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  #1  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2022, 8:18 PM
00crashtest 00crashtest is offline
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Question thoughts: If you lived in a building surrounded by other buildings on 3 sides

If you lived in a building in which the unit you own is surrounded on 3 sides by neighboring buildings that are totally abutting yours by having the entire length of their exterior walls mounted flush against the entirety of the exterior walls of the sides and rear of your building, how would you feel about those neighboring abutting buildings that totally surround yours?

There are 4 possible scenarios here, all of which have your unit take up the full width of your long and pretty-narrow building:
1. Your unit is located in the rear of the building and was filled with tons of lot-line windows when you first bought it. However, one day, all of the windows were suddenly blocked, leaving you with the only windows opening to the "outside" located around a small light well (also known an an air shaft) facing up-close the new building's windowless exposed brick lot-line wall.
2. Your unit is located in the rear of the building and when you first bought it, it already had the only windows opening to the "outside" located around a small light well (also known an an air shaft) facing up-close the new building's windowless lot-line wall of exposed red clay-fired brick.
3. Your unit is located in the front of the building and was filled with tons of lot-line windows when you first bought it. However, one day, all of the lot-line windows were suddenly blocked, leaving you with only 2 windows that open to the outside, both facing the street.
4. Your unit is located in the front of the building and when you first bought it, it already had the only 2 windows, both of which face the street.

Would those neighboring buildings make you feel comfortable because you feel safe and secure from you feeling like they are shielding, guarding, and protecting your building from the exterior elements? When you are in your unit, would you feel like your unit in combination with the abutting buildings are together cocooning you to make you feel comfortable? Would the view and scene up-close and personal in a small light well of your neighbor's windowless exposed red-brick wall running right up to and forming your light well's outer edge on the shared boundary between the lots give you a feeling of peace, tranquility, and warmth? Or would the very same hemming in make you feel uncomfortable and sad from you feeling trapped in your home? Or is it somewhere in between, mixed feelings, or something else altogether? Also, how would you feel towards your "super-close" neighbors who live immediately on the other side of the pair of flush-abutting walls? Please explain for each of the scenarios. This especially pertains to the Borough of Manhattan in the City of New York.
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  #2  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2022, 1:16 PM
mrnyc mrnyc is offline
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depending on the state of the surrounding buildings of course -- but generally speaking i would tend to feel better.

at least it could help with the elements.

ie., our new staten island condo is on the end of our building next to a lowrise historic building.

i notice our bedroom wall above it is a bit colder than the rest of the apt that is surrounded by other apts in our building.

so you definitely get some insulation at least.
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  #3  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2022, 1:25 PM
00crashtest 00crashtest is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrnyc View Post
depending on the state of the surrounding buildings of course -- but generally speaking i would tend to feel better.

at least it could help with the elements.

ie., our new staten island condo is on the end of our building next to a lowrise historic building.

i notice our bedroom wall above it is a bit colder than the rest of the apt that is surrounded by other apts in our building.

so you definitely get some insulation at least.
That's great then that you enjoy the frequent company of your neighbors from their intimate-distance proximity that it is so constant as to be inescapable from within your home! I'm glad that humans as a whole are actually this social and that many actually want to always be this close to each other!
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Old Posted Mar 14, 2022, 1:33 PM
mrnyc mrnyc is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 00crashtest View Post
That's great then that you enjoy the frequent company of your neighbors from their close proximity that it is so constant as to be inescapable from within your home!
huh?

no, i dont hear them at all.

but i do notice their warm apts next to mine help keep mine warm.

those walls are inside the same building -- only one wall is not.

i would imagine buildings next to somebodies apt building would provide some insulation too.

i would hate to lose views though.
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  #5  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2022, 1:46 PM
00crashtest 00crashtest is offline
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Originally Posted by mrnyc View Post
huh?

no, i dont hear them at all.

but i do notice their warm apts next to mine help keep mine warm.

those walls are inside the same building -- only one wall is not.

i would imagine buildings next to somebodies apt building would provide some insulation too.

i would hate to lose views though.
Even though you would hate to lose views, would still feel protected, shielded, and guarded from your neighboring buildings on all sides except the front being built right up against yours and blocking all your windows except those facing the front as a result? What if it were the same scenario except that your unit is not in the front, so only windows facing the light well with the view of your neighbor's brick wall immediately on the other side remained? If so, would that be more than enough to override the psychological setbacks of losing the vast majority of windows and actually be so much as to make you feel elated from simply being in your apartment from you feeling cocooned?
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  #6  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2022, 2:04 PM
mrnyc mrnyc is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 00crashtest View Post
Even though you would hate to lose views, would still feel protected, shielded, and guarded from your neighboring buildings on all sides except the front being built right up against yours and blocking all your windows except those facing the front as a result? What if it were the same scenario except that your unit is not in the front, so only windows facing the light well with the view of your neighbor's brick wall immediately on the other side remained? If so, would that be more than enough to override the psychological setbacks of losing the vast majority of windows and actually be so much as to make you feel elated from simply being in your apartment from you feeling cocooned?
well, you have to have windows -- that is a rule in nyc:

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/MDW/30

my new apt and my previous old rental apt have room windows all facing in one direction. this is pretty common.

however, i think a landlord can get away with an apt having as little as one window in some instances. i could be wrong about that, but definitely there needs to be some window or windows to be legal, even if it faces a surrounded interior open area.

also, i do know a legal basement apt has to be like only half below streetlevel and have windows and two exits to be legal.

some of these situations would be depressing, but likely legal apts.

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  #7  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2022, 2:40 PM
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Steely Dan Steely Dan is online now
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right after college, one of my good friends immediately moved to NYC.

as a broke college student with an art degree who waited tables, he of course just HAD to live in manhttan (on the upper west side, no less).

i visited him a little while later and stayed with him for several days (i was broke at the time too so i crashed on his couch for a week).

he had an illegal one room studio in the basement of a 10 story building that only had 1 tiny-ass window up near the ceiling of his unit that was at the very bottom of a 10-story deep light-well. needless to say, virtually no daylight ever got into his apartment. maybe for like a few minutes at high noon on the summer solstice, but that's it.

it was the most depressing "apartment" i've ever been in. but he lived there for like 2 years before bolting for portland, where he was able to get a real apartment with actual windows!

as for myself, i'm pretty agnostic about bedrooms having high-quality natural lighting, but for my main living space i want real windows that get actual sunlight. an apartment with only light-well window access would be a non-starter for me.
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Last edited by Steely Dan; Mar 15, 2022 at 4:54 PM.
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