Jefferson Housing

Autumn 2014

Kisho Kurokawa’s Agricultural City uses a clearly defined and regular grid to allow for growth outwards into the surrounding rural landscape. Three strata divide the use sectionally and define public, semi-public, and private zones. These strata and their segregation of different spaces is what has been extracted in this project, with the elevated ground being the primary datum from which buildings grow over and under. From these volumes mass is subtracted which fuses the separate layers together while at the same time disrupting the severe nature of the grid. A contrast between curved and orthogonal form blends the edges together in plan and section. The rigid grid from Kurokawa’s Agricultural City has now been dissolved to a point where only the coordinate network can be read. In certain moments, the subtracted forms directly oppose each, instead of continuing across, to call attention to the different planes of ground, elevated platform, and housing. The ground layer is the most public, with commercial buildings, parking, and a landscape continuing from the Ballona Creek development all serving visitors. This is also where residents enter and access the second layer, which is the semi-public elevated ground that connects the housing clusters. Like Agricultural City, the orientation is lost by the segregation in section, allowing for multiple readings of the unified system.