one-window House
Location/context: residential neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA (Venice). A corner site located at the juncture between two residential zones (R-2 and R-3). Most homes on these R-2 blocks do not exploit the full zoning potential and are used as single family dwellings only (see diagram above). The neighborhood is occupied by a mix of free-lance workers in filmaking, the arts, and some first-generation owners as well, creating an active daytime population and an IRS black hole of home offices. Property values have increased at staggering rates, causing an explosion of equity projects such as McMansions and second-floor additions aka Transformers. In terms of the broader context of Los Angeles, population is expected to increase by 6 million residents by 2010. This project seeks to responsibly address this increased density through a low-impact approach, gradually filling in the citys existing zoning to allow for managable growth in the urban core.
Site characteristics: a flat, conventionally landscaped site with an existing dwelling built in 1951. The parcel was originally zoned for two dwellings but as of 2002, still only had one. The garden included one native tree, a California alder, which was preserved. Soil characteristics were uncomplicated from a building and safety point of view, but the site is nonetheless in a liquefaction and tsunami zone. Local utilities are still above grade and the streets have sidewalks and parked cars in abundance, including nearby pedestrian-only streets (walk streets) with automobile access from back alleys.
Zoning constraints: Los Angeles is the original No Stop City, and in keeping with Archizooms 1972 manifesto, we approached our residential parkings as a statement about the sites connectivity to the 20th century urban condition and the old urbanism of Los Angeles automobile infrastructure. The project is strategically classified as a duplex, though was originally conceived as two separate dwellings in fulfillment of the R-2 zoning. To reduce and accommodate the parking requirements of the Venice Specific Plan which would have required 6 total off-street spaces on a 3,900 SF lot, we opted for a duplex, the minimum requirement of which is a 10 wide roof connection between the two dwellings. This allowed a reduction to 5 off-street parking spaces, two covered and one in tandem. Parking at the rear of the lot was permitted at an angle behind the existing dwelling, as the existing alley is too narrow for 90-degree backing up. The height limitation of 30 further constrained the project, including a flat roof limit at 25, with a varied roofline (minimum 2% slope) from 25-30. Side setbacks were modified with neighbors permission to align with the existing dwelling. The front yard setback was calculated as an average for the street.
Client/program: we built this project for ourselves. Therefore, the program was generated with several priorities in mind: architectural manifesto, growing family and re-sale value. Our target was a two-bedroom + loft, three bath home, the golden nectar of real estate on Los Angeles west side. The demand for live-work situations, legal or not, is high. By creating a permitted duplex configured as two nearly separate dwellings, the property can flexibly convert from two-families to one, with multiple opportunities for mixing uses from working, to renting to living. Architecturally, the house is a Loos raumplan box hovering over a Corbusian free-plan ground floor. It was essential that the lot not be filled with interior volume and allow a classic sequencing of indoor and outdoor spaces. Increased green space also reduces the urban heat-island effect. There is high contrast between the very public ground floor space and the very private bedrooms and outdoor terraces above. This reflects accurately on urban life in Los Angeles, where porn movies, methamphetamine and rock bands are made in the garage while the car gets washed in the front yard.
Construction systems: the house is built using a combined steel and wood frame. Structurally, steel moment and Hardy frames combine with parallel-strand lumber (PSL). Shear panels are plywood and the building is clad with corrugated and galvanized metal (see diagram at left above), cellular polycarbonate (Lexan Thermoclick by GE) and glass. Aluminum framed doors and one window complete the envelope. Interior finishes include sanded oriented strand board (OSB), diamond-polished concrete (structural slab as finish slab) and solid-surface plastics. In general, craft was valued over preciousness of materials.
Sustainable features: the principal sustainable feature of this building is its site (urban) and density (2X local average). Concrete and OSB are products that already exist in the market made from recycled scraps of materials. Heating and cooling loads are almost non-existant in the coastal micro-climate in which the bulding resides. 2 X 6 insulation and the one window used to ventilate the top floor (a de facto attic) mean eliminate the need for air conditioning. The large glazed walls of the ground floor are shaded with mylar curtains paired with a white, polyester velvet (interior side) to reflect direct solar heat gain and insulate against heat loss in the evenings. The landscape is designed exclusively with California native plants to eliminate long-term watering.
