Densifying single-family neighborhoods in Los Angeles

The response to a competition organized by the office of the Major of Los Angeles is a catalog of freestanding structures that share a common ground. The ambition of the project is to update early 20th century missing middle typologies such as the cottage court, in order to provide a contemporary equivalent attuned to today’s ways of life. In their variable arrangements, these pocket communities provide both intimacy for each dweller and a feeling of community, while allowing different densities and unit mixes in different sites. From a development perspective, pocket communities are an ideal solution for Community Land Trusts, as they can be structured through a single long-term lease for the land with individual mortgages for each of the structures, contributing to create a pathway to homeownership and helping to preserve the long-term affordability of underserved communities.