Go Go Metro
UCLA Spring 2009 Research Studio
Instructor: Mark Mack
With the passage of Measure R in Los Angeles County for public transit improvements and the propensity of the Obama administration to invest in public infrastructure as a form of economic stimulus, it is currently a very important time to look at these improvements not in isolation, but how they impact the urban condition and development that occurs as a result of their deployment. What needs to be pursued is a more contemporary form of transit-oriented development along the Wilshire Corridor, where the Purple Line / Subway to the Sea is currently routed. This connection would permit more lower income families as well as creative professionals to live closer to their places of employment spanning from Downtown to Westside.
This development would occur 10-15 years in the future once the subway has become operational in this area, thus permitting a higher degree of latitude in the design process. For example, there is no parking provided for the development, which encourages people to utilize the new subway line and adheres with Donald Shoup’s proposals that would allow urban areas to further densify and create improved lifestyles with the elimination of free parking requirements as provided for in the planning code. In addition, this future-based development permits exploration into currently under-utilized building materials and methods, such as precut steel frames and carbon fiber living modules, which have been proposed for decades, but may finally reach the maturity and price point for widespread use. This project seeks to constantly blend the old with the new, by tapping into a revitalized subway system much like development occurred prior to dismantling of the Red Car system, by rethinking high modernist era principles and techniques such as Le Corbusier’s section for the Unité de Habitation in Marseilles, and by pursuing material and form exploration in the vein of Archigram and Ali Rahim.
Instructor: Mark Mack
With the passage of Measure R in Los Angeles County for public transit improvements and the propensity of the Obama administration to invest in public infrastructure as a form of economic stimulus, it is currently a very important time to look at these improvements not in isolation, but how they impact the urban condition and development that occurs as a result of their deployment. What needs to be pursued is a more contemporary form of transit-oriented development along the Wilshire Corridor, where the Purple Line / Subway to the Sea is currently routed. This connection would permit more lower income families as well as creative professionals to live closer to their places of employment spanning from Downtown to Westside.
This development would occur 10-15 years in the future once the subway has become operational in this area, thus permitting a higher degree of latitude in the design process. For example, there is no parking provided for the development, which encourages people to utilize the new subway line and adheres with Donald Shoup’s proposals that would allow urban areas to further densify and create improved lifestyles with the elimination of free parking requirements as provided for in the planning code. In addition, this future-based development permits exploration into currently under-utilized building materials and methods, such as precut steel frames and carbon fiber living modules, which have been proposed for decades, but may finally reach the maturity and price point for widespread use. This project seeks to constantly blend the old with the new, by tapping into a revitalized subway system much like development occurred prior to dismantling of the Red Car system, by rethinking high modernist era principles and techniques such as Le Corbusier’s section for the Unité de Habitation in Marseilles, and by pursuing material and form exploration in the vein of Archigram and Ali Rahim.
looking west down Wilshire toward La Brea Station
view north along Orange Dr
courtyard with terraces for ground level units
most units feature a double height living space
thickened Pod wall creates stair, kitchen, and bath
study area along proposed purple line subway route
six sites selected for prototype study
site six: fringe between commercial and residential
site / first floor plan
third and fourth floor plans
organizational strategies
Unite transformed
longitudinal section
longitudinal section
transverse section
exploded axon of building component systems
ConXTech steel frame details
carbon fiber living pods
carbon fiber add-on pods
solar panel capabilities