glaserworks designed the rehabilitation of 4 dilapidated buildings into 20 residential lofts and 1 commercial space. The buildings are located in the historic neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Our challenge was to assist the developer, The Model Group, in creating marketable units in the decades-old distressed neighborhood. We did this by designing dynamic spaces inserted into historic building envelopes.
The units are spacious, lofty, and undeniably cool. Because this development was on the leading edge of the renaissance of Over-the-Rhine, purchase prices of the units needed to be relatively low. This meant we had to design units that could be built inexpensively.
One challenge of this project was that the existing Italianate buildings were often divided by stairwells into small, cramped spaces. To create a sense of spaciousness and drama, we created two-story spaces in some of the units and designed stairs as sculptural elements. Where this wasn't feasible, we used slanting and curved walls to alter perceptions of space and increase the feeling of openness.
