Urban Interstice
Santa Monica, CA
Staged to become the final stop off of the Los Angeles metro line, the project is designed to accomodate programmes of public, private, and semi-public spatial use. In the early 90’s, the city of Santa Monica established an economic plan to provide more jobs locally, hence, relieving a small portion of the ever-present automotive traffic issue affecting the city of LA. Similarly, the project evenly distributes commercial space amongst residential units thus providing onsite job opportunities for the tenants. In accordance, roughly 30% of the overall project proposal is dedicated to community, retail and entertainment function serving both local and regional los angelians arriving by way of the metro line.
As a formal investigation, the project sought to establish a continuum of the urban surface and seamlessly transition from a horizontal surface on which we traverse to a vertical thickened surface in which one may occupy. The thickening of the urban terrain provides a spatial interstice which houses circulation, mechanical and servicing components. The architectural features embedded within the surface interstice provide permanent services to the majority of the retail and commericial programmes underneath.
