A
C
B
D
E
F
G
live work bedroom/bathroom/kitchen private circulation public circulation private roof access semi-private roof access 8:30 a.m- Preparing breakfast, Dillon catches a glimpse of old man Humperdink cooking a greasy heap of eggs and bacon in the adjacent unit F.
9:00: a.m.- A freelance graphic designer by day, Mr. Shoomley makes his way up to his home office on the second level, stopping to adjust his portion of the shade structure overhead.
7:30 a.m.- Dillon Shoomley, sole inhabitant of unit G wakes up.
UP
6:00 p.m.-Dillon invites Joan into his living room for a drink.
DN
DN
UP
UP
UP
8:00 a.m.- Mr. Shoomley bathes while humming the ambient melodies of a Morrissey tune to himself.
UP
SECTION G
12 noon - Taking his afternoon break, Dillon walks up to the roof, looks out across the bustling expanse of downtown L.A., and takes in a deep breath of fresh air, tinged with the faint yet bitter taste of hydrocarbons. He ponders for a moment the meaning of existence.
3:00 p.m.- On his way back down to the first level, Mr. Shoomley runs into Joan Jenson, a neighbor from unit D.
8:00 p.m.-Dillon and Joan sit down for the evening news—they learn that the war has ended. It was a good day. They celebrate.
SECTION F
DN
DN
DN
DN
DN
ROOF PLAN
PERCEPTUAL VOID
CLAUSTROPHORIA:
DN
12TH FLOOR
PHYSICAL VOID
PERCEPTUAL VOID
A
1
C
B
2
3
D
4
SECTION E
11TH FLOOR E
F
G
5
6
7
SECTION D
1 SECTION C
2 7 6
5
4
3
1 2 3 4
5
6
7
(elevator lobby)
SECTION B
(elevator lobby)
S. ELEV.
SECTION A
W. ELEV. 0
5
10
20
P U BL IC
CONTEXT: 818 BROADWAY, DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES
As America’s aging urban fabric enters a new century, the adaptive reuse of existing buildings requires radically new modes of contextual agility and engagement than the tabula rasa’s of the past. The charge of converting the top two floors of the 80 year old Wirlitzer building in downtown into residential apartments takes as its starting point a spatial proportion similar to that of a loaf of bread. Whereas the minimum requirement of seven units might logically warrant a transverse strategy, generating a generous “slice of toast” for all, the following explores the seeming absurdity of the opposite approach: longitudinal incisions that offer the entire 150 foot length of the building, yet only 7 feet of its width. While this configuration places the parallel lives of its tenants in a spatial condition extreme thinness and proximity, another series of incisions provides a system of physical and phenomenological voids that bring in natural light and air, allow for verticalcirculation as well as activate extensive moments of shared visual transparency through the entire width of the building out to views of downtown. Beyond an isolated response to the existing conditions of a historic site, posited here is the calculated collision of claustrophobia and ecstasy in the generation of a new residential typology for the future that challenges the conventions (and increasing “bigness”) of American domestic space.
DN
INTERIOR EDGE UNIT
V
The ecstasy of spatial thinness
6.85’
S B C LW
S B C V
W L
S B C V
W L
PARALLEL LIVES IN RADICAL PROXIMITY