The usual problems of apartments and houses in this area include thermal discomfort, over-partitioned spaces, wasted areas lost to the exclusive use of corridors, balconies facing north, undersized and underlit living-rooms, enclosed balconies used as storage rooms, small bathrooms crammed with appliances, as well as a considerable amount of noise caused by plastic lids, junction boxes, cable conduits, siphons, in addition to the usual protrusions of pillars and beams. A real nightmare.