
Home to more than 10,000 residents, Park La Brea was built in Los Angeles in the 1950s … [and is] clearly based on Le Corbusier’s [urban design] plan with X-shaped towers placed on a diagonal grid in park-like settings. Garden apartments surround the perimeter, creating an abundance of open space not found in today’s urban context. While the units in the towers are large and shallow with incredible light and air, the building configuration and site plan orientation provide for a great deal of privacy. Park La Brea is one of the few and finest examples of this urban planning concept of the Modern Movement.

—Aram Chahbazian, principal, Thomas P. Cox: Architects, Irvine, Calif.