my design work in and out of architecture school.luis@legildesign.com

Arch 203, Charrete 04 – Final Proposal

Sustainable Density

After presenting our midterm proposal, Aaron and I realized that about 80% of the projects were proposing the same sort of program as ourselves. This being a competition and all, we decided to change our program. With about two or three weeks left before our final presentation, we completely overhauled the entire proposal to something completely different; something that we thought worked a lot better in the area. I would not recommend anyone redesign their entire project with such little time to do it because it can get extremely stressful, but I guess in the end it was worth it. This project was a regional finalist, and we ended up finishing in 5th in the overall competition. Not bad for a few weeks worth of work, I think. Below is the project explanation from our boards.

Read the Competition Briefing

The average home size today in America is approximately 2,330 square feet. This number has been growing at a rapid rate, more than doubling where it stood in the 1950’s. An increasing number of people have been able to find themselves able to buy a house, a bigger house, and often are willing to travel to acquire it. In fact, the average commute in Los Angeles County now stands at over thirty minutes, much higher than many other places in the country. The effects of this suburban sprawl have given rise to a number of ecological issues and environmental impacts. This project then, works to provide one of the most elusive forms of sustainability, urban sustainability. By providing a dense number of housing on a site, the opportunity to create more open space is made and community development is stimulated, all while providing the community of Lincoln Heights with much needed housing. The additional housing is made from recycled shipping containers arranged to give each resident a garden roof plot as well as adequate direct sunlight. Each container points towards one central node, uniting the local residence as well as the larger Lincoln Heights population. This central node becomes the heart of susDensity in which public space is attributed to vast resources of local amenities and connects susDensity with larger nodes such as Pasadena and Los Angeles.
Final Competition Board
Our final competition boards. Click to view a larger PDF.