Thomas Dolan Architecture has developed a web site which translates the Oakland, California live/work building code from technical language into plain english. This site may be viewed at www.live-work.com/plainenglish-ws/.
The design of the web site seeks to clearly illuminate zoning and building code issues for interested laypeople and artists seeking to legalize live-work spaces, to adaptively re-use warehouses as live-work spaces, or to research home-occupation of their businesses. This web site has become a destination site for other cities' staff to compare and contrast their cities' live-work codes with those of the City of Oakland or to get a head start on initiating a new one.
Detailed side-by-side code citations and explanations.
A guide to the live/work development process.
List of topics with discussions and a complete glossary of technical terms.
Detailed explanation of different unit types, proximity types.
Decision tree to guide owners, tenants, designers and artists through the live/work development process
