For most young professionals, the prospect of renting a decent-sized apartment in the center of a major US metropolis like New York, Denver or Miami may seem impossible. The cost of living in highly desirable urban centers has far outstripped overall wage increases. Urby seeks to remedy this widespread dilemma and flip the script on what urban life looks like.
Launched in 2010 by experienced developer David Barry, the chain has expanded into secondary and tertiary markets close to these important urban centres, with convenient transport links. Although the units are smaller, the emphasis is on common areas.
Photo by Robert Tsai. courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam
“The apartment living in the United States has become particularly transient and sterile,” says Barry. “My goal has always been to create a more human experience and better facilitate social interaction.”
In places like Staten Island, Jersey City, and Washington, D.C., these complexes have emerged as alternatives—completely renewed, condensed communities, but not hermetically sealed enclaves. Instead, they have been successfully implemented to open up and embrace their environment. Innovative concept-driven Dutch architecture firm Concrete Amsterdam has been involved since day one.
Photo by Robert Tsai. courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam
The firm has been instrumental in defining smart layouts and finish options for the compact, flexible studio to three-bedroom residences, as evidenced in Urby’s latest property in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood. Beta-tested in a factory before being introduced at scale, these units were designed to align more closely with the needs of Millennial and Gen-Z renters. The kitchens are galley style but have all the basic first line appliances. Large enough to accommodate queen-size mattresses and a dresser, bedrooms are split in layout so roommates have privacy.
Photo by Robert Tsai. courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam
Concrete Amsterdam has also been a critical partner in shaping the program and design of the common spaces at each site, which include everything from a multi-functional work-from-home lounge lit as a party room to a hotel-style lobby restaurant, a gym, outdoor courtyards and even a dog park.
After 15 years of collaboration, Fishtown Urby represents how the two companies have developed a distinct yet refined approach through trial and error. “Always balance your own experience with how trends change,” says Barry. One such trend that has emerged in recent years is the ability to seamlessly move between social and fitness spaces.
Photo by Robert Tsai. courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam
At Fishtown Urby, a larger than average gym is located on the ground floor. It is directly connected to a large barbecue yard and dog park. Nearby, a well-lit lounge has soundproofed desk cases and seating for dinner. The lobby is preceded by a semi-enclosed entrance courtyard designed with native plants by Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets. Percy, a retro-style cafe serving local dishes, also opens in this peaceful green space.
On the top floor, a hidden door leads to a purple-clad, disco-style speakeasy with a picture window that perfectly frames the Downtown Philly skyline. The rooftop patio serves as yet another gathering space. strategically introduced cutouts help reduce the massive scale of the wide brick building, bringing it more in line with the proportion of industrial structures and redesigned homes in the surrounding area.
Photo by Robert Tsai. courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam
“Every architectural detail here is designed to enhance daily life, from the robust brick envelope to the cleverly placed windows that balance privacy with daylight,” says Erikjan Vermeulen, partner at Concrete Amsterdam. “It’s about creating spaces that are not only beautiful, but really functional for urban life.”
The most critical factor, Urby and Concrete’s core strategy throughout the chain, has always been the careful introduction of site-responsive elements that are functional, aesthetic and allow the buildings to blend in with the neighborhood. In Fishtown, the structure is decorated with a distinctive mural honoring the area’s industrial and creative heritage as well as the Dutch heritage of its builder, renowned tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher.
Photo by Robert Tsai. courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam
True to form, noting the particular strain of ironic irreverence that has defined Dutch design in recent decades, Schiffmacher collaborated with Royal Delft, the renowned ceramic producer, on a series of Delft Blue dishes. Traditional painted pottery features playful, tattoo-inspired motifs and images, such as dragons, weeping hearts, swallows, sailors and barber ships.
One of many in Fishtown, the mural also recalls the age-old tradition, developed by Dutch craftsmen in the 16th and 17th centuries, to imitate Chinese painted porcelain, which was hard to find at the time. Adding to the complex of cultural references embedded in the work, Schiffmacher also drew inspiration from the sacred song patterns used by Aboriginal Australians as a form of wayfinding. Here, this type of pattern, inserted between the transom windows, is also chosen to honor the local Lenape indigenous people, who used beadwork as a means of communication.
Photo by Robert Tsai. courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam
The rest of the layered images allude to the site’s more recent past and present: tools used in the once-thriving seafood industry and the supplies of many of the artists who now live here. The blue on white paint scheme is what pulls everything together.
Rather than operating as a stand-alone apartment building, Fishtown Urby uses architecture, interiors and public art to weave together the neighborhood it now calls home.
Photo by Robert Tsai. courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam
