DenseWood, the Dense Westwood

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DenseWood

the Dense Westwood Zahra Sadat Rajaei

“I, Zahra Sadat Rajaei, confirm that the work presented in this report is my own.

Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the report�

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Abstract The spirit of L.A. is in fact not what we see in movies; the soul of the city is actually what is missing. The car driven culture that rules the city is limiting its socio-urban life and culture.

The city needs a revolution to bring back the urban life it lacks so badly today. In order to encourage sociability and create community life in the neighborhoods, to form enclaves, niches and little sparks of activity here and there, L.A. needs to change dramatically. These changes can be made at a very small scale: interventions within neighborhoods, in streets and in main roads, that radically change the image of the city.

With all the diverse cultures people have in L.A. it is quite surprising that none of these traditions appear in the cityscape, the same homogeneous pattern of built form is repeated through out the city.

In this project I find the ultimate response to this decay in density. Allowing more people to live, play and work close together creates diversity and variety and brings back the urban life that is so badly missed in L.A.

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Table of Contents: Declaration Abstract Table of Contents Acknowledgements List of Illustrations

My Project

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Density

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People & Culture

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Experimentin Density

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Introduction My Motivations Why Westwood?

My Approach

Defining Density Advantages and Disadvantages of High-Density Density, Improving the quality of life Density in Los Angeles

Cultural Background The New Residents

Building Westwood Denser Test 1 Test 2

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Public Realm Urban Catalysts Linear Parks Pocket Gardens Linking Paths Public Squares

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Sustainability A Sustainable Westwood The Linking Tram

Conclusion Dense Westwood: DenseWood Imagining the BIg Image in Westwood Animation

Bibliography DVD

83 97 98

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1 2 3 4 5

8 10 11 12 14 16 18 20 23 27

29 32 56 72 74 75 76 78 80 81 84 89 93

Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors, Robert Dye and Jason Coleman for their invaluable guidance, expertise and the many skills learnt during their precious workshops. It has been a pleasure working with them throughout the past year.

Sincere gratitude is extended to Graciela Moreno, for her help in every aspect of this project.

Her support and encouragement, be it in person or by electronic media (especially in the small hours of the morning), has always been heartwarming.

I would also like to express a special thank you to the following people, all of whom have been very helpful during the course of my project, and have contributed greatly to this report: My dear friend Zahra Azizi, for her kind help and unwavering support even in the late hours of the night.

My brother Mostafa, for his expert photographic skills and assistance in taking many pictures of my many models.

My loving husband Sobhan, for continuously holding my hand throughout this project.

Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Mohammad and Nahid, for their tremendous support throughout all the stages of my life including my studies and in particular this project.

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List of Illustrations:

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(Fig.34 page60)

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My

Project 7

Introduction From a personal point of view L.A. is a lie; it is a myth, what you imagine of it and see in the movies is not what you get when you actually live in the city. The spirit of L.A. is in fact what is missing in the city; the soul of the city is far-gone. The car driven culture that rules the city is limiting its socio urban life and culture. Although it gives the sense of freedom, it detaches one from the surrounding and takes away the urban experience of being in touch with people and the fabric of the city.

The city needs a revolution to bring back the urban life it lacks so badly today, a revolution, which is slowly approaching it. In order to encourage sociability and create community life in the neighborhoods, to form enclaves, niches and little sparks of activity here and there, L.A. needs to change dramatically. Although it has a huge impact on the city and the life of its inhabitants, these changes can be made at a very small scale: interventions within neighborhoods, in streets and in main roads, and these small events radically change the image of the city.

I have explored these changes in Westwood, a fine and wealthy neighborhood in Los Angeles, which houses the UCLA Campus and has a strong Iranian community; I aim to encourage a sense of community and neighborhood in the area creating more public spaces and reducing the private spaces.

At the moment Westwood is facing urban decay, which might not seem the case when you are driving around in Los Angeles. It might even look much more pedestrian friendly than other parts of the city, but truly that is not the case. Urban life is about experiencing; it is about being in touch with people and our surrounding environment, feeling the fabric of the city, whereas in L.A. all this is wiped out by the overwhelming car culture.

I find the ultimate response to this decay in densification. Having more people to live, play and work in the area creates diversity and variety, bringing back the urban life it so badly misses. Vast spatial waste can be seen throughout the neighborhood; wide streets with no cars passing by and huge plots for small houses are the most obvious.

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Densification is already happening in some parts of the city, people are living in walking distance of their every day needs, such as markets and shops. Pedestrian shopping districts, with mixed use functions are becoming popular, such as 3rd street Santa Monica. These places attract lots of people in different hours of the day; offices, cafÊ’s and shops during daytime, bars and restaurants along with clubs and theatres at night.

Densification of an area will lead to a more sustainable urban development; less land will be used and more open and free space will remain, pedestrian and cycle paths become modes of transport and private cars will be used less. In addition to achieving high-energy efficiency, densification brings life and character to the area. I want to make living dense, living better.

The way in which I approach the densification of Westwood is local and on a neighbourhood scale. Adding housing units to the existing blocks and promoting mixed land use on Westwood Boulevard are my main concerns. Reducing private space and increasing shared space, gives a new character to the area. More people start to interact with each other and become closer, creating a fundamental sense of community by mixing different types of people and their activities. Los Angeles is one of the most diverse cities in the US, with people from different ethnic backgrounds, such as Hispanic, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Iranian, Thai and many more, and it therefore has the potential to house diverse and lively neighborhoods by bringing all these people together and blending their cultures and lifestyles. This urban densification creates new places to live, with new character and sense of space.1

1. Edition.cnn.com

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My

Motivations

It all started when we first went to Los Angeles. Knowing the city from movies I expected to experience a great vibrant city with lots going on. Although on a large scale this really happens; there are so many attractions and venues with super stars all over the place making it mysterious and exciting, but looking at the day-to-day life of ordinary people living there, the image changes dramatically. Walking distances are very long and you can never walk to a convenient store to get some fresh milk! Taking a stroll inside the neighborhoods one can scarcely come across a neighbor, people just hide away in their cars and drive to their destinations. If not known better one would think the area is empty.

