A programmatic amalgam of residential, retail, commercial, and open spaces that served as a catalyst for the Arts District’s transformation, anchoring new community life in the formerly industrial downtown neighborhood.

Located along the eastern edge of downtown Los Angeles and directly northeast of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), the 510,000 square foot project stretches across a narrow 4-acre site of previously vacant land adjacent to a Metropolitan Transit Authority rail yard.

The building’s length of more than a quarter mile echoes the strong, linear forms of the surrounding regional infrastructure, including the Los Angeles River, adjacent rail lines, and the former freight depot building that now houses SCI-Arc. At its northernmost end, the project links directly to the First Street Bridge which carries pedestrian sidewalks, vehicular traffic, and the LA Metro Gold Line.

As the project’s linear form moves south, it begins to shift, delaminating to create views and ground-level connections across the width of the site to the railways, the Los Angeles River, and a potential future Metro station. Just south of Third Street, the building lifts to create a “bridge” over a new ground level parking area and a public courtyard with 25 specialty boutiques, restaurants, coffee and ice cream shops, and a neighborhood market.

The building’s 438 residential units include studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments. At the project’s center, where the building passes over the courtyard below, a series of two-level loft units are accessed along a single central corridor. These units interlock in sections to provide double-height apartments with extraordinary views across the width of the building.

The project incorporates residential amenities throughout the building with a concentration of shared community spaces at the second level deck that overlooks the central public courtyard below.