IVRV | Los Angeles, California, USA | 2015

Architect: SCI Arc
Design Studio Leader: Darin Johnstone
Client: Habitat for Humanity LA
Contractor: Habitat for Humanity LA
Photographer: Joshua White

This house is the result of a collaboration between a renowned experimental school of architecture and a world-famous affordable housing developer.

It represents the coalescence of two complimentary missions; to educate Architects who will imagine and shape the future and to provide safe, decent, affordable housing for all.

The house is intended to challenge the status quo of sustainable / affordable housing in both form and content.

The student designed and constructed project strives to answer a typical residential program in an atypical way. It stands as an incredibly successful pedagogical endeavor and shining hope for what sustainable / affordable housing could be.

The program is very simple.

It is an affordable single-family residence for a US Army Veteran, his wife and two children. It consists of 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms in 1200 square feet.

Through the design process an additional 700 square feet of protected indoor / outdoor courtyard was added. The project site is a compact 4,387 square foot lot in South Los Angeles.

The narrow 32’ width of the lot and the reality of crime in the neighborhood were distinct challenges presented by the site and context.

The unique characteristics of the house are the result of two main drivers.

The first is the real context of the site; In a residential neighborhood where crime is a reality the typical built response comes in the form of bars on windows and fences at the front of the property. This design response strives to create an alternative form of sanctuary. What appears to be the front of the house is actually a thickened threshold to an indoor-outdoor entry court protected from the realities of the street.

The second, and perhaps stronger of the two drivers, is the sustainability of the design. The client matters and this story is unique and is one of the most important aspects of the project. The design champions the idea that beyond the crucial role of providing shelter, a well-designed home can help improve the lives and well-being of its residents, as well as the community beyond its walls. The project began as a collaboration between a school of architecture and an affordable housing developer fostered by the county community development commission.

The county donated the land for the project and put the school and the developer together to promote innovation in housing as a tool for revitalization. The complementary strengths of the collaborators made for a robust design process. With the input of the developer the school ran three project studios, one for design, one for development and documentation and one for construction.

Towards the end of the documentation studio a ‘client’ was selected for the project. A US Army Veteran, his wife and two children would become the owners of the design. The clients gave the project life.

They became champions, collaborators and constructors, side by side with the students. Additionally, engagement with residents, and the local community played a vital role in the student design-build process. The students, along with the developer, engaged in a process of community-based involvement and resident input and volunteering on site that will undoubtedly have a meaningful impact on subsequent projects in the community and the students’ future careers in architecture.

The form of the house comes from an exploration of an unadorned extruded two-story gable roof profile. The gable roof profile was a compelling starting point because of the iconic power of it and its relationship to conventional residential construction. The extruded geometry was challenged through a series of design operations to make it work differently than a conventional house.

The south elevation is tilted to thicken the wall for added insulation and to provide shading for the inset windows.

The north end roof at the front of the house is ‘cut’ to provide northern top light into a balcony, a bedroom and the entry courtyard. The east and west sides of the house have ‘eco-screens’ set into the facade and roof. These performative openings create a protected outdoor environment.

Sustainability was a key driver in the design of the project. The design synthesizes sustainable features into an overall aesthetic exemplified in the form of the house and the ‘eco-screen’ that encloses the entry court.

The ‘eco-screens’ are a layered system. The black exterior metal panels are designed to have thin film photo-voltaic applied to them. The pre-fabricated middle structure (in grey) is made up of steel tubing and uni-strut. The inner layer (in white) is made of vinyl strips coated in TI02 to capture and neutralize harmful particulates in the air.

The screens are a new kind of trellis that shade the courtyard, capture energy and clean the air. In addition to the photo-voltaic system and the passive air filtration included in the ‘eco-screen’ the house is energy star certified and water conservation oriented with a grey water system, pervious paving and drought tolerant planting.

The affordable housing developers’ mission to create safe decent affordable housing for all was augmented by the students desire to create something beautiful, daring and sustainable for a specific family.