Spending some time at Westwood, looking for communities’ people might have created in the city, I found it hard to believe that the ethnic background of the people living there didn’t have the slightest affect on the fabric of the city.

I knew that Westwood had a great Iranian population and that Iranians have a strong community within themselves, but I couldn’t see any of that reflected in the cityscape. Despite some window shops on the main street, nothing gave away the culture of the people living in the area; it looked like any other neighborhood in the city.

At this point I started to look into the relation between density and culture. If there were more people in closer proximity to each other there would be a much bigger chance for their culture to manifest itself. My vision of a vibrant urban community is one that has a large number of people in close relation together.

The existing fabric, with strict regulations of single land-use discourages any interaction. Open spaces are privately owned and public spaces are in long distances from each other and also from residential hubs.

Fig.1) Westwood Blvd.

A commercial strip heading towards UCLA campus has turned into a high speed link to campus, no urban life on the street, just cars parked or on their way to the university.

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Why Westwood?

Westwood Village was built in walking distance from the UCLA campus in order to provide services, such as shops, markets and cinemas for the university area in 1929. Over the years it has managed to keep its village like character but has turned into a landmark. With its severe traffic crisis caused by the high-rise offices close by and also the university, parking and accessibility have become a problem in the area. Although it is recognized as one of the most pedestrian friendly parts of Los Angeles, the sense fades away as the road heads south from the campus. A few blocks further no sign of the pedestrians can be seen, although the main street has great potential to become a walking venue.

Fig.2) Westwood Village, a historic and pedestrian area in Westwood which consists of a few streets

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Fig.3) UCLA Campus, the main magnet in westwood which attracts a large number of people everyday

My

Approach

Since there is no precise definition for a dense neighborhood and it depends on various factors, such as the number of residents and dwellings, I set my goal to double the density in my site in order to test the trend of densification and create a dense community. The density ratio of the site is 200 housing units per acre, which comparatively is a very low density; therefore doubling the density might not seem to lead to a dense neighborhood, but for such a suburban lifestyle the new density is a huge change to the area, influencing the life of the residents enormously.

In order to reach my ambitions, there were several ways in which density could be added to the area. Inserting high-rise residential would be the first attempt, which could boost up the density considerably, but is not the proper approach towards the densification of this particular area. The existing high-rise residential strip along Wilshire Boulevard doesn’t influence the neighborhood at all; the low-rise single-family houses make up most the area and only a few newly built apartment blocks stand out. Knowing this, I thought of a distinct way to approach the site, using the existing fabric and searching for opportunities within the blocks.

By using a physical model I aim to reflect the different chances of densification and experiment the different possibilities on the actual model of the site.

Fig.4) My first experimental model: The initial idea was to start adding mass to the area along the main boulevard which is Westwood Blvd., creating a spinal attraction in the neighborhood. On this model The white represents the existing fabric, and the proposed mix-use along the main street and the new blocks can be seen.

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Density 13

Defining Density Density can be a complex issue. The number of dwellings per acre, the number of people per acre and the number of habitable rooms per acre are all different ways of measuring the density of an area.

The recognition of a neighborhood as a dense area totally relies on the local context and culture of the place. What is considered to be highly dense in the US might be of low density in China. In this report high density is considered to be the density above the current average of existing buildings on the site.

Housing density, which is the number of houses per area, is widely used to understand the density of residential districts. This may become misleading if the sizes and types of houses differ, which they usually do.

In order to avoid these problems plot ratio is used extensively to measure the ratio between the size of the site and the internal floor space developed on it. This can sometimes be more than 100% where a building has more than one storey.2 Gross density and net density are other ways in which density of an area is measured. Gross density refers to the area of development including strategic landscaping as well as roads and other buildings, whereas net density is the number of dwelling units per 10 acres.3 These two must not be confused with each other, since some housing estates might have a relatively high net density, alongside a relatively low gross density when open spaces and parking are considered. Two housing areas with similar net densities but different gross densities are quite different places to live in.4 In general, density is considered to be a negative mode as it brings congestion, parking problems, pollution and noise. Although once changing the name from dense to compact, the image changes and a compact neighbourhood is considered to be a desirable area with easy access to the city.

Dr Rebecca Tunstall has evidence in her report showing residents can and do accept developments that result in increased density within their neighbourhood, they are

2. Tunstall, Rebecca. 2002. Housing Density: What do Residents Think?. London: East Thames Housing Group, Department of Social Policy, LSE. 3. Google.com 4. Tunstall, Rebecca. 2002. Housing Density: What do Residents Think?. London: East Thames Housing Group, Department of Social Policy, LSE.

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interested in the new facilities it brings and the compensations they may get .5 In the mind of the residents, adding to or densifying the existing settlement is favoured, rather than building up the countryside and taking away all the open space. They would support the trend of densification, but not unconditionally. The existing residents would want variation and flexibility, they would want the new development to cater for their needs and change the character of the area. Their acceptance also depends on the design, services, management and residents involvement.6 In order to give an urban image to the densifying area, low-rise buildings with human scale, mature landscapes and pleasant dimensions can help the trend of densification. High density does not necessarily mean high-rise; an area can be fairly dense but still keep the human scale of 2-3 storey buildings. Although one might believe that density in high-rise areas is always the highest, but this is not necessarily the case. As in London, Notting Hill is one of the most dense areas close to central, and yet it does not have any high-rise buildings.

