I'm trying to understand the problems converting office buildings into residential. One problem is just duplicating plumbing (bath/kitchen) from a few locations into one each in multiple apartments. Ok.
The other is that modern office buildings (post Wright/Johnson Wax I guess) use forced air ventilation primarily, and artificial lighting, such that there would be large areas away from windows for air and light.
1/n
A) you should favor conversions of older office buildings, which tended to have shapes that exploited natural light more, and windows that open, and
B) when converting a modern office building, couldn't you cut wedges out of the floor slabs, making the plan sort of H-shaped, creating an empty column, a space for light and air? I'm assuming you're probably reskinning the building anyway. This seems nontrivial, but straightforward.
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