Beijing and Los Angeles-based MAD Architects has released photography of the firm's Gardenhouse house project, an 18-unit luxury residential development located in Los Angeles that offers "a rebuttal to the stereotypical cubic-box living environments of high-density cities across the world," according to the architects.

The mixed-use development contains retail spaces along the ground floor with a stack of residential units situated above. The first two stories above the retail level are articulated in more conventional rectilinear arrangements while the top levels contain house-shaped geometries. 

Inspired by the "hillside village" typology, the project brings a cluster of metal panel-wrapped homes that overlook a central courtyard situated at the base of the building. The upper level homes offer multiple levels and contain unconventional roof and ceiling designs that reflect their pitched roof configurations. 

The lower levels of the building, meanwhile, are wrapped in a verdant grow wall studded with drought tolerant plants that will exist as one of the largest such installations in the world when fully up and running. Seasons Landscape assisted in the design of the grow wall while Gruen Associates served as both Architect of Record and landscape architect for the 48,000-square-foot project.

Units surrounding the courtyard all feature glass exposures looking into the central space "with careful consideration given to the distance, orientation, and arrangement of balconies overlooking the courtyard," the architects write. A ground-level grove of trees and water feature convey the experience of a “secret garden" for the residential development, the designers explain.

Regarding the project, MAD Principal Ma Yansong said, “Los Angeles and Beverly Hills are highly modernized and developed. Their residences on the hills seemingly coexist with the urban environment. However, they also see enclosed movement at their core. The commune connection between the urban environment and nature is isolated. What new perspectives, and new value, can we bring to Los Angeles? Perhaps, we can create a hill in the urban context, so people can live on it and make it a village. This place will be half urban, half nature. This can offer an interesting response to Beverly Hills: a neighborhood which is often carefully organized and maintained, now with a witty, playful new resident.”

Additionally, nearly all units in the project feature individualized entrances, with the development containing two studios, eight condominiums, three townhouses, and five villas overall.