To improve and explore housing solutions in the city of Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Chief Design Officer for the City of Los Angeles, Christopher Hawthorne, organized the "Low-Rise: Housing Ideas for Los Angeles." While the design challenge is "not a competition" in the traditional sense, explains its organizers, "this design challenge is part of a larger research initiative [...] to explore new paths to homeownership and new models of affordability in low-rise neighborhoods across Los Angeles."

In support from sponsors and partners such as the James Irvine Foundation and Urban Institute, to name a few, Low-Rise offers an expanded version of housing discourse for the city. What makes this particular challenge different is by "engaging community experts in housing and asking them, in a series of listening sessions organized by theme, how they and their fellow residents would like to see their neighborhoods evolve," shares Low-Rise in their design challenge overview. The result is the opportunity for communities to share and express their housing needs to the participating architects versus "architects tell communities what new housing should look like."

The design challenge consists of four categories Corners, Fourplex,  (Re)distribution, and Subdivision. Each represents an area where the participating architects can expand design discourse and solutions for housing in Los Angeles. Winning proposals receive a cash award and a series of "re-engagement sessions" that will review and evaluate how these designs can be manifested. "We are not collecting architectural ideas and then workshopping them with the public. Instead, we began by workshopping with community and housing-advocacy leaders a set of questions and hypotheses about how they and their neighbors would like to see their communities grow." The organization adds, "now, with those workshops complete, we are presenting the results to the design challenge participants."

View the winning entries below.

CORNERS CATEGORY

First Place: Vonn Weisenberger (Brooklyn, NY) - View project here

• Team Members: Vonn Weisenberger

Second Place: Studio TAAP (Austin, TX) - View project here

• Team Members: Amaya Lucas, Anna Lake-Smith, Patrick Till, and Trent Tunks

Third Place: Kevin Daly Architects (Los Angeles, CA) - View project here

• Team Members: Kevin Daly, Ciro Dimson, Jeff Rauch, Courtney Gibbs, and Connor Verteramo

FOURPLEX CATEGORY

First Place: Omgivning and Studio-MLA (Los Angeles, CA) - View project here

• Team members: Albert Escobar (Omgivning), Shahr Razi (Omgivning), Taylor Carlin (Omgivning), Amy Kaplin (Studio-MLA), and Ian Miller (Studio-MLA)

Second Place: Bestor Architecture (Los Angeles, CA) - View project here

• Team members: Bestor Architecture, SALT Landscape Architects, and ARUP

Third Place: Danielian Associates and Urban Arena (Irvine, CA) - View project here

• Team members: Danielian Associates and Urban Arena

(RE)DISTRIBUTION CATEGORY

First Place: Arts and Creatives Designs Ltd (Banstead, UK) - View project here

• Team Members: Sonda Mvula, Lola Tartakover, Chandni Rakhra, Sameera S. Rauf, and Verity Roweth

Second Place: Henry Aldridge (Kent, UK) - View project here

• Team: Henry Aldridge

Third Place: ROART (New York, NY) - View project here

• Team Members: Ran Oron, Tara Hagan, Ajin Ryu, Danny Hudson, and Jeff Evans

SUBDIVISION CATEGORY

First Place: Green Alley Housing (Los Angeles, CA) - View project here

• Team Members: Louisa Van Leer, Louisa Van Leer Architecture, Antonio Castillo, Urban Planner, Garen Yolles, Urban Planner, Aang Castillo, Cal Poly Pomona, College of Environmental Design, Dept. of Architecture, Galin Aghkyan, Cal Poly Pomona, College of Environmental Design, Dept. of Architecture, and Don Chavez, Cal Poly Pomona, College of Environmental Design, Dept. of Landscape Architecture

Second Place: Omgivning and Studio-MLA (Los Angeles, CA) - View project here

• Team members: Karin Liljegren (Omgivning), Albert Escobar (Omgivning), and Dawn Dyer (Studio-MLA)

Third Place: Elaine Kwong and Kristy Kwong (Los Angeles, CA) - View project here

• Team Members: Elaine Kwong (Architectural Designer and Urban Designer) and Kristy Kwong (Sustainability Engineer and Building Performance Specialist)

To learn more about the design challenge, honorable mentions, and each winning project click here. To view the list of jury members click here.