Brownstone Hotel: Los Angeles, CA

Brownstone is a paragon for adaptive reuse in an urban setting

An example of a converted SRO housing development that was once a dilapidated hotel early 1900s.

Strong effort to decrease gentrification

Significance : • View looking east towards main entrance (Heart of Skid Row)

Brownstone Hotel: Los Angeles, CA

Architect: Killefer Flammang ArchitectsLayout: 22,800 sq.ft. of 48 units on three floors

Amenities: private baths and cooking facilities, an entertainment room, community room, outdoor

courtyard, and lobby

SRO housing-It is 24 developments in the Central City East

Community of Downtown Las AngelesThey provide special need housing for single occupancy residents and strive not only to

provide housing but to renew the community

http://www.srohousing.org/

Do you think a development like this is viable all over the nation?

Are there any similar developments in our area?

Shigeru Ban – Paper Log House In Kobe, China an earthquake caused

massive homelessness.A lot of design energy was directed towards

this disaster relief area.Do you feel this is a good design

solution for non-disaster homeless people?

Built Examples

Built Example: SOMA Studios (SRO/Affordable Housing)

CitizenshipThe project redefines who affordable housing and SROS are for. A diversity of residence choices are available – 1, 2, and 3 bedroom units – so as to accommodate for the various phases building occupants may be at in their “normalization.” The project also focuses on the right to good design and aesthetically exciting architecture. These sorts of “normal” features will likely make transition back into mainstream society more feasible.

WorldviewThe SOMA Studios change the attitudes of what low-income housing is supposed to look like and how it’s supposed to function. Rather than introducing a dreary facility that might traditionally drag a neighborhood down, the project acts as a central catalyst in redefining the SOMO district through it’s startling aesthetic vision. In this case, “NIMBY” attitudes aren’t nearly as prominent.

Public SphereThe project makes apparent the opportunity for the built environment to change negative stigmas. Attractive, well-designed facilities can not only reform personal attitudes of the underprivileged building occupants – thus accelerating the “normalization” process – but can also reform attitudes of the wider community. Also, community amenities, both a ground floor daycare center and the Harvest Urban Market, are introduced to better integrate the residents with the surrounding neighborhood and vice versa. Physical elements and spatial features are integral in changing worldviews and redefining “special needs” citizenship.

Built Example: Near North Apartments (SRO Housing)

-96 unit SRO for limited income, homeless, and disabled citizens

-Emphasizes the importance of community and sustainable living (subsidized housing)

-Design includes a number of gathering areas with pleasant living arrangements

-Inviting spacious rooms with a warm interior color template

-Floor to ceiling height windows provide great views of the city skyline and more than adequate natural daylighting

-LEED Silver rating with a number of green features

-rooftop solar energy panels

-rainwater collection for on site irrigation

-reuse of graywater

-giant wind turbines for heating and cooling

Built Example: Sarah• Fall Creek Place

– Half of all these homes are sold as affordable housing. Affordable housing, in this instance in particular, means that the buyers earned at or below 80 percent of Indianapolis’ median income

– Homes have sold for as low as $94,000 and as high as $400,000– There is no distinction made between homes that are affordable and

those that are not

Built Example: Sarah• Fall Creek Place

– Half of all these homes are sold as affordable housing. Affordable housing, in this instance in particular, means that the buyers earned at or below 80 percent of Indianapolis’ median income

– Homes have sold for as low as $94,000 and as high as $400,000– There is no distinction made between homes that are affordable and

those that are not

Built Example: Sarah• Fall Creek Place

– earned four national awards of excellence in planning, design and community development

Built Example: Sycamore St. Co-op Housing• Pyatok Architects Inc.

– This community was designed with and for lower income families (below 60% median income), so they could comfortably fit into a neighborhood of higher income households.

• Awards– Grand Award for Excellence in Design – Best in American Living Award 1998– Focus on Affordability Award – 1998 Builders Choice Grand Award, – Golden Nugget Awards,1998– Best Multi-Family Housing

• Site– The site was subdivided to create

commercial space along a major thoroughfare with the remainder set aside for 60 units of housing, a child-care center for 40 children, and a community facility.

