ZIKZAK Architects delivers Coliving consultancy services

The office real estate market is not stable today. World statistics show a significant outflow of tenants and partial lack of demand for office space, which are the consequences of global factors such as a pandemic, economic downturn, the trend towards hybrid workflow or even war. Instead, rental housing remains in demand and there is even a significant increase in demand for it. Based on this, there is a need to transform unprofitable commercial real estate into objects that could fully realise their main task — to generate profit for their owners. Therefore, ZIKZAK Architects implements a new solution adapted to modern realities — a Coliving consultancy service, which involves the transformation of unclaimed commercial premises into rental housing — coliving. 

«Office facilities can be strengthened with the help of a residential component, in particular, by arranging co-living in them, so we come to a rational and effective use of unused areas of business centers for business» — says Alesya Karnaukhova, CEO of ZIKZAK Architects.

Thanks to the Coliving consultancy, ZIKZAK Architects implements international practice in the transformation of inefficient office facilities into popular residential premises.

«Based on the information about the recent massive outflow of tenants due to the pandemic, now — due to the war, and also taking into account demographic factors that show that now, compared to buying, renting housing is in greater demand due to affordability, we have developed a solution for business centres. It consists of transforming part of their area into co-working. It can be one or several floors with its own infrastructure. This solution allows you quickly transform the unused area of the facility into a profitable one, as well as diversify sources of rental income and risks» — says Kyrylo Komarov, CTO ZIKZAK Architects.

According to ZIKZAK Architects, the reconstruction of a building or part of it for coliving is a fairly simple solution in terms of design, relatively cheap to implement, but with competitive advantages over any other business center, because as a result, a multifunctional complex appears. A positive impact is also noted in reducing office vacancy, as the transformation expands the range of services and infrastructure of the business center. Also, given that office centres are usually located in places with convenient transport interchange and infrastructure, they can become extremely popular for rent. And the available security, parking and business lobby are some additional competitive advantages. ZIKZAK Architects believes that depending on the object, its profitability will be the same or even higher than that of a business center.

As for the process of designing coliving spaces, the ZIKZAK Architects team takes their own conceptual solution as a basis and adapts it to the project. It is important for the company to take into account both the maximum amount of rental space and the creation of future infrastructure for potential residents.

At the heart of the concept, experts see functional groups of premises and their balance in the total area: residential units, shower rooms, dining room, workspace, children’s space, places for development and events, sports area, technical area and security. In the future, a coworking space converted from a business center can be both a separate rental housing and a space for certain social groups, such as, for example, artists, programmers, athletes, performers, etc.

By providing the Coliving consultancy service, ZIKZAK Architects, relying on many years of international experience and its own expertise in the design of commercial and residential space, helps to solve the problem of idle office buildings, instead turning them into a profitable new business for the customer.