A vision for community and equity at a Metro stop.

This mixed-use, high-density affordable housing development synthesizes overlapping and complex site constraints and codes to create a strong backdrop for transit commuters and an expanded sense of outdoor space for residents. The site is located in East Hollywood, one of LA’s densest, most ethnically diverse neighborhoods; and wraps a rail station which opened in 1999, featuring a pink granite plaza and a signature elliptical portal to platforms below. It was not until 2017, when the new adjacent land owner approached the local transit authority with the idea of combining their properties, that a vision for a joint-use community hub emerged.

Designed in conformance with the LA City Station Neighborhood Area Plan, the project recognizes the civic nature of transit stations by leveraging housing to frame the plaza as an active outdoor space for residents, the community, and transit riders. Much needed density (150 du/ac affordable housing above retail, including a food hall with local vendors) rings the station and extends along the street to the west and south. Stairs, bridges and distributed amenities in resident open space (including play areas, laundry, picnic tables, community rooms, and space for supportive services) are placed to encourage social interaction and foster an active lifestyle. The cascading planting uses green space to soften the station plaza. This borrowed landscape works to camouflage the density of the new development, connect the social life of the housing to public life below, and increase activity and visibility that improves safety for all.

A density bonus through the Los Angeles Transit-Oriented Communities program allows for 187 units, ranging in size from studios to three-bedrooms. Limiting unit types to just five facilitates cost effectiveness through standardization. A high-performing building envelope with strategic passive shading yields a projected building energy use 25% below code requirements, with onsite renewable energy production providing 33% of overall energy use. Paired with a transit-friendly location, the design of this affordable, supportive housing furthers sustainability goals and quality of life.

Drawing from Los Angeles’ long tradition of brightly painted vernacular buildings and incorporating breeze block, sunshades, profiled metal siding, and balconies that add texture and amenity, design details animate and weave the project into its varied context. Santa Monica Vermont Apartments eschews the formulaic, continuous “streetwall” developments that characterize Los Angeles’ recent midrise housing. Moving beyond planning guidelines that reference dated trends, Santa Monica Vermont proposes a new vision that reflects a West Coast metropolis moving forward.

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HOUSING TOUR: KONING EIZENBERG'S SMV APARTMENTS

By The Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design

HOUSING TOUR: KONING EIZENBERG'S SMV APARTMENTS