Timber Village

For this project, we were tasked with designing a residential apartment complex oriented around a new LA Metro stop in the neighborhood of Little Tokyo. The community was to be centered around public transit and function as a car-free complex. One of the main aspects of my design was to create a small village within a dense urban setting. Because the complex would be car-free, I wanted to incorporate a little bit of everything a person or family might need: housing, markets, restaurants, a gym, and a community hub specifically for residents. Since the site is located in Little Tokyo, I was especially drawn to using mass timber and CLT for the design. This led me to lay out a 12’ by 12’ grid across the site, starting perpendicular to the transit station. I then designed five different unit types and scattered them throughout the grid I had created, all while considering circulation and focusing the layout around a central community gathering space.