Stephen Jacob Smith
@stephenjacobsmith.com
Executive director of the Center for Building in North America, stephen@centerforbuilding.org. Personal account. Brooklyn, NY.
Construction without cranes, lifts, or hoists, in the richest city in human history
November 11, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Construction without cranes, lifts, or hoists, in the richest city in human history
Here’s what those (“thermic rehabilitations” they’re called, I guess because they focus on improving the insulation) look like in Bucharest:
November 10, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Here’s what those (“thermic rehabilitations” they’re called, I guess because they focus on improving the insulation) look like in Bucharest:
If you don’t like the look of these new “zebra buildings” in Spain, fine, but to say they’re “globalized” is ridiculous – you only see these in Spain. It’s a uniquely Spanish contemporary style! You won’t find these buildings in France, Italy, or China.
November 10, 2025 at 6:07 PM
If you don’t like the look of these new “zebra buildings” in Spain, fine, but to say they’re “globalized” is ridiculous – you only see these in Spain. It’s a uniquely Spanish contemporary style! You won’t find these buildings in France, Italy, or China.
This article is great. Trickle-down, “abundance,” market solutions like ending parking requirements won’t work. But what will work? Rent control. Coops. Let’s look to nearby cities for solutions like that – for example…*checks notes*…Philly’s no-strings-attached 10-year tax abatement for developers!
November 8, 2025 at 9:53 PM
This article is great. Trickle-down, “abundance,” market solutions like ending parking requirements won’t work. But what will work? Rent control. Coops. Let’s look to nearby cities for solutions like that – for example…*checks notes*…Philly’s no-strings-attached 10-year tax abatement for developers!
Trégey Tower by Lambert Lénack, completed in 2025: 15-story neo-brutalist high-rise in Bordeaux (the tallest single-stair France allows prescriptively). It has a single winding stairway protected by a vestibule (likely pressurized), seven mostly 2-3BR units per floor. divisare.com/projects/541...
November 8, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Trégey Tower by Lambert Lénack, completed in 2025: 15-story neo-brutalist high-rise in Bordeaux (the tallest single-stair France allows prescriptively). It has a single winding stairway protected by a vestibule (likely pressurized), seven mostly 2-3BR units per floor. divisare.com/projects/541...
The whole project is beautiful – load-bearing compressed earth blocks for the walls, mass timber floors. There's a five-story sister building nearby that's got a single stair and seven units per story on the upper levels in a single-loaded corridor configuration. Plus, uh, two levels of 1:1 parking.
November 8, 2025 at 6:12 PM
The whole project is beautiful – load-bearing compressed earth blocks for the walls, mass timber floors. There's a five-story sister building nearby that's got a single stair and seven units per story on the upper levels in a single-loaded corridor configuration. Plus, uh, two levels of 1:1 parking.
Spanish NIMBYism is insane – a two-story social housing project in an urban neighborhood of Palma de Mallorca with mid-rises?! But, it does give me an opportunity to point out that even a two-story building has an elevator. Here's the upper story, with four small 1BRs: divisare.com/projects/542...
November 8, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Spanish NIMBYism is insane – a two-story social housing project in an urban neighborhood of Palma de Mallorca with mid-rises?! But, it does give me an opportunity to point out that even a two-story building has an elevator. Here's the upper story, with four small 1BRs: divisare.com/projects/542...
Interview she did with somebody (full one isn’t online afaict) where she says one of the things she’s gonna focus on as part of the transition team is finding unused authorities the mayor has, citing the president’s previously unused power to enforce of Made-in-America labeling rules as an example
November 8, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Interview she did with somebody (full one isn’t online afaict) where she says one of the things she’s gonna focus on as part of the transition team is finding unused authorities the mayor has, citing the president’s previously unused power to enforce of Made-in-America labeling rules as an example
Fun fact: Maryland’s single-family sprinkler requirement exempts houses without electricity as a way to exempt the Amish. So the only houses that don’t need sprinklers are the ones that use fire for lighting and have no phone to call for help? www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/mary...
November 7, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Fun fact: Maryland’s single-family sprinkler requirement exempts houses without electricity as a way to exempt the Amish. So the only houses that don’t need sprinklers are the ones that use fire for lighting and have no phone to call for help? www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/mary...