A radically different way of defining density is by considering how long people use their houses and stay at home; this is defined as “The Density of Use� and depends on the age of the residents and their working situation.

5 &6. Tunstall, Rebecca. 2002. Housing Density: What do Residents Think?. London: East Thames Housing Group, Department of Social Policy, LSE.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of High-density A high-density environment can offer diversity of use, distinctive architecture, colourful street life and accessibility, but it is limited in the sense of private open spaces.

In order for density to help the area thrive, neighborhood character, mixed use and environmental sustainability need to be considered.7 When it comes to buying a house, people accept high-density areas but what concerns them most is the safety of the neighborhood. Density can decrease or increase the crime rates in an area depending on how it is structured and used. By having suitable design and structure, high-density can help the safety of the area.

Existing residents will be concerned about the impact of the additional population, how they would affect their access to facilities and how they could benefit from the trend of densification in their area.

Mark Baldassare mentions the concerns of urban crowding related to the livability of localities in his book ‘Residential Crowding in Urban America’: difficulties in conducting meaningful personal relations, weaker attachments to place, and more dissatisfaction.8 He concludes that individuals are more dissatisfied with dense neighborhoods than low-density neighborhoods, due to the rise in crime. The benefits of living in such an area can be over shadowed by the costs, depending on the economical situation of the residents.

A NORC survey found the costs and benefits of high-density areas as follows:9 congestion, loss of privacy and over load of services, which may occur but also, more mass transit and recreational facilities becoming available.

Parking is a major issue in dense areas; usually 25% of the site is allocated to parking, since underground parking is costly.10 According to ‘The Report for the London Housing Federation’ the advantages of higher densities can be summarised in social, economical, transport and environmental factors:10

7. Urban Design Advisory Service,1998,Residential Densities: a handbook illustrating the urban design of different densities / Urban Design Advisory Service. Sydney 8. Baldassar Mark, 1979, Residential Housing in Urban America, London 9. Tunstall, Rebecca. 2002. Housing Density: What do Residents Think?. London: East Thames Housing Group, Department of Social Policy, LSE. 10. Cope Helen F., 2002, Capital Gains: Making High Density Housing Work in London, London 11. Tunstall, Rebecca. 2002. Housing Density: What do Residents Think?. London: East Thames Housing Group, Department of Social Policy, LSE.

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• Social proximity encourages positive interaction and diversity, improves viability of and access to community services and enables more and better-integrated social housing.

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Enhances economic viability of development and provides economies of infrastructure

• Supports public transport, reduces car travel and parking demand, makes basement parking economically viable.

• Increases energy efficiency, decreases resource consumption, creates less pollution, preserves and helps fund maintenance of public open space, reduces overall demand for development land, avoiding sprawl.

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Density, improving the quality of life The quality of life can be enhanced more than it can be damaged in high-density neighborhoods. This would only be possible if the day-to-day needs of the population could be catered for and local facilities could be made available for them.

By creating mixed use facilities in an area the quality of life changes. Services available to residents of more dense neighborhoods may be more diverse, accessible and plentiful, yet the neighborhood environment is heavily used, and usually is not a pleasant sight.12 Creating a pleasant setting to accommodate for the mixed use will help the area thrive.Higher density can increase the commercial viability by increasing population; this supports the local retail and services.

A dense community is a much safer place to live, with more eyes on the street in different hours of the day.

This again is a result of the diverse range of people living in the area. Each resident has a different habit and lifestyle, some are out at work during the day and come back in the afternoon, others stay at home during the day and enjoy the night life, with more people living in the area, there will be active streets throughout the day, creating a safer community for all.

In order to create a dense and diverse community, the neighborhood must have the opportunity for a wide range of people with different incomes to live in. This is achieved by having smaller houses and apartments along with the nice big American style houses. With more housing options, more people will be able to live in the area, while when there are only large single family houses available, only the wealthy families would be able to afford it.

As there is less land used per unit (as in the case of apartment blocks) a lower level of infrastructure such as water, sewage and roads is needed. This reduces the cost of infrastructure and also leads to a more sustainable environment.

By keeping the grid rows of houses and adding density in a way not to disturb the streets, the existing infrastructure can provide services to new houses. This leads to a drop in tax

12.Baldassar Mark, 1979, Residential Housing in Urban America, London

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prices, as there are more people paying for the same level of infrastructure to be maintained.

When living close to services one requires every day, such as markets, shops, offices, schools, and entertainment centers and so on, there are more transport options to choose from. Biking, walking, running and even driving or taking the tram are accessible for all, providing a range of transport modes to chose from.

High-density living can be successful for all household types, with any range of income, only if it meets high-quality living and is facilitated by intensive management.13 Effective design can help the high-density theme work and make the neighborhood a better place to live, but it is secondary to factors such as occupancy and management. Being able to maintain the roads and keep the area safe and clean is a matter that would need the involvement of all residents as well as the city.

13. Cope Helen F., 2002, Capital Gains: Making High Density Housing Work in London, London

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Density in Los Angeles Although Los Angeles is known as the “sprawl city� and is famous for its low-density houses and spread out built environment, some believe it to be the most dense American city. The large immigrant population that lives in very high density, the smog that usually covers the city, the over built freeways, long distances and traffic jams are considered to be the reason behind this belief.14 However, this is just the overall image of the city; by taking a closer look into the neighborhoods and local streets, not much density can be seen, only low-rise houses with huge lots and wide streets with cars passing by or parked on the sides. These features do not represent a dense city.

