This project was awarded Special Recognition by CityLAB UCLA & the LA Mayor's Office and Housing Department in their Small Lots Competion, 2025.


PROJECT TEXT:


Blurry Boundaries is a 12-unit, 2-story housing project that considers the meaning of closeness amidst LA’s (im)material landscapes. Architecturally, the project re-composes the disconnected parts of the standard LA block into a collective whole. This is done by layering density legislation (SB 1123 & LAMC §12.22A.33) to subdivide one lot into four, each with a primary residence, a lockout jADU, and a for-sale detached ADU, for a total of 12 units. These parts are nestled together to form a continuous series of shared yet private outdoor spaces between buildings, blurring boundaries of ownership. The buildings are cut at varying angles by the subdivided property boundaries, making each one unique and individual while relating to one another and the surrounding neighborhood. This replicable formal strategy and unit mix allows the project to function both as a diverse, flexible, community and a collection of distinct parts.


What appears to be a loose arrangement is in fact carefully regulated. Each building is organized according to a repeated 4ft modular wood framing system consisting of prefabricated wall, floor, and roof panels that can fit in a long-bed pick-up truck; on-site framing is only required at end walls. Building arrangement follows a 5ft fire separation offset, creating defensible space.


Tectonically, the project balances the need for fire resilience with livability, providing closeness, privacy and abundance of light and air without sacrificing safety. The primary solution is the treatment of end walls with fire-rated polycarbonate. The material is multi-purpose: it is more flame-resistant than glass and does not count towards glazing opening percentages, allowing more natural light to enter the interiors than is otherwise allowed by code at this proximity, while blurring views for privacy and mitigating heat gain. This material treatment also visualizes the otherwise immaterial spatial property system intrinsic to the project’s arrangement. The rest of the envelope thus requires minimal fenestration and is clad with board-andbatten GFRC, a durable, resilient, low-budget and high-tolerance surface that further expresses the modular framing. The project is simple, cheap and easy, while maintaining LA’s character: a fast, loose, expanding sum of discrete parts.