Story

Originally designed as upscale condominiums, the client purchased the 6-building project with the intent to convert the units to student housing for the nearby college campus.  One six unit building was already built facing the street and constructed with all original detailing.  A second building was planned facing the street and four buildings were placed behind the two street facing buildings.  Omega Architects was charged with redesigning the back four buildings to increase the number of bedrooms and bathrooms and incorporate lesser expensive exterior detailing and materials while ensuring that the building continues to coordinate with the originally constructed building.  On these buildings, Omega lowered the roof pitches, simplified porch columns, eliminated some interior columns, lowered floor-to-floor heights, and reduced the quantity of windows.  All of these things helped the owner reduce construction costs by thousands of dollars per building. Omega also redesigned only the interiors of the second street facing building, keeping the exterior details to match the first street facing building.