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Concept design / Feasibility / Proposed
13 Arlington · Kearny, New Jersey
A working building
in 25 feet.
A two-story industrial and office study that asks how a narrow vacant lot can support useful floor area, workable access, and a distinct street presence.
- Lot
- 25 × 115 ft
- Existing site
- 2,875 sf
- Proposed building
- 4,174 sf
- Zone
- LI
Proposed project · no construction status represented
The question
What can a 25-foot-wide industrial lot reasonably become?
The pre-existing condition is a vacant 25-by-115-foot parcel in Kearny's LI zone. At 2,875 square feet, the lot makes every planning move consequential: vehicle access, usable floor plate, vertical circulation, frontage, height, and the proposed space left open at the rear.
The study tests a 4,174-square-foot building without disguising that constraint. The narrow frontage becomes the project's organizing fact rather than a dimension to work around.
Before design, the limits
A small parcel with a full-size set of decisions.
- 01
Fit two distinct uses
Flex and industrial space at grade; office above.
- 02
Protect usable depth
Hold a 12-foot rear yard while organizing a 115-foot lot.
- 03
Make the frontage work
Coordinate an industrial opening, a separate entry, and upper-level daylight within 25 feet.
- 04
Define the review path
Test multiple bulk variances alongside the dimensional and coverage criteria that comply.
The proposal / In section
Two equal floors. Two kinds of work.
The concept stacks a 2,087-square-foot flex and industrial floor beneath a 2,087-square-foot office floor. That simple section produces the full proposed 4,174 square feet while keeping the building to approximately 30 feet in height.
The public face
The elevation has no spare width.
The concept gives each necessary opening a legible place: the industrial door anchors the ground floor, the office window spans above it, and a narrow vertical bay marks the separate entrance. Brick piers hold the composition together while patterned masonry gives depth to the two horizontal fields.
A recessed line of warm light is being studied at the entry bay and industrial opening—not as decoration applied afterward, but as a way to clarify arrival and the building's slender edge.
Material study
Brick with a prior life is part of the question.
Reclaimed brick is proposed and remains under study. The interest is both practical and architectural: natural variation can give a new infill facade the grain and irregularity of the industrial streets around it, while the supply, detailing, and performance still have to be verified.
The photograph is a material reference—not installed work at 13 Arlington.
The zoning study
Feasibility is not the same as approval.
The proposal was studied at 89.5% improved coverage, which complies with the applicable coverage criterion in the study. Multiple other bulk variances were identified. Those conditions are part of the project's feasibility work and would require the appropriate review process; this page does not represent an approval.
- Improved coverage
- 89.5% / complies as studied
- Rear yard
- 12 ft / proposed
- Building height
- Approximately 30 ft
- Bulk relief
- Multiple variances identified
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