ZOUP(ING) LA
Equitable Live/Work Infill
Professor Sascha Delz
Location:
Venice, Los Angeles
(Z)one + S(oup) = ZOUP
the opposite of zone; the act or process of blending urban infill, affordable housing, and live/work opportunities into a comprehensive urban fabric.
Zouping can work throughout Los Angeles, however, Venice is the perfect incubator for experimental housing typologies, as the neighborhood must confront the high proportion of homelessness and unaffordable housing.
This isn’t possible with todays code. The mundane housing production doesn't solve the important issues of making housing actually affordable. Zouping allows for any type of scale and intervention. It can be an ADU extension all the way to a 300 unit apartment building.
Because of the unique structuring of live/work, there is an opportunity for the state and federal governments to divert housing funding towards cooperative models of management.
The 12’x12’ module allows for ultimate customization, accommodating a wide variety of housing needs and types. There is a series of services cores that are strategically placed, and the rest is determined by the inhabitants. The module can also be an open frame, which creates intimate, yet expansion exterior spaces.
The fenestration can change depending on the context. Urban infill is the future of housing production, primarily because there is limited space and incomplete urban conditions. Parking lots, underutilized infrastructures, adaptive re-use are all conditions that will see increased densification. Cooperatives that utilize infill can create positive affects within the immediate context.
The ground floor extends into the sidewalk, questioning the conventional zoning requirements in order to create various urban connections that provide unity to the street. There is an emphasis to pull commercial activity away from the street and to engage directly with local vendors by creating promenades that extend to the surrounding neighborhoods.
The module and kit of parts allows for various combinations of housing types, all within the same building. The structural system allows for open air atriums that bring light down to the the local vendors below. The overall form of the building is not constant and could alter to the changing needs of the user.
Generational Housing
Live/Work Townhomes
Communal Housing
