Share A Lot

Project Description

Within Los Angeles’ legacy of experiments in housing, the rise of the accessory dwelling may in fact be the most radical proposition in recent decades. These backyard experiments iterate anonymously out of sight, covertly transforming the city one lot at a time. The notion of an accessory is meant to be supplemental, yet the leeway given to these small structures, in terms of planning, approvals, and ownership, are profound from a feasibility standpoint. But most importantly, the accessory dwelling gives homeowners choice in shaping their future lives. 

How can these successes be made more visible at the scale of a neighborhood?

The Fifth Lot proposes to split Site B into five small lot subdivisions. On four of the lots, we propose a standardized three-story structure comprising a primary unit on the upper two floors, and an attached ADU on the ground floor. Generous ground floor yards separate building volumes, preserving a sense of home so often missing from higher density housing. While each yard is private, their adjacency to each other allows for the possibility of opening up to the other yards. Importantly, we believe the act of sharing and being communal should be a daily choice, and that it is possible to have the best of both worlds.

If “the choice to share” is a central ethos for the project, then the fifth lot is exemplary of this potential. On a practical level, this street facing lot replicates the others, resulting in a total of ten dwelling units on the site. However, in the most ideal sharing scenario, individual owners of other parcels come together to co-own this fifth lot. For some groups, the structure on this fifth lot can become a shared guest house, a daycare, a co-working studio, a cooperative rental, or even house a 4-car garage; the key is communal use and ownership. But in a scenario where the owners onsite wish to maintain their separation and privacy, the fifth lot may also be separately sold, as a standard small lot property. 

As an additional design and financial lever in a development team’s toolkit, this particular small lot subdivision and building strategy simultaneously offers generosity, privacy, flexibility, and agency. The hope is that the structuring of the lots will incentivize some to self-organize, share, and build a resilient mosaic of independence and interdependence. Ultimately, as we endeavor to replace scarcity with lower barriers to ownership, equity, and sharing, the city can eventually become even more so a reflection of its inhabitants.