San Pedro, California
The first mixed-use project of its kind in the historic Los Angeles port town of San Pedro, this urban infill building has been a catalyst for the redevelopment of a once-declining downtown. The subject of a ULI Workshop and the result of an invited competition, the project consists of 110 condominium units in four floors over 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. The mix of one and two-bedroom lofts, two-story townhomes and 6 two-story live-work units cleverly clad the 3-story above-grade parking structure, creating an efficient and cost effective design.
In keeping with the existing historic fabric and scale of the surrounding downtown area but representational of its own time, the five-story building is a composition of interlocking volumes clad in red brick and silver metal panels. A regular pattern of both large-scale and smaller punched windows further ties the building to the past while providing generous natural light into the units. The brick cladding is predominately on the upper floors but continues to the ground floor to tie the sidewalk-oriented live-work units to the residential units above. The major corners of the building are notched to provide small entry plazas to the ground floor retail shops and to allow for corner windows in the units above. A public art installation by Christian Mueller is integrated into the southwest corner.
The top floor of the above-grade parking structure is richly landscaped to serve as the major outdoor gathering space for the residents and is also a sustainable feature that greatly reduces heat radiation and storm water runoff.
Designed under the direction of Christopher Coe while Managing Director and Director of Design of Arquitectonica Los Angeles.