丨美国加利福尼亚

Sun King Supportive Housing

In the City of Los Angeles homelessness is not isolated to urban conditions. Across the region, the crisis has spilled out into its neighborhoods, where homeless housing has increasingly become a necessity.

LOHA’s Sun King Affordable Housing project is located in Sun Valley, a Los Angeles neighborhood (about 15 miles north of Downtown), in the San Fernando Valley. The project is part of the City's effort to provide permanent shelter for those in need. For this 26-unit supportive housing project, we are working with non-profit housing developer, Many Mansions, to house 100 formerly homeless individuals and families earning less than 30% of the area median income (AMI.)

The project is located on a vacant unimproved corner parcel sited between homes and a cluster of four-story apartment blocks. Our 4-story project aims to bridge the scale of its disparate neighbors, by breaking down the building’s massing and staggering the height of the buildings.

With the goal of elevating the health and well-being of the residents, the design promotes openness and porosity over containment and isolation. One of the primary design strategies is to segment the massing into three uniform bands, which brings abundant natural light and ventilation to all units. Shared spaces are located on each of the floors, which encourages community interaction.

As a way to bridge residents and neighbors, we employ a number of design strategies that create a layer of transparency and connectivity between them. The entrance to the building is accessed through a widened staircase that opens the building towards the street to foster a sense of community within the neighborhood. The stoop serves as a gathering space and a public gesture, encouraging the types of resident and neighborhood interaction often missing in supportive housing. By physically connecting the residents to the street, we bring the inside out and the outside in, allowing residents to bare witness to their surroundings.

On the interior of the building, all circulation is accessed through interconnected courtyard spaces that include a children’s playground and rooftop terrace with adjoining community room. This communal space will facilitate programming opportunities that support the transition from homelessness into a more stable lifestyle. The addition of an outdoor edible garden offers further opportunities to promote healthy eating and fitness, as well as engagement among residents and families.

The use of terracotta shingle on the exterior facade, additionally brings contrast to the lush green vegetation of the natural surrounding landscape.

Status:

Built

Location:

Sun Valley, CA, US

Firm Role:

Architect

Additional Credits:

Principal-in-Charge: Lorcan O'Herlihy

Project Director: Ian Dickenson

Project Lead: Jason King

Project Team: Nick Hopson, Ying Qi Chen, Lyannie Tran

Project Assist: Chris Gassaway, Kevin Murray

Photographer: Eric Staudenmaier

Landscape: Tina Chee Landscape Studio

MEP: IMEG

Structural: KFSE

Client: Many Mansions