Dense developments usually appear in a city when there is a major rise in housing demand along with a great fall in land supply. But this is surely not the case in Los Angeles. There is so much land to build on in this city; it is already spread out as far as it can with massive infrastructure supporting its sprawl. This leads to the downfall of urban life in L.A., the car is a must for city dwellers, and the lots are so big and so far away, just to reach the closest convenience store one would have to walk at least 30 minutes. This reliance on cars for everyday life stops the formation of community life and urban living. This is the genuine reason behind the need for densification in Los Angeles.

14. http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/los-angeles-transportation-facts-and-fiction-sprawl/

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The American houses of L.A. are more or less suburban style houses, even though they might be within a short distance of Downtown, which is considered to be the center of the city. They are usually houses with huge front and back yards with parking for more than one car and sometimes a swimming pool in the backyard. Most houses in neighborhoods around the city follow the same pattern. This type of housing uses a lot of land but does not house many people, this adds to the sprawl the city is now facing.

Recently more apartment blocks have been built throughout the city, such as Westwood and Downtown Los Angeles, which houses students and young professionals. Interestingly the apartments are also low rise but with huge plots and don’t play the slightest role in bringing density to the area they are located in.

Since there hasn’t been a good public debate on density and its effect in Los Angeles, there is a major density problem going on in the city. The number of high-rise buildings is increasing. Korea Town, Century City and Hollywood are seeing a number of new tall buildings and becoming a more vertical area. The major issue, which arises as a result of density in L.A., is traffic; the number of cars increases much more dramatically than the number of people. When making a city dense it should be provided with a transit system that would provide affordable, convenient and fast transport to both current and future residents. The infrastructure should force cars off the road and make public transport a desirable and accessible way to commute.15 Downtown Los Angeles has plenty of high-rise buildings, which give it a superb skyline, but it is a comparatively low-density centre.

Wilshire Boulevard has become the most dense strip going through the city, with high rise buildings on both sides. Over the past 50 years this part of the city has densified vertically, although the high-rise character of the boulevard is in deep contrast with its surrounding environment.

15. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/aug/27/local/me-localgovtqa27/2

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People & Culture 22

Cultural Background Los Angeles is home to a large number of immigrants, amongst whom Iranians have the largest number of residents living in a city outside their homeland; therefore L.A. is referred to as “Tehrangeles” by some Iranians, a portmanteau deriving from the combination of Tehran, the capital of Iran and Los Angeles. The Persian community is originally located in Westwood, Persian shops and restaurants exist along Westwood Boulevard and the city recognizes this area as “Persian Square”. Surprisingly once walking along the streets of the neighborhood no sign can be seen of this strong community and its culture. If it weren’t for the shop signs and posters, one wouldn’t realize the difference between this neighborhood and any other. This weak hint of culture fades out as you move away from the main street and into the neighborhood.

One would think with such a strong community and them having a strong cultural background, it would have at least a slight effect on the built environment of the area, but that is not the case in Westwood.

The reason to this abandonment of culture could be found in the history of the city. As Banham mentions in his book ‘ the Yankees stormed in on the crest of a wave of technological self-confidence and entrepreneurial abandon’16 leaving no chance for the Hispanic and Anglo-Saxon culture to influence the architecture of the city. They subdivided the land, watered it and put it down to intensive cropping and ultimately offered it as residential plots to people. Although this goes fairly back in history but it was further encourged by the infrastructure that was later built. According to Banham, transportation, land and water are the three elements that formed Los Angeles.17 The influence we see today from this historical background could be the homogenous form of the cityscape, where most areas around the city look extremely alike, and also the spread out character that exists in the plots and blocks of its neighborhoods.

16 & 17. Banham Reyner, 1973, Los Angeles The Architecture of Four Ecologies, New York

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Today, with all the new residents from different parts of the world and with different cultural backgrounds there is an opportunity to change this dilemma. By undertaking a slight increase in density as a way out of this setting, especially in Westwood, a huge change occurs in the neighborhood, which is facilitated by the culture and previous lifestyle of the immigrants.

The idea is to benefit from the cultural background of the residents of the area and encourage them to accept a new and higher density in their neighborhood, which is closer to the density of where they come from. This helps the area reach its ultimate density while benefiting from the support of the community.

Fig.5) An Iranian bookshop along Westwood Blvd. with farsi signs on its window, which is one of the few signs that present the Iranian community in the area.

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Fig.6) Westwood Blvd shopping strip, this street does not offer much to the pedestrians and window shoppers and most of the space has been occupied by the cars driving by or parking.

Fig.7) Bazar in Tehran, the area is completely pedestrian and is heavily used by people

These two images represent two shopping districts which have the same use but function in a complete different way. What we see in L.A. is completely car driven, a wide road designed for cars and narrow walkways for the pedestrians, wheres in Tehran ( where most westwood residents originally come from) has a completely pedestrian and dense bazar. This represents the lifestyle and culture of the two areas, while westwood bolevard has the potential to become a shopping district, density and walkability can help it dramatically.

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Fig. 8) An early collage experimenting how an Iranian element on the main street would change the character of the area.

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The New Residents When thinking of densifying an area, one of the main issues that arises is to understand who the new residents would be and what would be the reason for their shift towards the area. Other than affecting the design, the new residents and their lifestyle and habits can have a great influence on the whole neighborhood, giving it a new character and identity.

Westwood houses the campus of UCLA, which is known to be one of the best universities in the Unites States, and therefore theoretically Westwood should be a highly student-based neighborhood, yet it isn’t.

