said Brent Ryan, a former New York City planner and a professor of planning and policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
"Historically, there were a couple of things happening in cities: a lot of disease and a lack of fresh air," Ryan said.
Planners originally were concerned that tall buildings tightly packed together would be reservoirs of disease, he said. Modern heating, cooling and ventilation systems have alleviated those worries. Now it's a quality-of-life issue, Ryan said.
Every residential room in a Chicago home is required to have a window, he said--but if there's no light getting through, the requirement means little. Neighborhoods such as Streeterville and River North have been hit the hardest, he said, while areas like Printers Row are encountering similar problems as commercial buildings are converted into homes.
Chicago's blocks are rectangular and small for a city its size, he said. The cramped dimensions make it more difficult to vary the density within a block, which helps with issues such as sunlight.
Cramer, of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, said that although sunlight is important, urban dwellers shouldn't consider it an entitlement.
"This is a city, and this is one of the factors that people have to get used to," he said. "It's like complaining that the value of a stock you've purchased has gone down."
But Diane Bruzas, who lives on the 34th floor of the Fordham Building at 25 E. Superior St., says more than inconvenience or disappointment are at stake. Two high-rise towers are planned within 50 feet of her home, which faces west. As they take shape, she said, the sun will disappear.
"They say that we can't complain about a view," Bruzas said. "But the problem is light, and who wants to look into somebody's window?"
By Gerry Doyle
Tribune staff reporter
Published December 26, 2005
Some Chicago residents say their days have been getting darker year-round--and it has nothing to do with the solstice.
The proliferation of high-rises in the city's dense downtown has made natural light a commodity, urban planning experts say. It's a problem that many other areas--even Chicago--have been dealing with for years, but condo prices and housing density are going up, and people's expectations are following suit.
Loren Gusick, 33, a resident of Peterson Lofts in the Printers Row neighborhood, said he first noticed how close the development next door would be while he was sitting at the bus stop across the street.
"It was kind of one of those epiphany moments," Gusick said. "Sitting there in my morning haze, I was imagining this mammoth 16-story building that's going to be built there. I thought, `Oh my God, I'm going to be living in a cave.'"
In the last couple of years, downtown has seen an increase in high-rises, driven almost entirely by residential projects, said Planning Commissioner Lori Healey.
The reason taller buildings are being placed closer together because is simple: More people want to live in the same amount of space--and developers are happy to accommodate.
Density is a wonderful thing, said Ned Cramer, curator of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, because it maximizes utilities and transportation.
"That said, it comes with a payoff," Cramer said. "Unless you're willing to pay a premium, you're going to have less access to natural light."
Many high-rise developments undertake shadow studies that show where the building will block sunlight at various times of day throughout the year. And zoning requirements seek to protect sunlight in public places. But some say their homes are still being overshadowed by the desires of high-rise developers.
Gail Spreen, chairwoman of the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents, said that "no views are protected, and we all understand that." But everyone has a right to light, she said.
"High-rises are fine ... but if all of them are right up to the sidewalk line and straight up, they're not. They're a negative," Spreen said.
Healey said one of the biggest tools the city uses to protect sunlight is encouraging projects that are higher but skinnier.
"A taller, thinner building is going to allow sunlight into an area better than a shorter, blockier building," she said.
Developers can build higher if they set their buildings back or include open spaces such as plazas at the bases of towers, among other concessions. Although they might not be able to fit as many units in a taller, thinner building, homes at the top of a 40-story building sell for enough to offset the loss of those that would have fit in a wider 20-story building, Healey said.
She said the city works extensively with neighborhood groups and tries to listen to concerns from parties involved--although she stressed that window views are "very subjective" and are not protected.
Other big cities across the country have embraced regulations to protect access to light.
"Sun is just so important to the feeling of openness, people's enjoyment of the street," said Edith Hsu-Chen, deputy director of the Manhattan office of the New York City Planning Department. "It's such an obvious, wonderful thing."
When reviewing plans for a development, the city looks at how it will shade nearby public spaces, she said. But windows aren't legally protected, and she said that some of the most "vociferous opposition" to building comes from people worried about their views.
San Francisco employs some of the most strict sunlight-protection ordinances in the country. Three sections of city code address the issue, and for a $200 fee, anyone can submit a proposed development to a review process that stops construction and requires a public hearing.
"I don't know of anybody that [regulates shadows] to the extent that we do it, to be quite honest," said Jim McCormick of the San Francisco Planning Department.
But like New York City, the department's focus is on public areas, and private views are not protected at all. Buildings' shapes and placement on a block are regulated, as are height and how far they're set from the street.
Since the advent of the high-rise in the 19th Century, cities have worked to keep them from blotting sunlight from the streets, said Brent Ryan, a former New York City planner and a professor of planning and policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
"Historically, there were a couple of things happening in cities: a lot of disease and a lack of fresh air," Ryan said.
Planners originally were concerned that tall buildings tightly packed together would be reservoirs of disease, he said. Modern heating, cooling and ventilation systems have alleviated those worries. Now it's a quality-of-life issue, Ryan said.
Every residential room in a Chicago home is required to have a window, he said--but if there's no light getting through, the requirement means little. Neighborhoods such as Streeterville and River North have been hit the hardest, he said, while areas like Printers Row are encountering similar problems as commercial buildings are converted into homes.
Chicago's blocks are rectangular and small for a city its size, he said. The cramped dimensions make it more difficult to vary the density within a block, which helps with issues such as sunlight.
Cramer, of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, said that although sunlight is important, urban dwellers shouldn't consider it an entitlement.
"This is a city, and this is one of the factors that people have to get used to," he said. "It's like complaining that the value of a stock you've purchased has gone down."
But Diane Bruzas, who lives on the 34th floor of the Fordham Building at 25 E. Superior St., says more than inconvenience or disappointment are at stake. Two high-rise towers are planned within 50 feet of her home, which faces west. As they take shape, she said, the sun will disappear.
"They say that we can't complain about a view," Bruzas said. "But the problem is light, and who wants to look into somebody's window?"