Fields of Knowledge

The FrogTown Library was a project designed for a site along the LA River in the Elysian Valley neighborhood of central Los Angeles. Elysian Valley known as Frogtown once had a rich history of agriculture and farming, but that legacy has largely disappeared due to the dense urbanization of LA. Today, Frogtown remains a predominantly minority owned neighborhood facing many of the common challenges that affect similar communities. One major issue I focused on was the fact that Frogtown has become a food desert, limiting residents' access to fresh, natural foods, an ironic contrast to the area’s past abundance of healthy agricultural resources. This tension became one of the central concepts for the library design. I focused on integrating vertical farming into the program and used the idea of peeling up and pushing down fields as inspiration for the building’s massing. This allowed the main library space to be set partially underground, creating a naturally shaded, cooler environment protected from the harsh summer sun. At the same time, the roof of the library blends seamlessly into the adjacent park on the southwest side of the site. A core idea in my approach to architecture is finding ways for buildings to coexist with green space not taking it away from the community, but instead contributing to it and enhancing it.