Due to the high cost of houses not many students can afford to live close-by. They choose other neighborhoods, sometimes much farther away, which are more affordable and spend hours in highway traffic to get to campus. Therefore the students can potentially be the main population moving to the neighborhood, which makes it essential to cater for them. Student housing can be added to the mixed use along the high street to create accessible and affordable houses for the students, also there is more opportunity for student housing within the neighborhood. The built form of Westwood, as mentioned before, consists of large single-family houses, and a few apartment blocks, which are equally large. By adding smaller housing units, which are much more affordable, more students will be attracted to the area, giving it a new urban life.

Other than low-priced houses students require additional facilities, such as libraries and bookshops, cheap bars and restaurants, leisure centers and so on, which bring a new way of life to the neighborhood.

Young adults thrive on easy access to diverse activities in dense areas. By activating the high street and creating a diverse and interesting environment, young professionals will be attracted to the area as they will have their work and leisure close to their homes.

Family-oriented individuals weigh factors differently; safety and school conditions would be one of their utmost concerns. They would require security and safety along with predictability and control over the local environment.

Others, such as the elderly, the poor and the handicapped, may be located in areas of low rent and easy access to public transport.18

18. Cope Helen F., 2002, Capital Gains: Making High Density Housing Work in London, London

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Experimenting Density 28

Building Westwood Denser Dense Westwood is all about many people sharing a common area. At the moment, the area lacks the urban character it is meant to have. Being close to the UCLA campus and having a large Iranian society, it has the ability to be the focus of an urban community.

The built-up fabric of the neighborhood consists of single-family houses, most of them in large plots; low rise apartments, very wide and empty streets and a strip of commercial properties on Westwood Boulevard, which is not popular among the residents.

There are two parts in which the densification of Westwood can take place, the private sector and the public realm. One is the housing district, which has the most importance in the city; it is the place where people live. The other is the main street, Westwood Boulevard, which meets the residents’ needs in everyday life, it is the place where people work and play.

Densification of each region, either private or public, needs a different approach according to its circumstances. The existing fabric of housing in Westwood has the potential to become denser without requiring major changes in its structure. Most houses are single storey buildings; by raising their height, all to the same level, there will be a significant increase in the density of the area.

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Fig.9) Westwood from above low-rise residential, unnecessarily huge front yards and roadbeds

Starting the tests: In order to find the opportunities and experiment them I chose a site along Westwood Boulevard, which consists of 6 blocks and has a variety of houses and opportunities.

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Fig.10) Next page: The site. Westwood, which houses the UCLA campus and the high-rise strip of Wilshire Boulevard starts after Westwood Boulevard

Test 1: Increasing the Housing Density First attempt : In order to study the possibilities by which existing houses can be densified, several methods have been considered:

1. Building on front/back-yards In this case part of the front or back yard of the house is bought from the owner to build a new housing unit on. Also the street bed is narrowed down to make the most of the space. In order for this to be attractive for the owner, and also the newcomers, compensations such as reduction in tax and special arrangements for rent and lease, are set out.

Fig.11) If every house where to build up its backyard, the density of the block would increase dramatically, leaving little space for roads and connecting links. It also takes away the residents’ privacy inside their houses, a bedroom window might open into the kitchen window of the new house on the backyard!

Although this leads to a substantial boost in the number of dwellings, it is not always the best way to densify.

If the new house is built on the front yard, it blocks the entrance of the old house, and as it is built close to the road it will not be the most appealing house for the average American, since they prefer houses away from the street with yards on all sides. Although some houses might benefit from this method and add density by building up their backyards.

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Fig.12) Section, building on back-yards. Giving the residents the opportunity to build up their backyards by inserting a new alley way for pedestrian access

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. Building on the streets The wide streets going through the neighborhood, without many cars actually using them encourages the idea to build on the roads in order to densify the area without confronting the individual owners. This would create narrow roads with dwellings closer to the edge of the street.

Fig. 13) By building up on the streets and turning wide secondary roads to pedestrial links and alley ways, or narrowing down the road and giving limited access to cars, a huge amount of land will be achieved for furthure construction.

If the new housing units are placed in a way that they don’t block each other or the existing houses, this method could be successful. The streets will also need to provide parking and open space for the residents, as well as the land for the new housing units, this may cause a serious reduction in the number of dwellings which can be added to the street.

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Building on the wide streets

Fig.14) Section, building on wide streets. Wide secondary streets will become available for furthure construction.

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3. Building on top

The first thing that catches ones sight in Westwood is the number of low-rise houses. Over 60% of houses are single storey buildings with huge back yards and parking space. By icreasing building heights to at least two storeys, the density of the area will rise by 50%.

Fig.15) Increasing the height of the single storey houses in the area, clearly not all the houses will be able to build up or will be willing to do so.

Adding at least one storey to each house brings a huge change to the area, giving it a new image. Most houses change into apartments, with shared gardens and backyards. This will most certainly impact the quality of life in the area, as residents will still have their cars and parking spaces, front-yards and back yards, but the way they will be sharing them and the change from private to semi-private brings an enormous cultural shift for the American family. Some might prefer to keep a private open space rather than share it with another family, whereas some might find it pleasant to have people living with them in very close distance.

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Fig.16) Section, building on top. New regulations give permission to build new housing units on top of the existing up to three storey high.

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Results: By applying these opportunities on the selected site the changes these opportunities bring in a bigger scale becomes clearer.

It seems that all the possibilities have taken place, but in reality not all the single storey buildings can add a storey, with tiled roofs it wouldn’t be feasible to do so. On the other hand some households might prefer to keep their single storey building but densify in a different way, perhaps by selling their front yard or even spare rooms from their house.

Fig.17) Although the combination of these three methods increases the density significantly, this can not be the ultimate answer, more investigation is definitely needed.

