COMMERCIAL + PUBLIC SPACE
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA, United States
PROGRAM: Management Offices and Training Facilities
STATUS: Completed in 2011
SIZE: 4,100 SF
TEAM: Lorcan O'Herlihy (Principal), Donnie Schmidt (PD), Alex Morassut (PM)
CLIENT: Skid Row Housing Trust
PHOTOGRAPHY: Lawrence Anderson
The Skid Row district of downtown Los Angeles accommodates the nation’s largest stable homeless population. As part of an on-going collaboration with the Skid Row Housing Trust [SRHT], a non-profit that provides permanent supportive housing within the neighborhood, LOHA designed a management office that doubles as space for rehabilitative training and community empowerment efforts.
The SRHT management headquarters are a tenant improvement project embedded within the landscape of Skid Row. Working with a low budget, LOHA took the ready-made architecture of a warehouse space and utilized off-the-shelf materials to create a custom lighting installation.
The refreshingly scenographic experience conceals a no-frills pre-existing structure.
In addition to encompassing the operational offices of a non-profit, the headquarters also comprise flux-spaces that often host public events and training workshops for the local community.
A material resourcefulness and eagerness to design extraordinary and essential amenities within contextual and financial parameters has been integral to LOHA’s work with the Skid Row Housing Trust.
LOHA’s relationship with SRHT has additionally yielded three pro-bono studies for housing in distressed areas along downtown’s Skid Row. The provision of permanent homes for the homeless population is a fundamental step to developing a culture of urban pride, connectivity, and rehabilitation.
