Los Angeles, California, USA
The proposed 35 unit, 25,000sf residential cooperative offers affordable housing units from 300sf starter studios to 1,050sf 2-bedroom units for sale. Different types of units address living at various stages of life. Multi-bedroom, 2-story units for families are mixed with affordable starter studio units, and ADA accessible/senior units. Adjacencies of the residential units to the lockout units, a community café, and nursing station allow for live-work units.
Coop Towers won a Future House Award 2025 from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and Global Design News.
The low profile cross-laminated-timber structure fits eight floor levels with 8’-6” interior finish ceiling heights within the 70ft zoning envelop. Carving out mass from the center of the residential high-rise creates a sheltered shared ‘Family Roof Garden’. Additional ground floor gardens border the low-density neighborhood at the east, south, and west. The street facing ‘Community Café’ is fully operable with accordion-style storefronts inviting the surrounding community into the cooperative.
The ‘Skip-Stop’ elevator eliminates the hallway on every other floor which provides additional usable area and increases community interactions. Shared spaces and gardens are grouped into clusters located on three levels the Skip-Stop elevator stops.
The development is based on a regular 20ft primary north/south and 10ft secondary east/west grid, typical spans mass timber construction. The stacked unit layout and short structural span reduce cost while maximizing efficiency.
Mass timber construction is also proposed for it’s a low carbon footprint. The all-electric development includes a solar panel array on the high roof mounted over heat pumps and storage batteries. Heat pump water heaters are located centrally in the mechanical space under the pool. All dwelling units have access to south, east, or west-facing private ‘Wintergardens’ and shared gardens.
Corrugated sheet metal siding over a fire-resistant substrate and stucco clad wintergardens with tempered glass openings create a non-flammable building envelope. Outdoor spaces feature gravel surfaces with carefully selected fire-resistant plants such as Live Oaks and Palm Trees.
Architects: Standard Architecture | Design
Design Team: Silvia Kuhle, Jeffrey Allsbrook, Christopher Andras, Thomas Pompeani, Madelyn Rosen, Piper Shannahan, and James Skarzenski
Client: cityLAB UCLA
Photographs: Courtesy of the Architects