• Data– Townhomes over Ground-Level Flats– Tax Credit Rental– 60 Two, Three, and Four Bdrm Units– Childcare & Community Center On-

Site– Construction Cost: $5.8 million– Total Project Area: 66,913 sf

Built Example: Sycamore St. Co-op Housing

SRO housing-It is 24 developments in the Central City East

Community of Downtown Las AngelesThey provide special need housing for single

occupancy residents and strive not only to provide housing but to renew the community

http://www.srohousing.org/

Do you think a development like this is viable all over the nation?

Are there any similar developments in our area?

Shigeru Ban – Paper Log House In Kobe, China an earthquake caused

massive homelessness.A lot of design energy was directed towards

this disaster relief area.Do you feel this is a good design

solution for non-disaster homeless people?

Built Examples

Built Example: paraSITE Shelters

•Temporary homeless shelter designed by artist Michael Rakowitz

•Inflatable, portable homeless shelter

•Utilizes building HVAC expulsion to inflate and heat the unit

•Designed as a shelter that does not discriminate or cater to one demographic of homeless, but meant as a way for everyone have access to shelter

•Embraces the homeless rather than turning them away or keeping them out of site

•Unique parent-host relationship gives usage to building systems

Built Example: Mobile Shelters Bike Trailers

•Shelters that fold down and can be moved around attached to a bicycle

•Bike trailers also provide a way to move personal items from place to place

•Provides a personalized sense of “home” through a constant shelter even though location may vary

•Give homeless people a semi-permanent element in their lives

•These structures are more acceptable in our society than a cardboard box shelter and isn’t targeted by police in emptying parks and public spaces

•The homeless can have pride in their new “home”

paraSITE

Location: Started in Cambridge, MA; Spread to New York, Baltimore, Boston

Designer: Michael Rakowitz [http://michaelrakowitz.com/parasite/]

Cost/unit: $5 or lessMaterials: Layers of plastic bags, Ziploc

sandwich bags, and tape

Michael M. using his paraSITE shelter in New York. He wanted to respond to an obscure anti-tent by-law being enforced by the Giuliani administration, which stated that any structure 3.5 feet or taller set up on city property would be considered an illegal encampment.

We designed it more like a sleeping bag. Thus, if questioned by the police, he could argue that the law did not apply because the shelter was not, in fact, a tent. On more than one occasion, Michael was confronted by police officers. After measuring his shelter, the officers moved on.

Architecture for Humanity. 2006. Design Like You Give Damn. New York City, NY: Architecture for Humanity.Rakowitz, Michael. 2009. http://michaelrakowitz.com/parasite/ (accessed November 1, 2009).

http://michaelrakowitz.com/parasite/0048_291/

http://michaelrakowitz.com/parasite/0048_291/

paraSITE

Citizenship: • To the user a parasite shelter symbolize a refusal to

surrender to the life one faces in the welfare and shelter systems. It provides a sense of independence and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Worldview: • The structure makes a big statement by trying to “un-

hind” the homeless to see how big the problem really is. This structure presents a symbolic strategy of survival for homeless existence within the city, amplifying the problematic relationship between those who have homes and those who do not have homes.

Public Sphere: • For the pedestrian, the structure functions as a conflict

device, instigating a relationship between those who have homes and those who do not.

The windows are made of Ziploc sandwich bags and serve as pockets to display personal items

and signage for the public. Privacy and publicity can be regulated by adding or removing objects.

Architecture for Humanity. 2006. Design Like You Give Damn. New York City, NY: Architecture for Humanity.Rakowitz, Michael. 2009. http://michaelrakowitz.com/parasite/ (accessed November 1, 2009).

http://michaelrakowitz.com/parasite/0048_291/

http://michaelrakowitz.com/parasite/0048_291/

http://michaelrakowitz.com/parasite/0048_291/

• Description :• - The first capsule hotel is located in Osaka City and opened

on Feb 1, 1979. Its name is "Capsule Inn.” It was designed by Kisho Kurokawa, a famous Japanese architect. Because the rent is only 1600 yen per night (less than 2 dollars) and more expensive ones have risen to 3000 to 5000 yen per night (about 3-5 dollars), capsule hotels remain the cheapest lodging.

