Archinect - Features

For Affordable Housing, The Revolution Will Be Modularized

2021-07-28T14:51:00-04:00

Across the globe, the design and construction of affordable housing is failing to meet demand, leaving both low and middle income dwellers with little choice but to accept high costs, substandard conditions, or a move away from urban centers. This reality not only presents dangerous environmental and social conditions, but also underpins a fundamental failure of our current processes to design and construct quality affordable housing. In the face of this crisis, architects are finding opportunities for change. In this article, we speak with architect David Wallance FAIA, whose new book The Future of Modular Architecture sets out a paradigm-shift vision for the future of affordable housing. Here, we discuss the details of Wallance’s industrial-scale system, derived from the standard dimensions of intermodal shipping units, as well as the major changes such a system would bring to cities, housing markets, the environment, architectural education, and the business structure of the arch...

Exploring Modular Construction in Addressing Homelessness with CannonDesign

2020-03-12T16:00:00-04:00

Archinect recently explored the architect's role in addressing homelessness in Los Angeles. We connected with Michael Pinto AIA and Helena Jubany FAIA, both principals at NAC Architecture, to discuss their work in tackling this social crisis. This previous discussion centered around the cruciality of collaboration and the power of impactful partnerships that enable participants to capitalize on their respective skills. The architect, in this sense, becomes one of many parties, with a specialized focus on the building environment, there to contribute expertise to a larger whole of volunteers, professionals, politicians, and advocates.

As we dove deeper into this investigation, we focused in on a new project led by the Los Angeles County USC Medical Center called the Restorative Care Village, a first-of-its-kind facility committed to receiving homeless individuals "wherever they are." Going beyond a mere shelter this facility will provide supportive housing, recuperative care, psychia...

AIA|LA's Carlo Caccavale on Setting the Tone For Architectural Practice in Los Angeles

2020-02-04T12:05:00-05:00

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) was founded in 1857 by a group of architects in New York City led by Richard Upjohn. In the more than 160 years since, the organization has grown to over 90,000 members and now represents the interests of professional architects across the country. Nationally, AIA undertakes a variety of initiatives aimed at elevating the professional and economic standing of licensed architects and designers, efforts that include lobbying for legislation, setting ethical and professional standards for practitioners, and pushing for greater sustainability, diversity, and equity among its membership and the work they take on.

The national organization is complemented by state and local chapters, which offer support and organizational infrastructure to keep professional architects engaged with regional issues. The AIA Los Angeles (AIA|LA) chapter is no exception. Created as part of the Southern California chapter of the AIA in 1907 following the establishmen...

Considering the Architect’s Role in Addressing Homelessness in Los Angeles

2020-01-31T13:33:00-05:00

With the dramatic rise of homelessness in Los Angeles, addressing the issue has become a paramount concern. Political pressure is rising, and the onset of public programs, task forces, and initiatives have shown promise, but still face mounting roadblocks. In response, many are pounding their fists in frustration. This endemic has been in discussion amongst architects also, who, as citizens themselves, seek to contribute to a resolution.

The need for shelter is a basic human need, and the architect recognizes a duty to facilitate that need. But, when it comes to addressing an issue so marred with bureaucratic constraints, we realize something so seemingly simple is multifaceted and complex. As architects, how can we better understand those complexities? And what is our role in the manner? There isn't a single answer. But, let's look at the work of a few architects and investigate how each embraces their duty to listen and collaborate in order to help establish fruitful partnerships...

A Cut Above the Streets: Robert M. Hayes, Co-Founder of Coalition for the Homeless, in Conversation with Lluís Alexandre Casanovas Blanco

2019-05-01T09:57:00-04:00

Expelled from domestic spaces through cuts to social subsidies, layoffs, and the speculative real estate policies of the 1970s, the population of homeless individuals in New York has ballooned with the perpetuation of income inequality and long-term lack of affordable housing in the city. Despite increasing numbers, this social crisis has become less and less visible throughout the last decades [1]. In February 2017, the Department of Homeless Services estimated that 3,892 individuals spent the night in New York City streets [2]. Although the accuracy of this estimate has been contested [3], a comparison to the number of individuals sleeping in one of the 236 facilities of the city’s shelter system—a total of 62,435 [4]—makes us reconsider the “exposure” of public space as the privileged site of contemporary homelessness, and turn instead to a different architectural device: that of the shelter.

Can good design cure LA’s homeless problem? We asked Mike Alvidrez, CEO of Skid Row Housing Trust

2017-06-23T14:30:00-04:00

For Skid Row Housing Trust, a nonprofit developer in Los Angeles that builds housing for LA’s homeless population, good design is a basic civil right. Understanding that the environment plays a vital role in their residents’ recovery, the organization consistently teams up with renowned architectural firms such as Michael Maltzan Architecture and Brooks+Scarpa to design buildings for the homeless that stand out.

At USC's 'Homeless Studio', Students Work Towards Real Solutions to the City's Homeless Crisis

2016-11-30T12:21:00-05:00

Just a few miles from the University of Southern California campus, Skid Row contains a significant portion of the homeless population of Los Angeles, a city in the midst of a declared state of emergency with nearly 47,000 people in total living in shelters and on the street. For R. Scott Mitchell and Sofia Borges, two instructors at the USC School of Architecture, this city-wide crisis demands an architectural response. “The homeless are always thinking about architecture. It's time we started thinking about them,” they wrote in the syllabus for their course, Homeless Studio.

paraSITE: the bandage over the nomadic wound

2016-05-27T11:04:00-04:00

Using the air discharged from publicly accessible HVAC units, artist Michael Rakowitz has created a series of inflatable temporary plastic shelters for the homeless he calls “paraSITE.” The work, which began in 1998 and was later added to the MoMA’s Architecture and Design online collection, is both a form of social protest and an ingenious, budget-conscious design (most units cost around $5 to construct).

How 4 US cities are applying architectural solutions to homelessness

2016-05-23T18:29:00-04:00

Housing First, a federal policy for ending chronic homelessness that grew out of initiatives in Los Angeles and New York in the late 1980s and early 1990s, provides what appears to be the most effective solution to homelessness in the United States: actually housing people. Since implementing Housing First programs in Utah in 2005, Salt Lake City reported up to a 91% reduction in their rate of the chronically homeless.

To each their own home: A peek into the “HOME(less)” exhibition at USC

2016-01-19T09:30:00-05:00

For many of those who regularly navigate the streets of Los Angeles, seeing at least one homeless person is not only common, it’s expected. So normal is the sight of homelessness in the city that residents can easily become desensitized to it, making them less likely to question it, and at its worst, making the homeless population effectively invisible. Local designers and Colorblock partners Sofia Borges and Susan Nwankpa wanted to address this in their co-curated photo exhibition, “HOME(less)”, currently on display at the University of Southern California. The photos raise awareness of L.A.’s glaring homelessness crisis, while simultaneously highlighting the impactful relationship between people and their personal spaces in the urban environment.