San Diego, California, USA
With a facade that emphasizes its verticality, The Air Rights Tower by Jonathan Segal FAIA for the Segal Family goes beyond a typical architectural solution for housing, becoming a model for utilizing the air rights of its neighbors.
The Air Rights Tower creates an ultra-high density 73-unit housing project on a 50×100 foot 5,000 square foot urban infill lot bound by three sides.
Many would think the viability of this project was impossible, but the architect and developer’s proposal utilizes the air rights of its neighboring sister micro-housing development.
For its prototypical design, Air Rights Tower has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Awards Honorable Mention by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
By capitalizing on the air rights, the project is able to have full openings on the interior lot line elevation, enabling windows on a 24-story building above the adjacent structure.
Higher-end residential housing requires the availability of parking to be successful.
The team designed a fully automatic robotic parking garage that will allow for 73 parking spaces within the existing structure.
The simple palette of concrete, glass, and metal paneling along with the form of the structure emphasizes the building’s verticality and pureness.
A diversity of units, from low-income affordability to a two-story penthouse at the top, achieves a diversity of tenants.
This is a prototypical model that can continue to be used throughout urban environments adjacent to historical properties or those that are too valuable to demolish but low enough to capitalize on their air rights.
Project: The Air Rights Tower
Architects: Jonathan Segal FAIA
General Contractor: Jonathan Segal FAIA
Client: The Segal Family
Photographers: Robert Balding
