This apartment building is located in an auto-oriented suburb, a residential area with large expanses devoted to parking lots. The project responds to its low-density setting by bringing in the street and taking advantage of space at the margins to create an environment that is open to its surroundings. Space under the eaves provides outdoor dwelling areas, while first-floor annexes are available for non-residential use by the residents. About one year after the building was completed, two residents who were using the annexes for a design office and a grocery shop opened a market for neighborhood friends in the central garden area. This became popular and is now a regular monthly event that has expanded to cover the entire site. The market is named "Open House", reflecting their ideas about public space. Having experienced doing business away from home, in locations such as parks and station plazas, with all of the attendant limitations, they view the market as a place for tolerance and living with friends.
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