The Concourse Project, A New Urban Community

In response to forward thinking angelenos’ needs for living together, a model for the Concourse is presented. This spec project has a specific target market in mind, and is the home for a recognized New Tribalism exhibiting itself in the urban population.

The Host for this social experiment is the old Sloane Furniture building south of the 10 fwy in West Los Angeles. 600 feet in length and 70 feet wide, this open plan warehouse will be converted to accomodate mixed use development. This city within the city will include residences for over 100 people, a youth hostel as well as food markets, a cafe, a spa, shared work shops, and stores for exchange.

A central element in the planning is the use of mechanical systems that take advantage of renewable energy resources. The project is meant to be a model for urban living in the new millenium socially as well as technically. To me the word ‘Green’ in architecture applies to both of these aspects equally, lest the concepts for a better world be lost on the technical.

As the chief designer on the project I am working in concert with others to bring this possibility into reality. Many, many meetings and many questions have been asked as to how one would build in response to the social climate at the beginning of the third millenium. Gregg Emmel, Bernardo Charca and others deserve credit for this design as well.

Culturally, the world is changing and shrinking quickly. Technology, most notable the internet has already created this community in a loose form; one without boundaries, as this project hopes to emulate. While shying from comparisons to the communes and intentional communities of recent decades, these do act as models with the likes of Bucky Fuller and Paolo Solari being studied. These guys could not have anticipated the unique cultural explosion that exists today, which we hope to address.

Four levels are created within the shell of this WWII era bakery. A ground floor of shops, second and third levels of various sizes of living areas, and a roof deck. The ground floor would invite the public in to interact with this insular community to attend its theatre, shops and spa. All residential areas have shared dining and kitchen areas with every other apartment sharing a bathroom. All inhabitants have access to a large roof garden and promenade shaded by a strip of solar panels. A wall of billboards face the freeway to shield the auto noise and present art to the public en masse.

The length of the building is divided into seven modules with the use of a DNA helix as an organizing parti. Each module contains a ‘family’ of inhabitants that share resources and a grouping of different public functions on the ground floor. In this way a large population is divided into smaller groups creating a tighter identity with the whole.

The architectural thesis is a ripple of interaction within the flow of space and time. Rather than having the building be a closed system, like the body of a mammal, it remains architecturally open ended as a segment of the many communities across the globe. This LA tribe would be linked up with many other communities that we are in touch with now, as a part of this chain of humanity.

LA City planning and zoning has been encouraging this project to go ahead. We have a business proposal reaching investors now. It turns out since the building would be owned by the community, the project would pay for itself in several years even though we offer lower rents and other financial incentives for participation. This is due in large part to the use of renewable energy sources assisting the life cycle costs of the project.