TERRACE TOWER

Location: Los Angeles
Client: Private
Type: Residential
Program: Apartments, Shops
Size: 60 000 m2
Team: Patrice Gruner, Raoul Skrein

CONTEXT

The geographical sprawl of Los Angeles has reached its zenith. The distances and commuting times have become unbearable for its population. Los Angeles needs to be compacted in order to be sustainable and to enhance life quality. This process has already started in Downtown, the formerly thriving epicentre of the city.

CONCEPT

The typical American lifestyle is projected onto the suburban residential typologies as can be found in Hollywood or Beverly Hills. By stacking many of these individual typologies to a 270 meter tall tower in the centre of Downtown Los Angeles we combine the qualities of suburban lifestyle in an urban setting. Each unit is therefore given at least one terraced side with garden and pool and one “city oriented” overhanging side with an open kitchen/living space.

CONTENT

Once again the stereotypical residential typology of American lifestyle can be used to enhance life quality of the population. However, not to lure families to the outskirts (as it happened in the 1920s) but to make contemporary compression in the city centre more attractive. The bold urban setting and the heterogenic mix of suburban and urban qualities will form a symbol for contemporary American lifestyle in Downtown Los Angeles.