✕

Los Angeles–based firm Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects, in partnership with the nonprofit developer Holos Communities, designed and constructed a 54-apartment housing project on a challenging triangular site that hugs one of the world’s busiest freeway interchanges. The parcel is among over 1,700 owned by the city of Los Angeles that were made available for affordable development, following a series of initiatives to solve the ongoing housing shortage, in 2017. The 35,000-square-foot project consists of 16 staggered towers comprising modular and stacked 480-square-foot units. These volumes are connected by walkways and stairs to unify the structure. At the center, there is a communal green space, and, between the housing block and the highway interchange is a paseo—a promenade with plantings, fronted by storefronts for job training, retail, and support services. On several of the rooftops, there are community gardens for urban farming.

Photo © Eric Staudenmaier, click to enlarge.

“Isla Intersections illustrates how prefabricated methods can be harnessed to create unique geometries, far from typical double-loaded corridor bar buildings. Here, the modular units are cleverly arranged to create a courtyard, generating both interest for the exterior as well as shelter from the surrounding traffic on this tricky pie-shaped site.”

- David Farnsworth