Feasibility studies and test fits for multifamily sites

What the phase delivers

Most multifamily projects start with a question an owner asks a practice before any fee is signed: how many units fit on this site. The answer depends on the zoning envelope, the parking, the code strategy and any bonus program the site qualifies for, and a practice that can answer quickly tends to win the commission.

TECTO Studio draws that answer for your office. A feasibility package typically covers:

• The zoning envelope. Height, stories, setbacks, stepbacks, floor area and lot coverage from the zoning code, drawn as a three-dimensional envelope on the parcel.
• Test fits. One or more schemes your office directs inside the envelope, with the unit layout, cores, corridors and the parking or podium level drawn at a scale that holds up in schematic design.
• Unit yield. Unit counts by type, net and gross areas and the parking count for each scheme, in a table an owner's pro forma can use directly.
• Bonus scenarios. Where the site qualifies for a density bonus or a similar program, the base case and the bonus case side by side, with the incentives each scheme relies on listed.

Why a model and a table

A test fit drawn as a Revit model holds its own areas and counts, so every scheme comes with a tabulation that matches the drawing. When the owner picks a scheme, your office starts schematic design from a model that already holds the building, which saves the redraw that usually follows a feasibility sketch.

Bonus programs

In California, the State Density Bonus Law lets a project that includes affordable units build more units than the base zoning allows, with incentives and waivers on development standards. For most qualifying projects the bonus is up to 50 percent more units than the base zoning allows, and more for 100 percent affordable projects (Government Code 65915), so many multifamily sites in Los Angeles are studied twice, once under base zoning and once under the bonus. The density bonus guide sets out what the bonus changes in the drawings.

The studio's founder worked on density bonus and 100% affordable projects of up to 1,241 units in Los Angeles; the project record lists them.

What your practice keeps

Your office holds the owner relationship, the zoning reading it signs off on and the design direction. The studio draws the envelope and the schemes to the parameters your office sets, and every zoning figure on a sheet cites the code section it comes from, so your office can check it.

The pilot

A feasibility study is a small first package, with a fixed fee agreed up front. It is also the fastest way to see how the studio draws before a larger set is on the line.