Designing Residential For Flexibility Starts With The Floor
A building design needs to constantly respond to society’s evolution, an understanding that sits at the center of the work of global design firm HKS. The company designs buildings across the globe, from offices to high-end multifamily, with a strong focus on experimentation and improvement.
Increasingly, this includes designing with flexibility in mind. According to HKS Project Manager Bryan McMath, one design feature that meets this need is a raised access flooring system, which is what HKS has installed at HALL Arts Residences, a luxury residential high-rise located in the Dallas Arts District.
“The raised floor system has been a great feature for the property’s sales program, as owners appreciate the flexibility and benefits the system provides,” McMath said. “HALL Arts Residences is one of the only high-rises in the area that installed raised floors, making it a differentiating factor for the property.”
HALL Arts Residences is a 440K SF building comprising 48 homes across 28 stories, including a 17K SF amenity level with a private fitness studio, a resort-style pool and seating areas, a climate-controlled wine cellar and multiple dining and entertaining spaces. In total, 16 of the individual residences use a raised access floor system, located primarily on the upper floors.
This system spans the full extent of each floor plate where it is used, which allows plumbing to run below in the underfloor plenum. During construction, McMath highlighted how this technique provided the ability to better manage the quality of the installation of plumbing systems since they are installed underneath the raised floor, rather than in the ceiling of the residence on the floor below. The benefits don’t stop there, McMath said — the system has even enabled one resident to run the additional utilities needed for their swimming pool under the floor directly to the equipment room.
“The developer wanted to provide the utmost flexibility to residents so that they could customize their homes while creating minimal disruptions to others, for example relocating plumbing wherever they desired without having to enter into the residence below or above to revise the utilities,” McMath said. “This accommodates remodeling on resales as well as design flexibility for initial purchases.”
A raised access floor is designed with long-term flexibility in mind, so McMath highlighted that developers should consider the building’s long-term goals when evaluating the system. However, flexibility aside, there are other benefits to using a raised access flooring system that weigh into the decision. For example, today almost any finish can be installed on top of a raised floor. At HALL Arts Residences, the interior flooring consists of engineered wood and stone tile, both of which were applied directly to the raised floor panels.
“Acoustical performance of the floor assembly is also improved,” McMath said. “Owners with the raised floor system have had no perception of the floor sounding or feeling different than the floor on concrete slab, which exists in other areas within the building.”
How a raised access floor system is used within residential buildings will continue to evolve as more designers explore new ways to make developments more flexible. McMath highlighted how the last 18 months have triggered new design concepts in general, aside from flooring.
“Multifamily units and amenity spaces in any building type are being scrutinized and priorities have shifted greatly,” he said. “Design elements that focus on well-being, connection to outdoors, and fresh air are no longer ‘nice to haves’ but essential across all markets, from affordable housing developments to luxury high-rises. There’s also a need for structured flexibility so that spaces can be designed for multiple purposes throughout one’s day.”
This article was produced in collaboration between Tate and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.
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