PROJECT REQUIREMENT:

Design 68 apartments of affordable family housing in Los Angeles at 7th and Coronado Streets. The non-profit developer, Los Angeles Housing Partnership, desired a design that addressed both concerns for safety of the residents in a marginalized neighborhood and the opportunity for a sense of community within that neighborhood. It was especially important to make that connection with a seniors’ affordable housing project on an adjacent property that they also own.

PROJECT SOLUTION: 

The vision of 7th & Coronado Family Housing is one of community and urban life. All apartments have two orientations; one being off-site into the public realm, and the other to a secure, visible, centralized courtyard where families will be able to gather and children will be able to play in safety. All apartments are organized with the kitchen/dining areas area facing this courtyard. Support facilities are located at all levels. At ground level, in addition to the major courtyard, the design incorporates a smaller “peace plaza” that interfaces seamlessly with the adjacent seniors facility in order to allow for the possibility of comfortable multi-generational exchange. The apartment configuration places the smaller two and three bedroom units on the upper levels. All four bedroom units are aligned along the more residential Coronado Street at grade level, this “row house” configuration allow them to be individually accessed from the street through small, private front yards and porches as well as from the central courtyard. The more commercial 7th Street façade incorporates offices, community rooms and support functions at grade level reinforcing the pedestrian nature of the street. All of the apartments are designed with private patios, some which face the community courtyard and some face the public way. In general, bedrooms face outward towards the street in the classic “defensible space” position.This project will be submitted for LEED certification.