#50: Alexandra Vondeling: The Neighborhood IS the amenity

Alex Vondeling has spent her career digging into the part of the problem most people skip past. Not whether we need more housing, we clearly do, but what kind, at what scale, and arranged in what way. She is a principal at Opticos Design, the Berkeley firm that coined the term missing middle housing more than a decade ago, and she has become one of the clearest voices in the country on how to actually build it.What I appreciate about Alex, and about Opticos, is that they are not content to only name a problem. They work tirelessly on the solution. In this conversation we get into the important difference between a fourplex that looks like a house and a fourplex surrounded by parking, why the streetscape decides whether urbanism works at all, and the struggle between how a city can adopt a beautiful comprehensive plan while its own engineers have rules in place that make it impossible to build.We also get into my own work and projects and why the neighborhood, not just the gym within it, is the amenity. If you build places for a living, or you just want to understand why the good ones feel good, this one is worth your time.0:00 Intro1:27 How Alex Found the Missing Middle4:11 What Opticos Actually Does6:14 Build-to-Rent, Reclaimed7:50 Missing Middle Housing, Defined10:11 Making It Work in the Real World13:16 One Ingredient in a Whole Neighborhood15:38 Engaging a City19:19 The Recommendations That Repeat23:14 How Developers Find Opticos28:15 The Real Constraints41:35 The Neighborhood Is the Amenity46:33 Entitlements and the Advocate You Need55:03 Live/Work, Boutique Office, and What's NextCONNECT WITH THE ALEXANDRAAlexandra Vondeling on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-vondeling-6a36571aOpticos Design: opticosdesign.comOpticos on Instagram: www.instagram.com/opticosdesignIn the episode, Alex said an email to Opticos's info inbox always reaches the right person in the firm. The contact form and email live on their site. She also noted Opticos is active on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Substack, and the best time to reach out is early, while the site plan is still flexible.CONNECT WITH AUSTIN TUNNELLNewsletter: https://playbook.buildingculture.com/ / austintunnell / austin-tunnell-2a41894a / austintunnell CONNECT WITH BUILDING CULTUREhttps://www.buildingculture.com/ / buildingculture / build_culture / buildculture