The Isla Intersections concept, designed by Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects and currently in development with Clifford Beers Housing and the Annenberg Foundation, is built on the arrangement of modular containers into 54 affordable housing units, along with retail and administrative spaces, across 16 asymmetric towers on a “difficult” triangular site in Los Angeles.
The site is located by the meeting point for the 110 and 105 freeways, one of the busiest interchanges in the world, which made noise reduction and car exhaust mitigation a priority in the community design. The modular container construction system was chosen for its durability and simultaneous on- and off-site construction potential, and arranged to enable residents to engage with outdoor activities and green space on site.
The scattered building arrangement follows the pie-shaped edges of the site, enclosing a number of pocket parks to form a communal outdoor space. The towers will start at five stories tall at the southern edge and scale down as the site approaches a single-family neighborhood. According to the architects, the reduced rooflines allow for a stronger connection between the buildings and adjoining green avenue.
A series of midair walkways will connect the 16 towers together, including a stairway from the ground-level paseo up to the rooftop terraces. The trees, shrubs, and vines on the community site and adjoining paseo are selected specifically to clean the surrounding air, and a series of rooftop farms and edible gardens will provide fresh produce for residents at farmers markets.
Each of the “boxes” in the community shape will be a 480-square-foot unit constructed from three 20-foot-long by 8-foot-wide steel containers, designed to meet the needs of the project. The residential units feature open floor plans with an ADA-compliant kitchen, bathroom, living room, and bedroom.
