Gardner 1050 / Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects

Architects: LOHA Architects
Location: West Hollywood, California, USA
Principal in Charge: Lorcan O’Herlihy
Project Team: Kevin Southerland, Tracy Smith, Franka Diehnelt
Contractor: Archetype, Inc.
Client: Habitat Group Los Angeles, LLC
Project year: 2006
Photographs: Lawrence Anderson

As a model of courtyard housing development, Gardner 1050 utilizes a variety of design strategies to elevate it above the more mundane infill developments typical of speculative housing. The project’s location just south of Santa Monica Boulevard creates a unique opportunity to add to the burgeoning urbanism of the eastern section of West Hollywood.

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 offers a peaceful respite in a courtyard that opens to the sky. On the western (front) facade, the cut-away box is completed by a semi-transparent skin of cedar slats enveloping the courtyard and completing the corner at the garage entry.

The stair is clad in translucent glass provides a strong vertical element in an otherwise predominantly horizontal composition. This stair functions as an entry marker and provides a subdued lantern like quality at night further enhancing the overall quality of the project. The primary materials for the project consist of a painted cement board cladding system in four foot wide panels, a system of cedar wood slats, translucent channel glass panels, and painted aluminum window frame projections in three colors. The horizontal wood slats encompass the entire second floor.

By wrapping the units around a central courtyard, the project consists of 10 unique and distinct floor plans as opposed to the conventional approach of identically stacked units. This central courtyard weaves buildings’ circulation into a spectrum of public space, while also allowing all units to have direct access from the exterior, eliminating the need for mechanically climate controlled corridors.