Responding to an urgent need in Los Angeles for housing catered to formerly homeless veterans and chronically homeless and low-income households, LOHA is collaborating with Clifford Beers Housing to transform a vacant, unimproved lot in South LA into a 100% affordable multi-unit housing community for 26 individuals and families.
LOHA’s design for MLK1101 Supportive Housing aims to create an environment that encourages health and community, acknowledging that successful social spaces come through a variety of planned and organic strategies. LOHA implements several design strategies that open the building towards the street and foster a sense of community within the neighborhood. LOHA capitalizes on a requirement for on-site parking to create an elevated community garden and social hub for residents and neighbors.
LOHA’s design will further integrate the building into the community by establishing a street presence through a storefront space and a widened staircase that connects the street to the community spaces one level up. This stoop is a gathering space and a public gesture, encouraging the types of resident and neighborhood interaction often missing in supporting housing.
All the units for MLK1101 Supportive Housing are accessed through exterior walkways. While the unit layouts are efficiently identical on each floor, the walkways vary in width for a more dynamic, staggered elevation and to create informal gathering spaces and opportunities for residents to socialize.
Further advancing previous experience working with Clifford Beers Housing and other supportive housing organizations like the Skid Row Housing Trust, LOHA’s design acknowledges the successful track record these housing complexes have had with bringing supportive services in-house. MLK1101 Supportive Housing will feature supportive service offices and community spaces, including a rooftop patio, outdoor green space, laundry and shared kitchen facilities, a community garden, and various other amenities. This project is seeking LEED Platinum Certification and recently began construction.
Los Angeles
United States of America
Clifford Beers Housing
3530 mq
Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects
Lorcan O’Herlihy (Principal), Nick Hopson (PD), Dana Lydon, Donnie Schmidt, Santiago Tolosa, Ghazal Khezri, Chris Gassaway, Christopher Lim
Curriculum
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects [LOHA] harnesses the complexities and latent opportunities of urban society to create transformative architecture. Our work is driven by ruthless optimism, creative pragmatism, and a profound conviction that bold, enlightened design elevates the soul and enriches communities.
We balance ideals and pragmatics, intuition and logic, radical visions and fulfilled expectations. We ground our process in rigorous exploration, persistent questioning, and technical expertise. We craft distinctive, sustainable, elegantly resolved designs that meet the needs of our clients and respond to broader civic and social ambitions.
Since 1994, LOHA has built over 85 projects across three continents. Our diverse work ranges from large, mixed-use developments and university residential complexes to art galleries and bus shelters. LOHA has been published in over 20 countries and recognized with over 100 awards, including the AIA Los Angeles Firm of the Year.
