Los Angeles
The 28th Street YMCA opened in Los Angeles in 1926 on an upbeat: the Spanish Colonial Revival building offered the African-American community a sparkling recreational facility with an indoor pool and affordable accommodations for young men who were migrating from other regions (and prevented by color barriers from staying at ordinary hotels). Philanthropist Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone, a black entrepreneur who amassed a fortune from hair pomades, was one high-profile donor. And the building's designer was Paul Revere Williams (1894'1980), the first registered African-American architect west of the Mississippi. His celebrated output would eventually range from mansions for Hollywood stars, including Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball, to hospitals, hotels, and even Los Angeles airport's 1961 Jetson-style restaurant building. But the YMCA was an early work, introducing a commitment to affordable housing that would reemerge throughout his career.
This four-story concrete building became a city, state, and national landmark, but by 2009, when the nonprofit developer Clifford Beers Housing (CBH) acquired the property, it was in serious disrepair, the residential quarters shuttered. CBH engaged Santa Monica'based Koning Eizenberg Architecture (KEA) to revive the structure and create quality permanent housing, with supportive services, for low-income tenants, including a mentally ill and chronically homeless population. Monthly rent is one-third of each tenant's income.
Drawing on archival photos and documents with the help of the preservation consultant Historic Resources Group, the firm restored original architectural features and replicated lost elements, such as the facade's balcony and some of its cast-concrete medallions. For the $11.9 million project, financed with tax credits and public funds, the architects cleverly inserted a 14-inch-deep level between the first and second floors to integrate new building systems. Upgrading to ADA standards, they reconfigured the 52 existing single-room-occupancy units into 24 studio apartments, each with its own kitchen and bathroom, and created ground-floor community spaces, as well as a slim new steel-and-wood-framed wing with 25 additional studios, for a total of 38,300 square feet.
KEA deftly played modern against vintage. The roof deck, a lounge that connects the new and old buildings, has a vermilion elastomeric surface—a riff on Williams's terra-cotta roof tiles. And the aluminum sunscreen that shades and visually dematerializes the new wing has a perforated pattern abstracted from the main entrance's 1920s bas-reliefs. The gymnasium has been refurbished, but to accommodate a residents' lounge the architects filled in the pool, leaving its outline and mosaic surrounds visible. Encapsulated in geo-textile and foam board beneath fill with a concrete cap, the pool could someday regain its original use.
With such sustainable features as a solar hot-water system and an electricity-generating 38.7-kilowatt photovoltaic array, the project is on track for LEED Gold certification.
KEA reinterpreted the building's original, and still much-needed, role. “It's not exactly adaptive reuse—it was housing then, and it's housing now,” says firm principal Julie Eizenberg. “You've got to respect what a huge story the place was for this community in its day. We definitely didn't want to lose that.”
Completion Date: January 2013
Gross square footage:
33,680 sq ft (New: 11,000, Rehab: 22,680)
Total construction cost: $11,928,761
PeopleOwner: Location: Completion Date: January 2013 Gross square footage: Total construction cost: $11,928,761 Architect: Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit: Design Principal: Julie Eizenberg, AIA Technical Principal: Hank Koning, FAIA, FRAIA, LEED AP Project Architect: Paul Miller, RA, LEED AP Project Team: Robert Fabijaniak, AIA; Gina Grillo; Crystal Chan, AIA, LEED AP; Jason Ro; Roderick Villafranca, RA, LEED AP Architect of Record: Interior designer: Engineer(s): Soils: Geotechnologies, Inc. Civil: VCA Engineers, Inc. Mechanical/Plumbing: Khalifeh & Associates, Inc. Electrical: OMB Electrical Engineers, Inc. Consultant(s): Irrigation: Atomic Irrigation Historic Architect: Historic Resources Group Lighting: Lighting Design Alliance Signage/Graphics: Newsom Design LEED Consultant: Green Dinosaur, Inc. Land Use: Brown/Meshul Inc General contractor: Photographer(s): Renderer(s): CAD system, project management, or other software used: Revit, Sketchup |
ProductsStructural system Structural Steel: Dragon Steel, Inc. Exterior cladding Metal Panels: Tinco Sheet Metal Precast concrete (historic recreations): Spectra Company Moisture barrier: Jumbotex 60 minute paper Storefront: Arcadia Steel Troweled Plaster: Shamrock Stucco applied by Ken Harges Plastering Co. Perforated Metal Screen: C.R. Laurence Company., Inc. Exterior Paint: Sherwin Williams Intumescent Paint: Carboline Roofing Elastomeric: Mer-Ko Weather Deck by Parex Tile/shingles: (E)Historic Clay Tiles; New Tiles (to match) MCA Historic Clay Roof Tile Two Ply Torch roofing (Below Tiles): GAF Materials Corp Windows Metal frame: Historic Recreations by Spectra Company Aluminum Storefront: Arcadia installed by Zaun Glass Co., Inc. Vinyl Windows: Milgard Sliding windows Glazing Skylights: Chicken wire Skylight glass by Glas Pro; Historic Restoration of (E) skylights Spectra Co. Specialty Glass: Frit Patterned Glass by Glas Pro Ribbed Laminated Translucent Glass: Glas Pro Doors Storefront doors: Arcadia installed by Zaun Glass Co., Inc. Wood doors: Historic Recreations by Spectra Company; Historic Recreations by Davila Custom Cabinet; American Series; Bravo Sliding doors: Taylor Trim Fire-control doors, security grilles: Total Door System Elevator Smoke Curtain: Smoke Guard Upswinging doors, other: Cookson coiling doors Hardware Closers: LCN Closers Exit devices: Von Duprin Pulls: Trimco Security devices: GE security panel; Hero security cameras; VBrick video monitoring Other special hardware: DoorKing Entry System Interior finishes Suspended perforate, corrogated ceiling panels: Alpro Cabinetwork and custom woodwork: Public Space - Davila Custom Cabinet; Residential - Commercial Wood Products Co. Paints and stains: Sherwin Williams paints Wall coverings: Forbo Linoleum bulletin board Paneling: Homasote Co. Burlap Panels; Historic wood panel restoration by Spectra Co. Solid surfacing: Corian Floor and wall tile: Daltile (public restrooms) Concrete floor sealer: SealKrete Resilient flooring: Forbo Marmoleum Decibel & Real Carpet: Interface FLOR Carpet Tiles Roller Window Shades: Hunter Douglas Furnishings Housing Units, Community Room and Reception furniture: Collaborative House Fixed seating: Davila Custom Cabinet (Mangaris benches) Chairs: Haworth;Room and Board Soleil; Russell Woodard Sculptura Arm Chair; Eames; Spark Tables: Vivaterra hammered drum coffee table; Crate & Barrel outdoor dining table & bench; Room & Board; Repurposed Historic Doors for table by KEA Lighting Downlights: Hess America Messina Fan lights in Units: The Modern Fan Co. Task lighting: Elio LED desk light Exterior: Hevi Lite Inc.; Lumascape; B-K Lighting; Primus Decostring; Kenall Enviroseal; Lumenton; Shaper; Pinnacle; Cooper Industries IO LED linear Dimming System or other lighting controls: Lutron Ecosystem; LC&D Conveyance Plumbing: Energy Solar Hotwater: Sun Earth, Inc., Model EC32 Add any additional building components or special equipment that made a significant contribution to this project: Historic Cast Stone Recreations: Batchelder Tile Restoration: Historic Restoration: Historic Window Grill Recreations: Graphics: Signage: Doorbell Buttons: |
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