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ARCH 502A: LARGE MODELS AND DRAWINGS

Instructor: Jimenez Lai

A Highrise of Parks

A Highrise of Parks reclaims the abandoned towers of Oceanwide Plaza in‬ ‭ Downtown Los Angeles, transforming them into a vertical public park. Instead of building across‬ ‭ the city, the park stacks upward—an inversion of the traditional horizontal greenway. A new‬ ‭ supporting core is inserted to house both essential back-of-house infrastructure and public‬ ‭ programs that enrich the park experience. Each level becomes part of a distinct “world” , shaped‬ ‭ by height, light, and view. Once envisioned as a privatized mixed-use complex, the site is‬ ‭ reimagined as a civic offering—restoring green space to the public and reintegrating the towers‬ ‭ into the fabric of the city.‬