# What rules should we be breaking?

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2024-07-31

about-here, architecture, decoding-density, development, planning, single-stair-buildings, small-scale-apartments, urbanarium, vancouver, wood-frame-apartments

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https://youtu.be/011TOfugais?si=85OchFBtjZAVp0Ez

[Here](https://youtu.be/011TOfugais?si=85OchFBtjZAVp0Ez) is another great video from [About Here](https://www.abouthere.ca) talking about how breaking certain rules could make for better apartment buildings.

The basis for the video is a design competition put on by Urbanarium, called [Decoding Density](https://urbanarium.org/decoding-density), which asked participants to propose creative solutions for "six-story _plus_ apartment forms in Metro Vancouver."

More specifically, the competition asked: How might Vancouver intensify its single-family neighborhoods with small-scale wood-frame apartments?

The About Here video covers some of the common themes from the submissions and, not surprisingly, the first is [single-stair buildings](https://brandondonnelly.com/2024/07/08/building-code-change-request/). Requiring only a single point of egress can really unlock small sites.

Some of the other ideas are, perhaps, a bit more adventurous; but these are valuable exercises. Many rules are dumb. So it's important that we continually question them and search for better ways.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/what-rules-should-we-be-breaking)*