The way density is added to the area can not be forced on the reisents, new rules and regulations must be set out to give the opportunity to the home owners to build up their property.

These rules must represent the different chances of densification but must also have benefits for the owners in order to encourage them to go with the rules.

Fig18) Building on backyards and roads

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What else does the site offer?

Looking throughout the site, block by block, more opportunities rise from the existing fabric. Each house brings up a new chance to add density. Looking further deep the chance to add apartment blocks and more family houses becomes accessible.

On the smaller scale, looking at a single block of houses, the new opportunities become clearer. The following sections represent the new opportunities in the site, while densification happens incrementally.

The existing situation: Low-rise residential with wide streets and huge plots

Building up on vacant land: Permission is given to build appartment blocks on wide secondary roads, giving opportunity for new developments

Upwards extension: Houses which have the opportunity (i.e. houses without tiled roofs) must extend their height to a minimum of 2 storey

Occupying the cracks: New housing can be built on the space between houses and can reach the height of 3 storey

Pedestrian links: The increase in population requires more infrastructure, pedestrian alleyways connect the main streets giving better access to the pedestrians

Demolish and rebuild: Permission is given to demolish old houses over time, in order to replace them with appartment blocks

Spliting 1 house into 2: Replacing a single family house with 2 semi detached houses is now allowed, this makes better use of the land Fig.19) Opportunities to build up the residential sector, within a block of the site.

Yellow represents the additional housing units,

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Fig.20) Existing situation

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Fig.21) Building on vacand land

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Fig.22) BUilding on top.

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Fig.23) Building up the cracks, the inbetween space.

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Fig.24) Demolish old buildings and building new apartment blocks.

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Fig.25) 2 semi-detached houses replacing one single family house.

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Results:

Once there is a wider range of possibilities it is more likely for residents to apply them to their homes and also gives variety to the area, taking away the single-family house zone and turning it into a diverse built environment.

By giving these opportunities to the residents to build up their neghborhood, the trend of densification will happen in the site incrementally. Once one of the residents builds a new housing unit on his backyard, his neighbor will be encouraged to do the same while understanding the benefits. As time passes people get used to living in a higher density as they did before without realizing the dramatic change they have gone through. Since each house might have a different opportunity to add to its existing built form, the area will no longer look homogenous and a great variety will appear.

Fig.26) The axonometric map of the site, revealing all opportunities and how they change the city-scape of the area. The tramline and the public realm which are new to the area attract more and more residents. After a while a great density will appear along Westwood Blvd.

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Fig.26) The density of the area today is close to 200 housing units per acre, which is a very low density

Fig.27) Once all the residents take their opportunities and build up their houses, the density will almost double and reach 38 dwelings per acre

Fig.28) Final Model: representing Dense Westwood, once all opportunities to densify have been taken by the residents

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Test

2: Commercial Density

By increasing the housing density of the area from 22 dpa (dwellings per acre) to 38 dpa, a considerable change will appear in the number of residents living in the area. The commercial services required for the new inhabitants, along with older residents is greater than the site offers, which highlights the need for more shops and markets in the area. This leads to the densification of the main street, which can create a new image and sense of character.

Fig.29) A rainy day in Westwood Boulevard, low-rise commercial buildings on both sides

Fig.30) Westwood Boulevard, very narrow pedestrian walkways compared to the width of the street

Densifying the main street is a completely different story from housing. The commercial nature of the area has a great potential to grow and expand its occupations. Daily markets, shops, cafĂŠs, restaurants and stores are required for the new dense character of the area, along with new mixed use areas such as offices, retail shopping malls, theatres, cinemas, a health center, library and sport facilities, all serving the community and the neighborhood.

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The first approach would be to add to the height of the existing buildings. At the moment shops and retail exist in one to two storey buildings, not offering much to the area. By adding to the height of the buildings further installations can be put to use, leaving the street wide and open at the same time.

In order to turn the boulevard into a high street with mix-use that encourages sociability, creating an arcaded shopping strip is proposed. Considering the cultural background of the majority of the residents, and the fact that an arcade could work very well with L.A.’s weather, the proposal was put to test:

9 a.m.

12 noon

3 p.m.

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Fig.31) Sections along the main boulevard, throughout the day, representing the effect of the Arcade against the sunlight.

Setting out the Rules As mentioned before, the trend of densification is not a scheme forced on the neighborhood by the city, but is a set of new rules and regulations helping create the dense environment, giving guidelines and ideas to the residents to build up their neighborhood. Along the commercial strip, these rules encourage the creation of the Arcade and give more retail opportunity and in exchange encourage much more mixed use of the area, while the new population helps the proposition thrive. New accommodation is also encouraged on the backside of the commercial strip.

The existing form on the main street, introducing a new tram line and planting.

Increasing the height to a maxumum of 4 storey along the boulevard, in order to maintain the human scale

Introducing a new property-line for the upper level to create the Arcade

Adding residential use on the back side of the commercial strip, using the gap for a backyard on the upper level, keeping the American style house

Introducing new housing units on the back side of the Arcade street, small appartments for students or single proffesionals, giving variety and diversity to the housing scheme Fig.32) Opportunities to build up the commercial strip.

Yellow represents residential and Red represents commercial use.

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Fig.33) Existing situation of the main boulevard, Low-rise commercial buildings

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Fig.34) Height extention up to 4 storey along the boulevard

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Fig.35) Creating the Arcade by introducing a new property line on the uupper level.

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Fig.36) Residential housing on he upper level, considering the back-yard as a vital element

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Fig.37) Appartments on the back side of the main street, serving as student housing and small houses.

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Results: These rules may result in different built forms, depending on how the owners respond to them.