NYC real estate is so far from a monopoly though. It’s got such a vibrant pool of small contractors, landlords, developers. We’ve got Jews from all corners of the world here, bickering with and outbidding each other for total trash. I will refer you to one of my finest ratios:
November 7, 2025 at 4:52 PM
NYC real estate is so far from a monopoly though. It’s got such a vibrant pool of small contractors, landlords, developers. We’ve got Jews from all corners of the world here, bickering with and outbidding each other for total trash. I will refer you to one of my finest ratios:
lol a piece of wood siding just fell off of the bay window at the house my brother is renting in Philadelphia. I’m pretty sure the code there encourages bay windows.
November 7, 2025 at 3:17 PM
lol a piece of wood siding just fell off of the bay window at the house my brother is renting in Philadelphia. I’m pretty sure the code there encourages bay windows.
If that is the goal, it seems like it was a mistake to not route the Woolwich branch like this…it would have saved them both a river crossing and a reduction in frequency
November 7, 2025 at 2:23 PM
If that is the goal, it seems like it was a mistake to not route the Woolwich branch like this…it would have saved them both a river crossing and a reduction in frequency
Honestly, even that is high in an EU context. I know how they could bring them down though… 😈
November 7, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Honestly, even that is high in an EU context. I know how they could bring them down though… 😈
One way to reduce condo defect liability: stop forcing architects to design buildings that leak. HCD’s “objective design standards” guide *encourages* making building envelopes more complex, heightening leak and therefore defect lawsuit risk cao-94612.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/documents/Ap...
November 7, 2025 at 2:42 AM
One way to reduce condo defect liability: stop forcing architects to design buildings that leak. HCD’s “objective design standards” guide *encourages* making building envelopes more complex, heightening leak and therefore defect lawsuit risk cao-94612.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/documents/Ap...
Okay I looked into it
November 6, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Okay I looked into it
Looks like an early 20th c. NYC style called tapestry brick academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/...
November 6, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Looks like an early 20th c. NYC style called tapestry brick academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/...
I always associate thanking the bus driver with low-ridership systems and routes (in Anchorage it was obligatory; in NYC I do it on the B48 but not buses with useful frequencies), but in Toulouse they do it on four-door articulated buses!
November 6, 2025 at 3:28 PM
I always associate thanking the bus driver with low-ridership systems and routes (in Anchorage it was obligatory; in NYC I do it on the B48 but not buses with useful frequencies), but in Toulouse they do it on four-door articulated buses!
All very normal stuff on his Wikipedia page en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...
November 5, 2025 at 6:11 PM
All very normal stuff on his Wikipedia page en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...
It’s…not windy outside
November 5, 2025 at 2:50 PM
It’s…not windy outside
The “severe weather” inflation on the iOS weather app drives me nuts. It’s a little windy outside, no need to be so dramatic about it.
November 5, 2025 at 2:46 PM
The “severe weather” inflation on the iOS weather app drives me nuts. It’s a little windy outside, no need to be so dramatic about it.
Interesting that the L train platform elevator project is a full replacement, not a modernization – they’re removing even the shaft. I hope that was truly unavoidable and isn’t driven by them wanting to enlarge the cab!
November 4, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Interesting that the L train platform elevator project is a full replacement, not a modernization – they’re removing even the shaft. I hope that was truly unavoidable and isn’t driven by them wanting to enlarge the cab!
Lawyers say they’re keeping construction workers safe by holding contractors accountable. Meanwhile, the city mostly doesn’t even allow contractors to use tower cranes, even on some skyscrapers, instead forcing them to rely on workers carrying materials up, down, and across by hand at great risk.
November 3, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Lawyers say they’re keeping construction workers safe by holding contractors accountable. Meanwhile, the city mostly doesn’t even allow contractors to use tower cranes, even on some skyscrapers, instead forcing them to rely on workers carrying materials up, down, and across by hand at great risk.
Here’s one reason construction in New York is so expensive: the state is run by trial lawyers, so all four of these subway ads are for injury lawyers.
November 3, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Here’s one reason construction in New York is so expensive: the state is run by trial lawyers, so all four of these subway ads are for injury lawyers.
From something I wrote but never published. You can probably search the citations and find the cases.
November 3, 2025 at 2:05 AM
From something I wrote but never published. You can probably search the citations and find the cases.
The council member makes their opinion clear before the vote, and the applicant pulls the application if it’s not going to pass, so they don’t waste money on lawyers. Do the authors know this is a BS stat? Or maybe worse, they don’t and don’t realize how much housing they’re killing…?
November 2, 2025 at 3:56 PM
The council member makes their opinion clear before the vote, and the applicant pulls the application if it’s not going to pass, so they don’t waste money on lawyers. Do the authors know this is a BS stat? Or maybe worse, they don’t and don’t realize how much housing they’re killing…?