Housing the Unhoused by Elena Frost, Paulina Gallegos, and Abigail Winfield

This project responds to the housing crisis in Chinatown, Los Angeles, by providing density and multifamily living for low-income and the homeless. In addition to studying financial models and financing, the project focuses on a new proposal for housing development. Sited on a vacant lot in Chinatown, the surrounding context includes a park, a transit line, and housing developments. While connecting to the surrounding context, this proposal contains critical elements that make up the overall form, such as the plinth with parking underneath and courtyards above, mixed-use space on the two lower levels, and units on the upper levels. The building is wrapped with a metal mesh to provide solar shading and unify all the different components. This project balances the formal aggregation of units, financial research, graphic and performative building envelopes, courtyards, and civic infrastructure to address the housing crisis and the urban fabric.