Editor鈥檚 note: This segment was rebroadcast on Aug. 5, 2025. Click for that audio.
If you walk through any large American city, you鈥檒l see a lot of new construction. And it鈥檚 hard not to notice that most new apartment buildings look pretty much the same.
They鈥檙e usually four to 10 stories tall and boxy with splashes of color or balconies here and there. Often, they have retail shops, gyms or coffee shops on the ground floor.
鈥淭wo summers ago, I went across the nation actually looking at these apartment buildings,鈥� Liz Falletta, professor of architecture and urban design at University of Southern California, said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not ready to say that they鈥檙e exactly the same 鈥� I didn鈥檛 see any that were carbon copies of one another, but they are a specific building typology.鈥�
6 questions with Liz Falletta
What do you see in these design elements?
鈥淚t鈥檚 typically called the podium apartment building. And it鈥檚 a one- or two-story base of parking with apartment units on top for a seven- or eight-story building.鈥�
What is driving this architectural trend?
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 for sure about building codes. I think the code really allows this kind of structure to be built and makes it [so] you can basically build a denser building more economically than you might otherwise with other typologies.
鈥淚 also think capital is a big driver. There鈥檚 a lot of money that has been invested into apartment buildings through various funds. And I think that鈥檚 also a driver of homogeneity.鈥�
Are these apartment buildings a response to calls nationwide for more affordable housing?
鈥淵es, I think they鈥檙e absolutely a response to the housing affordability crisis and just the need for housing in general. Because they combine two structural types, you can actually build a taller, denser building than you could otherwise fill with either of those structural types alone. So, it鈥檚 a way to build a mid-rise apartment building very cost-effectively.鈥�
Is there a benefit to high-density, mixed-use housing like this?
鈥淥h, absolutely. Number one, we need housing and we need to be building a lot of housing. Number two, I think our built environment needs to respond to climate change. So, we need to be building more densely in transit-rich, infill urban locations. And that鈥檚 really where we find these buildings. So, I think they鈥檙e absolutely needed across the nation.
鈥淚 think we can have a conversation about whether they should look the way that they do. But nobody鈥檚 come up with an alternative.鈥�
Do you have a hypothetical alternative?
鈥淣o. I don鈥檛 have a good alternative either. I guess I really come down on the side of housing production. We need to build housing. And the thing I really think about these buildings is [that] they鈥檙e not resistant to good design. When I was looking at these buildings across the nation, there are absolutely beautifully designed examples of this typology. They are really poorly designed examples also. But I don鈥檛 think the poor design and the monotony is necessarily inherent to the typology.鈥�
Every era has had its own version of cookie-cutter housing. What do you think people will say about today鈥檚 version 50 years from now?
鈥淢y thinking is that I don鈥檛 think they鈥檙e going to become beloved the way some other housing types have been, for example, bungalow courts in Los Angeles. But I do think people will think of them less harshly. Primarily because people鈥檚 lives will have been lived in them. And I think that鈥檚 important.
鈥淚 also think they will have had 50 years to evolve and change. And if we look at some of the past housing types that we鈥檝e built in large numbers, one of the reasons we鈥檝e liked them is they can change with the times and accommodate different lifestyles and do different things. And I think we鈥檙e going to see podiums and wrap apartments do the same thing.鈥�
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produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Micaela Rodriguez. Walkey also adapted it for the web.
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