Porous Space

This project utilizes a liminal space to provide housing and resources for homeless individuals. Situated underneath the San Bernardino Freeway in a low-income neighborhood on the border of Downtown’s industrial district next the Los Angeles River, my design seeks to connect the designed, natural, and human networks that constitutes this region’s unique urban fabric. First, by utilizing publicly zoned space beneath and next to a freeway, my design activates an area devoid of nature, public services, and industry to provide housing for individuals that cannot find adequate lodging in the existing urban conditions. Second, the heavily shaded area underneath the overpass is leveraged to create an interface between social and material systems by use of a mat scheme. Third, the porosity and structural tectonics of the slab/mat scheme integrate natural systems into the built and human environment, allowing sunlight to permeate throughout the project.