Issue One: Loft
Call for Submissions
Due April 31, 2017
Westbeth, artists’ housing-cum-retirement community, is an early example of industrial adaptive reuse. The complex that once housed Bell Laboratories was converted in the late 1960s by the modernist architect Richard Meier. Images courtesy of Richard Meier & Partners Architects.
In 1982, sociologist Sharon Zukin asked of New York City lofts, “What social forces benefit from the rise of the loft market?” Zukin’s concerns lie with the evolution of the loft: once serving local manufacturers, later converted cheaply by artists as live/work space, and, in some cases, further remodeled into luxury real estate. What originally began as a solution for affordable housing, has become co-opted by city officials and developers who aim to increase available housing with the renovation of commercial space.
Artists, urban planners and activists have built their own homes from the space and materials available, allowing for a way of life not wholly focused on profit. Lack of official oversight allows the creation of spaces that are communal and fulfilling, but can also prevent artists from having complete autonomy. For instance, building owners can decide to hike up rent or evict these semi-legal dwellers without warning, and city officials can arrest residents or declare spaces unfit to live in. Loft residents often face landlords who refuse to comply with building codes, leaving them no choice but to handle dangerous living conditions themselves. Recently, the fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland was a stark reminder of the tragedies that can arise from these conditions.
With this issue of Take Shape, we aim to explore how lofts function for their residents and in the broader context of affordable housing within a city. How are spaces that are classified as lofts treated differently from other forms of illegal dwelling and low-income housing? Who benefits from new legal frameworks, such as loft laws in New York City and the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance in Los Angeles, which aim to elevate resident ownership over spaces they have built and maintained? How can the loft-living model of communal labor and maintenance be incorporated into other forms of affordable housing? How have remodeled lofts become highly marketable, often expensive living options?
Take Shape is a nonfiction publication at the intersection of politics and architecture edited by Julia Goodman and Nolan Boomer. For our first issue “Loft,” we invite pitches for long-form journalism, interviews or creative nonfiction, as well as completed short historical essays, infographics, maps, architectural renderings or documentary projects to be printed and distributed in June 2017. We are looking for well-researched work that emphasizes narrative over theory. Our publication is intended as a resource for loft tenants, a critique of loft co-optation and a smattering of urban history for the curious reader.
We are accepting submissions about lofts anywhere in the built environment until April 31, 2017. All fields of inquiry—law, environmental science, architectural history, politics, literature, et cetera—are encouraged.
Email takeshapemag [at] gmail [dot] com to submit or receive more information.
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