• - A Japanese capsule hotel is a very cheap type of hotel, also called a "box hotel." If needed, guests can lock their luggage in the closet, and then check in with vending machines. Although the bedroom is small, it has enough space to sleep comfortably. The sleeper compartments are 2 meters by 1.25 meters and 1.80 meters in height. Adults do not have problems turning over, or sitting up. The capsules, occupied only by one person, also include a bed, desk, television monitors, radio, and wireless Internet.

• Description :• - The first capsule hotel is located in Osaka City and opened

on Feb 1, 1979. Its name is "Capsule Inn.” It was designed by Kisho Kurokawa, a famous Japanese architect. Because the rent is only 1600 yen per night (less than 2 dollars) and more expensive ones have risen to 3000 to 5000 yen per night (about 3-5 dollars), capsule hotels remain the cheapest lodging.

• - A Japanese capsule hotel is a very cheap type of hotel, also called a "box hotel." If needed, guests can lock their luggage in the closet, and then check in with vending machines. Although the bedroom is small, it has enough space to sleep comfortably. The sleeper compartments are 2 meters by 1.25 meters and 1.80 meters in height. Adults do not have problems turning over, or sitting up. The capsules, occupied only by one person, also include a bed, desk, television monitors, radio, and wireless Internet.

Built Example: Capsule Inn

Mo Han & Shan Shan Li

• Citizenship• - In Capsule Inn, although each people just have 2 square meters,

sanitation is not neglected because of the capsule’s lower price. Regardless of whether the pod is used or not, bed sheets, pillow covers and other bed materials are changed every day. However, the "capsule" which has fairly complete living facilities, and is perhaps even humanizing, has solved the urgent needs of a lot of "people who don’t want to go back home" or become "homeless."

• Worldview• - When the first Capsule hotel was built, it was only allowed men

and Japanese to stay in. During these years, because of the increasing in travel volume, women are now, in conjunction with more foreign tourists, allowed to stay in a capsule hotel. Today, capsule hotel s become one of the attractions in Japan. Tourists even need to make a reservation in season.

• Public Sphere• - Presumably to ensure air circulation inside the capsule, there is

no door for the capsule, only a shutter to separate the privacy of visitors. Of course, the breathable shutter does not block every disturbing noise. In a capsule the customer hears, the indistinct sound of toilets flushing and showers flowing because they are close to the room comes from not far away. At night, the corridor is full of the snoring so that many passengers have to use ear plugs.

• Citizenship• - In Capsule Inn, although each people just have 2 square meters,

sanitation is not neglected because of the capsule’s lower price. Regardless of whether the pod is used or not, bed sheets, pillow covers and other bed materials are changed every day. However, the "capsule" which has fairly complete living facilities, and is perhaps even humanizing, has solved the urgent needs of a lot of "people who don’t want to go back home" or become "homeless."

• Worldview• - When the first Capsule hotel was built, it was only allowed men

and Japanese to stay in. During these years, because of the increasing in travel volume, women are now, in conjunction with more foreign tourists, allowed to stay in a capsule hotel. Today, capsule hotel s become one of the attractions in Japan. Tourists even need to make a reservation in season.

• Public Sphere• - Presumably to ensure air circulation inside the capsule, there is

no door for the capsule, only a shutter to separate the privacy of visitors. Of course, the breathable shutter does not block every disturbing noise. In a capsule the customer hears, the indistinct sound of toilets flushing and showers flowing because they are close to the room comes from not far away. At night, the corridor is full of the snoring so that many passengers have to use ear plugs.

Built Example: Capsule Inn

Mo Han & Shan Shan Li