The Arcade will bring physical change with itself, giving the area a new character and variable functions.

The shops will, without doubt, benefit from this new intervention in the area and so will encourage their fellow workers to support the plan and so the street will develope into the Arcade street incrementally. Considering the fact that there are always people who do not accept the proposal and wish to remain in their current situation, the street will have various impressions.

Fig.38) Plan and Section representing how the Arcade, Family house and student housing on the upper level can be added to the area

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Fig.39) Reducing the width of the existing roadbed, adding to the arcade and pedestrian walkways and introducing the new tramline and planting is done by the city, the citizens are encouraged to create the arcade and build up their properties

Fig.40) Once the owner accepts the arcade in front of his property, he will have the opportunity to build his property up to 4 stories high, and also add 2 more stories on the back side for student accomodation, which can be quite beneficial.

If the arcade is not supported by the landlord, only permission to build residential units on the back side will be given.

Fig.41) The exception to this would be to extend the shop to the otherside of the arcade street and create a small arcaded entrance towards the neighborhood, making the market accessible to the residence, in this case the property owner will have the opportunity to build up to 4 stories high.

Fig.42) The Dense Arcade Street

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Fig.43) Mixed use and dense Arcade street, a great destinaion for shoppers, serving the neighborhood and UCLA campus

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Public Realm 71

Urban Catalysts Other than the built form of the neighborhood, what makes life possible in such a dense area is the public realm. Density is always thought of with traffic, pollution and not enough space to play. To create a better life by living dense, adequate public open spaces are required, since there is less private open-space due to the densification, more public space is necessary.

Each mini-dense neighborhood requires enough open space to serve its residents. These open spaces are proposed to come in the form of linear parks and pocket gardens within the neighborhood and squares along the main boulevard.

These public open-spaces are connected to each other through walking paths, in addition to roads which provide access to cars; this helps them to become more connected for the pedestrian user.

Public Square

Linear Park

Fig.44) Public Opne Spaces represented in Green, consists of the Linear Parks, The Pocket Garden, The Public Square and the Linking Paths.

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Pocket Garden

Fig.45) Linear parks, serving the neighborhood, acting as meeting points for the residents, running and biking tracks, and facilities for the whole family to enjoy a public open space in proximity to their homes

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Linear Parks Narrowing down the secondary roads and minimizing the front yards, which are normally left unused, form the linear parks. In this way nearly every house faces the park and has direct access to it. There is no longer a need to drive up to the closest park to walk the dog or take the children to play, the park is just seconds away from each house.

Fig.46) Linear park, every street has the potential to become a linear park

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Pocket Gardens Every secondary roach which has been built up with appartment blocks, as mentioned previously, is redesigned in a way to give the opportunity to create a garden on it. Densification is not just about adding mass and blocks to an area, but it is also about providing the new residents with adequate open space, in the case of apartment blocks, this space becomesa public open space.

The gardens are located in the heart of the neighborhood and are linked to other open spaces and gardens, therefore they create a network of pocket gardens.

Fig.47) Pocket Garden

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Linking Paths As mentioned before, each pocket garden is linked to the linear parks and squares with walking paths, linking them in a pedestrian manner makes them more accessible for the residents. Once a linking path has been created the houses on the sides may activate a stand on the side and create mini markets along the pathways, selling candy ice cream, books, anything they can provide. This makes the paths safe and also more interesting to pass.

Fig.48) Linking paths/walking alleyways

Fig.49) next page: Alleyways linking the gardens and parks, which are in white. Planting represents the path the link follows in the neighborhood.

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Public Square Other tahn the public and open space which is required within the neighborhood, there is a need for public open spaces along the main boulevard, Westwood boulevard, which has developed into The Arcade street.

Such places act as meeting points and are the places where sparks of activity happen. The lack of interventions of this kind can be felt extremely at the moment, since cars have taken over the streets. (Fig.6)

Fig.50) Public Square: Providing public space which serves the neighborhood along with the university campus. A place where locals use along with visitors from other neighborhoods further away.

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Sustainability 79

A Sustainable Westwood Parking is one of the major issues in Westwood Blvd; residents complain that they are unable to use the facilities on the street since they are unable to find a place to park their car.

This shortage is caused by the demand of the university, which does not provide enough parking for the students and they are forced to take over the main streets for parking. As the high street is not accessible by walking or any other way except driving, the residents abandon it, and this has had a great economic impact on the local shops and businesses.

One solution to this problem could be in making the main street accessible for the residents by public transport: walking, biking and taking the tram or the bus. By inserting safe and attractive walking paths linking the high street to the residential district, the car will be less used to access the street and the demand for parking will be reduced.

The second solution would be in decreasing the number of cars students bring to college, by providing adequate public transport. Through inserting a tram system, which connects the closest metro station to the campus, reaching university via public transport will no longer be a nightmare. With students living close to campus and having walking/biking paths along with the tram system, fewer students will be using their private cars for transport, which leads to a sustainable and energy efficient neighborhood.

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The

Linking Tram

The proposed tram which links the only metro station in Westwood to UCLA campus, loops through the neighborhood before coming back to the metro station giving accessible public transport throughout the neighborhood.

Although the linking tram in Westwood has a short route it could be part of a larger transport system, which could significantly help the issue of public transport in L.A. Trams are able to carry large groups of people while taking up the least amount of road space, they are fast and efficient and enhance the urban environment. Having low level boarding and other easy to use features, trams are accessible to all, even the elderly and disabled.

Trams encourage shoppers to travel, which leads to more investment by businesses, consequently the tram going along Westwood Boulevard would help the economy thrive and will turn Westwood into a district for shoppers once more.

