HOUSING FOR LA
LOCATION : LOS ANGELES, USA
YEAR : 2021
STATUS : COMPETITION / CONCOURS D’ARCHITECTURE
PROGRAM : HOUSING / LOGEMENT INDIVIDUEL
CLIENT : MAYOR’S OFFICE OF LOS ANGELES
AREA : 34 - 92M2
TEAM : FIGURA - Judith Busson, François Cattoni ; Mehdi Abdelkader
PHOTOGRAPHY : Figura
MORE INFOS : https://lowrise.la
The plot as the new common
Los Angeles, diffuse and extensive, is structured by its geography, road network and suburban housing. Questioning the house, its architectural morphology, is more broadly asking what kind of city it makes. A city of private property, which is reflected in the popular architecture of Los Angeles by the overabundance of thresholds: fences, steps, porches, window grills. For the answer to this competition, we are betting on the common. A common floor shared by four dwellings. Four families gathered around a project of living together. A community sharing the same ecological challenge.
A common ground
The plot is composed of a common ground for the four houses. The houses are serviced by a road. They are also served by a trench for the collection and treatment of rainwater and domestic water. This culvert leads to a natural swimming pool shared by the community. The houses, private units on common ground, are complete and autonomous systems. Each house includes a parking space and a private outdoor space. Each house considers its private outdoor space as a separate room in the house.
Learning from L.A.
The houses are composed of architectural elements collected from existing buildings in Los Angeles. Diverted, distorted, decomposed, these elements are re-invented in four house models. It is above all a question of relying on an existing constructive system that the architecture adapts in order to propose new living conditions. The elements that we use are the wooden frame, stucco boxes, stilt houses, skirt houses, dingbats... etc.
* Skirt house : The skirt house is a house of 92m2 composed of two levels. It reinterprets the houses on stilts located on the heights of Los Angeles. The first floor, a completely open space, is an extension of the terrace. It is composed of an orthogonal metal structure. Large sliding metal shutters allow to close or open this space to the rest of the garden in order to manage the intimacy. The closed living space is located on the first floor. It consists of three bedrooms, a shower room, a kitchen and a living room. It also has a parking space on the first floor.
* Porch house : The porch house is a house of 34m2. It re-interprets the first floor houses of Los Angeles putting forward a very designed porch. This house consists of a large roof covering the space of the house and a large outdoor space. This house with reduced dimensions consists of a bedroom, a shower room, a kitchen and a living room. It benefits from a rainwater recovery system in cistern thanks to its large roof. The car is also parked under this large roof.
* Patio House : The Patio House is organized in a strip whose symmetrical is occupied by an enclosed garden. This long house considers the patio as a living room in its own right. The house is organized on two levels. The common areas are located on the first floor, and two bedrooms are on the first floor. The house is 66m2 in total. The patio is also a parking space.
* Roof garden house : The roof garden house is a house of 34m2. Inspired by the colored stucco houses, it is the most compact of the four houses. Its private outdoor space is located on its roof, dominating the whole plot. A car-port allows to park the family car. This house is composed of a bedroom, a shower room, a kitchen and a living room.
Sustainability
At the plot, a water management system is implemented in order to collect rainwater and treat domestic water. The management of these waters allows to create islands of freshness in the plot, especially at the level of the natural swimming pool. The layout of the houses on the site ensures the creation of air currents, refreshing the plot during high temperatures. The architecture of the houses has also integrated the possibility of creating air currents to allow cooling. The ground of the plot is very little waterproofed. The service road is composed of downstairs. The houses have foundations on concrete plots in order to limit the creation of paving. All the houses are built in wood frame.
