print this article | 
e-mail this article
comment 
Agnes Lofts
The Brunson Building
Edgewood Waterfront Houses
Fahrenheit
Gardner 1050
GE5
Jægersborg Water Tower
One Hancock Square
Ocean Park Housing
PRD845
Lofts Redpath
Switch Building
The UnionGardner 1050
LOHA rethinks loft-style housing in Southern California.
Lorcan O'Herlihy conducted a series of studies to explore solutions to reinvigorate housing typologies within the speculative housing market's tight economic and spatial parameters. The Gardner 1050 housing project offers an alternative approach to loft-style housing. The units are organized to avoid the tunnel effect typical to speculative lofts, and to provide open spaces with views in a medium-density, growth-zoned area.
Based on what you have seen and read about this project, how would you grade it? Use the stars below to indicate your assessment, five stars being the highest rating.
Through simplicity of form and the selection of refined materials, the 15,000-square-foot, ten unit, three-story project maintains the relationship between indoor and outdoor living space. Visible as a cubic form wrapped around a central courtyard, the front facade features a cut-away box completed by a semi-transparent skin of cedar slats that envelops the courtyard and completes the garage entry corner. A dramatic stair clad in translucent glass provides a strong vertical element in an otherwise horizontal composition.
The ultimate strength of the project is the courtyard. Landscaped with native drought-tolerant species, stainless-steel cables creep up to the third level walkways forming scaffolding for a “hanging garden.” This vertical foliage helps to moderate the strong urban quality of the courtyard and, in conjunction with a fountain near the entry, offers a peaceful oasis open to the sky.
Formal name of project: Gardner 1050
Location: West Hollywood, California
Gross square footage: 27,000 sq.ft.
Completion Date: February 2006
Total construction cost: $2.6 million
Owner: Habitat Group Los Angeles LLC
Architect:
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA)
5709 Mesmer Avenue
Culver City, CA 90230
Office: 310-398-0394
Fax: 310-398-2675
Reader Comments:
