Office & Social
El Pueblo / Chinatown, Los Angeles
40,000 sq ft
2022
Located right at the heart of one of Los Angeles' most historic areas, between the traditional "el Pueblo" settlement and Chinatown, "Framework", or the USC Social Justice Center, considers how to harmoniously and sensitively integrate a large office building into such a complex urban and cultural context, while also serving as model for environmentally and socially sustainable design.
The design takes inspiration from traditional architectural elements in local cultural influences — verandas, courtyards, plazas — and rethinks them for a highrise typology. The result is expressed as a combination of cuts and setbacks in the building mass that produce elevated terraces for solitude, collaboration and relaxation. These exterior spaces also contribute greenery to an otherwise ecologically lacking area.
More subtly, details such as exposed wood structure and long colonnades suggest an architectural language inherited by the corresponding cultural context and adapted to a contemporary condition.
The design is a direct response to sustainability priorities, with ambitious use of mass timber, a form that responds directly to solar exposure, and carefully considered mechanical and envelope systems.
In the interior, open spaces and vertical connectivity, accomodated by a detached service core, maximize comfort, collaboration, and flexibility even within the constraints of a small site.