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Fig.51) Proposed Tramline, Linkingg the only Metro stop in Westwood to UCLA campus and looping back to Santa Monica Blvd. from inside the neigh borhood. Giving access to public transport within the neighborhood and creating a strong connection along Westwood Boulevard.

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Conclusion 83

Dense Westwood: DenseWood Although densification has started to happen in the neighborhood, it needs to be directed in order to meet the needs of the area and its residents. Building a few apartment blocks will only help the neighborhood gain a higher density when regarding the housing units per acre, but will not help in the sense of creating a dense community. There needs to be a center of attraction for this densification to take place towards, which in this case the main street acts as the core of density. This helps organize the area and benefits both the neighborhood, its residents and the core itself.

The regulations I propose in this project, in the residential zone such as building up the streets, back-yards, building on top and replacing old buildings with new apartment blocks, and along the commercial district such as increasing the height of the buildings, creating the Arcade and developing new housing on the back side, give the residents the opportunity to densify their neighborhood while the city provides catalysts such as the linear parks, pocket gardens, public squares and linking paths to help the movement from sparse to dense become possible and pleasant.

Fig.52) Image of Dense Westwood, once all the opportunities within the blocks have been built up a diverse and dense neighborhood is established.

Fig.53) The Arcade St is a mixed surface road with the Linking Tram on the side, limiting the cars and their speed and giving the street back to the neighborhood

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The new streetscape along the Arcade Street encourages pedestrian movement; by becoming a “mixed surface� street it reduces the speed of cars. Also, by adding the shopping arcades on both sides and narrowing down the street, pedestrians find it much safer to cross and walk along the main street.

Providing more transport options for residents by inserting a tramline and accessible walking paths along with new facilities along the Arcade Street, which serves the neighborhood as well as the city, the severe reliance on cars is minimized and people find it less necessary to drive to their destinations, every day needs will be met within walking distance.

Diversity is an alternative consequence of the densification of Westwood. The single use strategy which has taken over the residential and commercial aspects of the neighborhood is transformed into mixed use, bringing variety to the area. This variety isn’t just in the case of houses and land use but also affects the type of people living in the area. Having a wide range of houses attracts a wide range of residents and this helps the community and the economy thrive.

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With the new design approaching the neighborhood, new activities start to take place, the main street is transformed into The Arcade Street, with stalls and kiosks appearing under the arcades, a tram going up the main street linking it to the university campus and the cinema district, making it accessible for students and movie lovers. There are more people using the street instead of cars and a much more pedestrian friendly area emerges.

The final image of Westwood, once it has gained more density and has new interventions supporting the new density, is fairly different from what it used to be. The streetscape changes dramatically, extended heights and narrow streets, the new tram, along with linear parks and linking paths, which act as catalysts to help the densification take place.

Images on the opposite page: Yellow represents the new interventions and Green represents the new planting Fig.54) Public Square along the Arcade Street,, The Arcade and the paved space opening up the main boulevard Fig.55)Perspective from inside the neighborhood, , the new dense housing and linking paths and linear park Fig.56)The Arcade Street, with arcaded shopping strip, tramline andn small interventions along the boulevard

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Imagining the big image in Westwood If the trend described before were to take place in the whole neighborhood, and not just be limited to a few blocks around the main boulevard, it would create several mini-dense neighborhoods around core points within the area. These cores could be the tram stops, the cinema district in Westwood Village, a primary school or even one of the new pocket gardens could become a centre of densification itself. These minidense neighborhoods which appear within the existing neighborhood each have a character depending on their focal point. The key aspects that make this actually happen are the Arcade, the Linear Parks, the Pocket gardens and the Linking Tram, which each lie in a different layer and have a significant role in encouraging the trend of densification take place in the neighborhood.

The image on the next page (Fig.57) shows how each of these interventions happen within the big scale of the neighborhood and their relation together. The idea extends from a few blocks and influences the whole neighborhood.

The final image (Fig.58) represents all the layers of interventions working together, The red Tramline running through the neighborhood, giving access to the campus and the Arcade Street, pocket gardens scatered around the neighborhood, linked together with walking paths and the Arcade Street happening along the main boulevard and strengthening the grid towards UCLA campus.

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Fig.57)New Interventions within the Neighborhood

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Animation The densification happening in westwood is an event that happens incramentally. In order to show how this takes place I have produced an animation, based on the regulations and opportunities in the area, and if they were all to take place as time passes by, the area would reach its ultimate density while providing adequate space for the new and old residents.

Fig.59) Images from the Animation, The Trend of Densification in Westwood, demonstrating how elements are added to the area over time.

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Fig.60) Images from the Animation, The Trend of Densification in Westwood. Representing the various ways in which the blocks can densify depending on the decisions residents make according to the new rules and regulations.

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Banham, Reyner. Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies. New York: A Pelican Book, 1973.

Cope, Hellen F. Capital Gains: making high-density housing work in London. London: National Housing Federation, 2002 Tunstall, Rebecca. Housing Density: What do Residents Think?. London: East Thames Housing Group, Department of Social Policy, LSE, 2002.

Scully, Vincent. Density by Design: New Directions in Residential Developments. Urban Land Institute, U.S., 2000.

Urban Design Advisory Service. Residential densities : a handbook illustrating the urban design of different densities. Sydney: Urban Design Advisory Service, 1998. http://Edition.cnn.com http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/los-angeles-transportation-facts-and-fiction-sprawl/ http://articles.latimes.com/2007/aug/27/local/me-localgovtqa27/2 http://www.edinburgharchitecture.co.uk/edinburgh_trams.htm http://www.srrb.noaa.gov/highlights/sunrise/azel.html http://www.urbandesignla.com/udprinciples.htm

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