Site: Hollywood, California

This thesis studio investigates off-Hollywood Boulevard as a social, cultural, and architectural milieu in an effort to both critically understand and strategically design an urban space and a building which explicitly endeavors to augment pedestrian expectations-through circulation- of culture in Los Angeles. The program for this project is mixed-use, hybrid building on a site between Wilcox Avenue and Schrader Ave., which will endeavor to radically engage the pedestrian life of the area.

This project challenges the idea of social and visual interaction between individuals occupying a space that functions as a social condenser.  Formally, five different towers are strategically morphed together to create the concept of program layering.  Depending on program sizes, intersections or “in between” spaces are created as a result of towers morphing together.  Attached by numerous of ramps and bridges for circulation, these towers are interconnected.  Each space has its own unique circulation path to the next destination, which provides the user a different circulation experience each time.  Relative to their surroundings, Individuals may also experience a dialogue of visual or physical interaction depending on the unique trajectory one decide to take from one place to another.  Layering program, interconnecting circulation paths, and intersecting forms, these are gestures that support the idea of a social condenser. With these ideas in mind, Individuals experience a more radical and interactive pedestrian life on Hollywood Boulevard.